Slowly, his head swiveled toward her, eyes roving from her face to her credentials, to her gun. “How do you know my name?”
Before Josie could answer, he turned back to Taulara and pointed at the cell phone she clutched to her chest. “You called the damn police?”
“No, no, I?—”
He slapped both hands against the countertop. His upper body angled forward. Josie tensed, thinking he was going to lunge for Taulara. It wouldn’t be the first time some ornery citizen did something monumentally stupid right in front of a police officer. She called his name again, told him to step back in her loudest and most commanding voice. Satisfaction flared in her gut when she registered his hesitation. Maybe he wasn’t that far gone.
Before she could give him further instructions, Turner’s tall frame cut between them. All Josie saw was the white of Turner’s dress shirt as his back shielded Charles from view. For a guy whose natural speed setting was saunter, he moved lightning fast. Quicker than Josie had time to process. Taulara let out a surprised shriek as Charles Barnes landed flat on his stomach with a floor-shaking thud. Turner squatted next to him, trapping his arms behind his back and yanking his hands up toward his head until Barnes grunted.
“Remember me?” Turner asked.
“Get off me.”
“Why don’t you tell Detective Quinn here how you and I met?”
“Screw you. Get your hands off me.”
Turner looked up at Josie with a tight smile. “So you don’t remember the day your daughter called the police because she thought you were going to hit her mother?”
“What?” Barnes choked out.
“You don’t remember me coming to speak to you about that incident?”
“Piss off.” Barnes squirmed in Turner’s hold. “I don’t have to talk to you.”
Josie watched, half shocked and half fascinated. Turner’s entire body vibrated with rage and yet, his voice sounded almost bored.
“Fine, then I’ll talk. Tell me, do you get off on threatening women?”
“Turner,” Josie said.
“Let me up,” Charles growled. “I didn’t do anything.”
Turner palmed the side of his face, pressing it into the thin gray carpet. “I just watched you threaten that young woman back there before lunging at her while disregarding my colleague’s instructions. Also, you pissed me off, so yeah, you did some stuff.”
“Let me up,” Charles insisted, his words garbled from the force of Turner’s hand pressing his face into the floor. “You can’t do this to me.”
“Turner,” Josie said again.
“Pennsylvania criminal code title 18, chapter five, section 508(d)(1) says I can.”
Charles fell silent.
“What?” Turner taunted. “You got nothing to say to that? Not feeling so tough all of a sudden? Here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to get you to your feet. You’re going to apologize to this poor woman behind the counter. Then you’re going to take a ride with me and Detective Quinn to the police station. You will calm down. You will be respectful. You will answer our questions.”
With no effort at all, Turner dragged the man to his feet, holding his wrists behind his back and pushing him into the front desk. “Let’s hear it.”
“I’m sorry,” Charles mumbled at a stunned Taulara without looking at her.
With another shove, Turner guided him to the door. Josie watched as he deposited Charles into the back of her SUV. She took a brief statement from Taulara behind the counter. Barnes had shown up a few minutes before they did, demanding she direct him to the tent his wife and daughter had rented.
“He wanted to collect their things,” Taulara said. “Which, honestly, would be good for us, but we hadn’t heard from you guys about whether we could let people into the tent yet.”
“It’s been processed already,” Josie said. “Anyone can enter it, and you can release the contents to Mr. Barnes, provided he stays calm. Was he acting like that from the moment he walked in?”
Taulara shook her head quickly, ponytail swooshing across her back. “No. He was quiet when he got here although he looked like he’d been crying, maybe? Then he went from quiet to really mad super fast.”
Josie took down the woman’s information before joining Turner and Charles Barnes in her SUV. During the drive to the stationhouse, she stole glances at Charles. He was fixated on the city streets flying by. His expression had gone from furious to blank.
