“How many ways can you be wrong tonight?” Brooks wondered.
Justin lunged forward.
“Don’t shoot him, for Christ’s sake,” Brooks shouted. He blocked the knife hand with his left arm, swung up his right elbow and jabbed it into Justin’s nose. He heard the satisfying crunch an instant before blood spurted. As the knife dropped, he simply gripped Justin by the collar, propelled him forward so he stumbled to his knees.
Out of patience, he shoved Justin down on his face, put a boot on his neck. “Abigail, do me a favor and go up and get my cuffs, will you?”
“I have them.”
Brooks lifted his brows when she pulled them out of her back pocket. “You’re a planner. Toss them over.”
He caught them, knelt down to yank Justin’s arms behind his back. “Doyle, you keep still now, or Ms.Lowery might shoot you in the leg.”
“Yes, sir. I didn’t know he was going to do that, I swear. We were just going to mess around with the cruiser. I swear to God.”
“Keep quiet, Doyle, you’re too stupid to talk.” Brooks glanced up as he heard the siren. “Jesus, what’s he doing coming in hot?”
“I saw the knife when I was relating the situation. Your deputy became very concerned.”
“All right. Hell. Justin, you just came at a cop with a knife. That’s assault with a deadly on a police officer. The prosecutor might even bump that to attempted murder when we add in the trash talk. You’re done, boy, and it didn’t have to go like this. You’re under arrest for trespassing, vandalism, defacing police property and assault with a deadlyweapon on a police officer. You have the right to remain silent.”
“You broke my fucking nose. I’ll kill you for that.”
“Do yourself a favor, take that right to silence to heart.” He finished the Miranda as he spotted the lights from Ash’s cruiser zipping down the road. “Doyle? Where’s Chad Cartwright?”
“He wouldn’t come. Said he was in enough trouble, and his daddy’s likely to kick his ass he gets in more.”
“A glimmer of sanity.” He got to his feet as Ash slammed out of his car.
“Chief! You all right? Jesus. You’re bleeding.”
“What? Where? Shit.” Brooks looked down, hissed in disgust. “That’s Justin’s nose blood. God damn it, I liked this shirt.”
“You should soak it in cold water and salt.”
Both Brooks and his deputy looked over to where Abigail stood, the dog at full alert at her side.
“Ma’am,” Ash said.
Sirens screamed out again.
“What the hell, Ash?”
“It’ll be Boyd. When Ms.Lowery reported she saw a knife, and only had a visual on two when this bunch usually runs in three, I thought I should call Boyd in for backup. Are you sure he didn’t cut you?”
“Yeah, I’m sure. He was stupid enough to try, so he’s charged with assault on a police officer. I guess you and Boyd can take the pair of them in. I’ll be along shortly.”
“All right, Chief. Sorry for the trouble, Ms.Lowery.”
“You didn’t cause it, Deputy Hyderman.”
Brooks stepped over to her. “Why don’t you take Bert and go on inside? I’ll be in in just a couple minutes.”
“Yes.” She signaled to the dog and went back the way she’d come.
In the kitchen, she rewarded Bert with one of his favorite cookies, then put on coffee. She considered a moment, then opened a container to put human cookies on a plate.
Somehow it seemed like the right thing to do. She sat atthe table and watched Brooks and the others on the monitor. The boy he’d called Doyle cried a little, but she found she couldn’t feel any sympathy. Justin remained sullen, snarling like a bad dog, in her opinion, sneering out of eyes she expected would be swollen and bruised from the broken nose shortly.
