Three For The Road

With hands that shook visibly, she pressed at the wrinkled linen again as if doing so would iron away those problems. When her hands reached her knees, she surreptitiously tugged up her saggy tights. Just as surreptitiously, she glanced at the tall, loose-limbed stranger, slouched in his chair across the aisle.

He looked so calm, so capable and impregnable to injustice. She’d bet he would never allow anyone to pin a guilty verdict on him if he was innocent. Maybe she should take her cue from him. Maybe the time had come for her to accept that she was truly on her own and no one was going to watch out for her but herself.

Pulling in a deep breath, she squared her shoulders, lifted her chin and waited for her case to be called.

“Who’s the judge today?” Pete asked the policeman sitting beside him.

“Gertrude Collins.”

“Collins,” Pete repeated. He sank lower in his seat, giving Mary Elizabeth a dark sidelong look. Nothing had gone right since running into that woman.

She was called first. Pete watched her walk up to the bench, her spine straight as a poker, her mouth tight with righteous indignation. Her charges were read and then the judge asked how she pleaded.

Lifting her chin, but not so high that her invisible crown slipped off her head, she said, “Not guilty.” Pete exhaled a long breath through his teeth.

He watched the judge confer with her and the police prosecutor—explaining the options, he guessed. Cases as small as theirs were usually taken care of immediately and on the spot. Court dockets were too overloaded to make a production out of every case that came through. Besides, she was obviously guilty—they all were—and six policemen and a bar full of witnesses could testify to that fact.

But after a long deliberation, she still insisted she wanted to fight the charges. Pete heard the officer beside him sigh. He saw the judge sigh. Three people in front of him looked at their watches.

“Could I have the other defendants in this case?” The judge motioned for Mary Elizabeth to stay.

Pete was escorted up to the front of the courtroom, with Sonny and Billy close behind. Sonny and Billy were greatly subdued this morning. They stood before the judge as docile as lambs, like Pete, knowing that cooperation was the name of the game here, the key to getting out quickly.

Their charges were read: property damage, public intoxication, and assault and battery with dangerous weapons—the weapons being the broken bottle Sonny had wielded and the chair used by Pete. After spending a few minutes plea bargaining with the police prosecutor, who in turn conferred with the judge, they were each found guilty of simple assault and fined one hundred and fifty dollars. They paid their fines, along with the towing charges for their vehicles, and were told they were free to go.

The judge then looked at Mary Elizabeth, her expression seeming to say, Got the picture?

Mary Elizabeth swallowed.

Sonny and his buddy took off as soon as their fines were paid. Pete was pocketing his wallet and thinking of doing the same when Mary Elizabeth turned her eyes on him. He’d noticed they were an unusual shade of warm coffee-brown, and right now they were very large and very lost.

He tried to look away. He didn’t like her kind, he told himself. He’d dated a few princesses in his day and found them dull and patronizing. The dull part he could excuse...

Still, there was a bruised look in those eyes that appeared too real, a vulnerability he never would’ve associated with her.

He caught himself up short, just as he was sliding into sympathy. Aw, no. He wasn’t going to fall for that trap again. That’s the way things had started with Cindy. He gave his shoulders a flexing roll and set off for the door.

But halfway there he paused. Behind him, Mary Elizabeth was asking the judge to clarify the trial process she’d have to face if she contested the charges. Pete didn’t really care what happened, but he was curious enough to want to listen in. He made his way to the side of the courtroom and stood against the wall.

Mary Elizabeth spoke quietly. He couldn’t hear everything she said, but he got the sense of it. Capitulation.

The judge sighed in relief. She found Mary Elizabeth not guilty, but fined her two-hundred-and-fifty dollars.

It was a reasonable sum, but Pete could see—could almost feel—Mary Elizabeth’s indignation picking up a new head of steam. Why was her fine higher than the men’s? she wanted to know. Pete squinched his eyes shut. The men, she said as her handcuffs came off, had smacked each other black and blue while she had done nothing except stop the fight, which you’d think she’d be commended for instead of punished. Furthermore, why was she being fined at all if she was innocent?

Before he could think, Pete cleared his throat, loudly. She glanced over and he shook his head, hoping she understood.

She was breathing hard, conflicting emotions warring in her eyes. Something in their depths made him think that maybe her reaction to her fine wasn’t really indignation at all, but fear. Fear of what, he didn’t know.

Finally he saw her give in—a slow exhalation of breath, a slumping of her shoulders.

“Sorry, Your Honor,” she mumbled, and reached into her bag for her wallet.

Pete stood away from the wall and once again turned to leave. He didn’t like what just happened, that small communication between him and her.

He was halfway to the door again when something caught in his peripheral vision: Mary Elizabeth searching through her purse. Dread crawled over him.

“It’s not here,” she said, no longer speaking in that Scotch-and-soda voice that so intrigued him. She was practically squeaking now. “I...I can’t find my wallet.” She searched again, taking several items out. Her face had gone crimson.

“Are you sure it was in your bag?” the judge inquired.

“Positive. I had it last night at the bar.” She kept rummaging through the purse, swallowing, turning redder. Finally she looked up, her eyes slightly wild. “I think it was stolen.”

“Stolen?” the judge repeated.

Mary Elizabeth nodded. “At the Starlight. After I pulled out the water pistol, I threw my purse onto a table. I don’t even remember doing it. I just remember that’s where I found it when I left. While it was lying there, somebody must’ve helped himself to the contents.”

“I see.” The judge dragged a hand down her face. “Officer Wilson,” she called, addressing the policewoman who’d been part of the arresting team at the Starlight, “as soon as Ms. Drummond’s business with the court is concluded, take the information regarding her wallet.”

The policewoman gave a short nod.

Mary Elizabeth looked up at the judge, dazed. “Your Honor? How am I supposed to pay my fine?”

“Did your wallet contain all your money?”

Coffee-brown eyes shimmered with tears. She nodded. “Seven hundred and twenty dollars.”

The judge cast her a stern look. “It isn’t wise to carry so much money on your person, Ms. Drummond, especially when you’re traveling. Better to divide it and put it away in several locations.”

Mary Elizabeth lowered her eyes and said nothing, all her uppity self-righteousness gone. Pete was beginning to think it hadn’t been very real to begin with.

“Well, I suggest you call your bank and have the money wired to you.”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that, Your Honor. I closed all my accounts before I set out on this trip.”

Standing a few feet away, Pete scowled. Closed all her accounts? And she had only seven hundred bucks? Mary Elizabeth was becoming more of a puzzle every minute.

Then it hit. That was why she’d reacted to her fine. She’d been worried about the amount of money she’d have to hand over.

The judge said, “Then I suggest you contact a relative or a friend.”

Again, Mary Elizabeth shook her head. “I...I can’t do that, either.”

The judge was growing impatient. “Unless you want to work out an alternative, I think you had better, young lady.”

“May I ask what the alternative is?” Mary Elizabeth inquired, squeezing and twisting the strap of her purse.

“Fifteen days in the county jail.”

Mary Elizabeth’s eyes went a few degrees wilder.

Pete clasped the nape of his neck. Don’t do it, Mitchell. Get yourself the hell out of here, he thought, even as he stepped forward and said, “Your Honor, I’ll loan Ms. Drummond the money. That way you can get this train moving again.” He could’ve sworn the formidable woman on the bench mouthed the words “Thank you.” He didn’t say “You’re welcome.” He was angry at her for assuming Mary Elizabeth had money readily available, an assumption based on the style of her hair and the quality of her clothes.

Mary Elizabeth turned in surprise. Her gaze traveled over him in quick assessment, taking in his black eye, two-day-old beard, faded jacket and jeans whose knee had finally popped a tear.

“That’s very generous of you, but I couldn’t possibly accept your money.”

Instantly he rued his generosity, not knowing whether to laugh at her mistaken assumptions about him or shove her condescension down her throat.

“Fifteen days,” he reminded her, half hoping she’d go for the time.

“But...are you sure you can spare it?” she asked.

“For you? Anything.” He winked, but there was no mistaking his sarcasm.

She looked confused. “I’ll repay you. Just as soon as I reach where I’m going.”

“Of course you will. I didn’t say it was a gift.”

The judge asked, “Are you willing to pay her tow charge as well?”

“Yes. How much?”

“Sixty-five dollars.”

Mary Elizabeth’s face dropped. “I don’t believe this,” she muttered, but only loud enough for Pete to hear. He nudged her with his elbow, using restraint to just nudge and not ram. Her muttering ceased.

Pete handed over the cash, making a mental note to stop at the first ATM he came to.

“That’s it? I’m free to go?” Mary Elizabeth asked, a conflicted mixture of incredulity and relief.

“Yes. Next case,” the judge said quickly.

Mary Elizabeth couldn’t shake the feeling she was caught in a nightmare. She felt almost sick from exhaustion and fear, and knew, as she walked away from the bench, her steps were weavy. All she wanted to do was crawl under a rock somewhere and sleep. Instead, Officer Wilson was waiting for her, pad and pen poised.

“The wallet’s beige, cowhide, monogrammed in gold with my initials,” Mary Elizabeth said.

“Credit cards?”

“Yes. Three.” She fought off a tightening in her throat. “And a gasoline card, and four department store cards.” Her sense of being caught in a dream world deepened. What was she to do now? No money, no plastic...

“Where would you like us to send the wallet, if it turns up?”

“Oh.” Mary Elizabeth passed an unsteady hand over her brow. “My friend’s in Sarasota. Yes, definitely my friend’s.” If it ever went back to Charles, she’d die of humiliation. She could almost hear him saying it now, “I told you you’d never make it on your own.”

Unexpectedly, thoughts of home rushed over her, and with them came remembrance of her mother’s affair, her shock at learning she was illegitimate, her distress over her pregnancy...so many problems that had somehow gotten relegated to a back burner since last evening.

Having procured all the necessary information, the officer pocketed her pen, wished Mary Elizabeth well, and walked off, leaving her standing alone with the weight of her remembered troubles. Feeling vague and quite disoriented, she turned to go. “Oh,” she said in surprise. Peter Mitchell, whose name she’d learned just this hour, was still in the courtroom, standing right behind her.

He had the clearest blue eyes she’d ever seen. The fact that one of them was bruised didn’t detract from their impact one bit. Right now those eyes were narrowed under a lowered brow, studying her. She guessed she looked pretty bewildered.

“Yes?” she asked uncertainly.

“Do you want to take my address?”

She blinked, uncomprehending.

“So you’ll know where to send the money I lent you.”

“Oh, yes, of course.” She opened her purse and withdrew a pen and a small notebook. He took them from her and began to write. He had nice hands, she thought distractedly. Strong, broad hands that were cut and callused yet imbued with a certain masculine grace.

He wrote his address on the top sheet of paper, along with the amount she owed him. Then he flipped to the next sheet and wrote out an IOU, to which Mary Elizabeth added her signature and Chloe’s address.

“That should do it,” Pete said, pocketing the IOU.

“Yes.” She glanced down at the address he’d written in a surprisingly neat but firm hand and felt a kick of adrenaline. “You live in Tampa?”

But he had already turned and was heading for the exit. She hurried to catch up. Her head had cleared remarkably. Moreover, her spirits were lifting, probably because it had just begun to sink in that she’d been found not guilty. She would have no criminal record, no impediments standing in the way of establishing herself in a new location.

“This is really a coincidence. I’m going to Florida myself.”

Peter opened the courtroom door and made his way through the crowded corridor, his eyes fixed on the exit ahead.

“I’m going to Sarasota,” she persisted, following. “That’s on the Gulf Coast too, not very far from Tampa, right?”

“No,” he said, hurrying on. “It’s miles away. Many, many miles.”

Mary Elizabeth would’ve contested his claim, but just then she spotted the policeman with the sincere, youthful face who’d arrested her the previous night. He was standing by the main door, just ending a conversation with someone who looked like a lawyer.

“Excuse me,” she said. “Do you know if there’s a phone at the garage where my RV was taken?”

“Yes, ma’am, there is.”

“Great. Thanks.” She’d call the credit card companies from there to notify them that her cards had been stolen. She continued out the door, Peter Mitchell a few brisk paces ahead of her. She’d thought perhaps they’d walk to the garage together or maybe take a cab, but apparently he wanted to go his own way, alone. She drooped with mild disappointment.

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