Southern Belles and Scandals: A Cozy Tiffany Black Travel Mystery (Tiffany Black Travel Mysteries Book 3) by A.R. Winters

Author:A.R. Winters [Winters, A.R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-07-16T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

The police station wasn’t nearly as quiet by night. Uniformed officers walked the halls not giving us a second glance. A radio squawked, dispatcher speaking low.

Gustafson and Jessup led us straight for the lock-up. The big cop, Jimmy, I remembered, was still on duty.

“Lock ’em up,” Gustafson said.

“Separate cells?” Jimmy eyed me.

He received a withering look from the fat cop.

“Of course. Right. Yessir.”

Stone stood, walking to grip the bars.

“You’re not going to book us?” Rosie said.

Gustafson frowned. “You think I’m going to wake a judge or the DA for the likes of you?” With that, he and Jessup turned and walked away.

“Shut up, Rosie,” I said under my breath.

Jimmy walked Rosie and I up to the cages.

“Stone! I’ve missed you,” Rosie said. “Are you okay?”

“Fine,” he said.

There were four cells, three small ones, one large. Jimmy put Rosie into a small cell next to Stone. He moved me down the hall. Unlocking the door to the larger cell, he guided me firmly in and locked the cage door behind me. Now a cell stood between me and Stone.

Three wide benches stood against the interior bars. An exposed toilet central. From the faded but unpleasant odors hanging in the air, I knew this to be the drunk tank.

“The toilet is just sitting in the middle of the room?” Rosie said. “How barbaric is that?”

“I’ve been in much worse holding cells than these,” Stone said.

“But what if I have to…?” Rosie said. Her eyes gave the nearby Stone a horrified look.

“I’ll turn away.”

Her look remained, jaw dropped, mouth quivering.

“I’ll plug my ears and hum.”

Since we were separated by two cells, I had to guess Rosie was mollified. She reached through the bars, taking Stone’s hand. “I’m still glad to see you’re all right.”

“Why haven’t you posted bail?” I asked.

Stone shrugged. “They can’t hold me much longer. If they charge me, I’ll talk to the local mouthpiece and have him or her contact my lawyer. I’m pretty sure they’re keeping me for the same reason they locked you up.”

“Suspicion of murder?” I asked.

“No. To keep you from investigating,” Stone said. “They’ve got nothing to pin on me.”

“Well, we got caught in Percy’s room,” Rosie said. “So, they definitely have something to pin on us.”

Stone frowned at her. “You realize they record conversations in jails, right?”

Rosie snorted. “Like I’m telling a secret.”

“How did they catch you?” Stone asked. Apparently, he didn’t much care about the potential recording.

“We were in Percival’s room. Might have found a clue,” I said.

“You’d think the cops would thank us,” Rosie said. “Why didn’t they take his valise as evidence?”

“Was there luggage?” Stone asked.

“Yeah. We didn’t get that far,” Rosie said.

Stone sat back on the bed in his cell. “If I had to guess, I’d say they had a suspect in mind. A sure thing.”

“You?” I called.

“If they haven’t brought charges? I don’t think so,” Stone said.

“Well, they’re risking a lot of lawsuits if they’re just locking us up to keep us out of the way,” I said, voice echoing.

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