Tipsy (Take It Off #5)(37)
Author: Cambria Hebert

Still not understanding why there would be so much of this stuff back here, I broke open one of the boxes and pulled out the clear bag of white powder.

I knew right away what was going on.

This powder wasn’t as thick, wasn’t as heavy as the developer I used every single day. It was finer, a little lighter looking. It was like sugar compared to flour.

But this wasn’t sugar.

And this wasn’t the same kind of clear bag the developer came in from the supplier.

I wasn’t a druggie. I never even experimented with drugs as a teenager (it was too scary). But I knew cocaine when I saw it.

I’d found my proof.

Proof I kinda hoped I wouldn’t find. I mean, what girl wanted to find out that her boss was in bed with a bunch of nasty scumbag drug dealers?

Not me.

I stood up, still holding the bag of cocaine in my hands. I had to find a way to get word to Blue. I had to tell him what I found.

I turned to rush out of the back room.

I gasped, stopping in my tracks, as I stared down the barrel of a pistol.

The bag of coke dropped onto the floor with a smacking sound, and I put my hands up in the air.

The police officer on the other side of the gun looked like he wasn’t afraid to shoot.

“Ma’am,” he said, his tone hard and very impolite, “you’re under arrest.”

“Arrest!” I gasped, flinging my hands out in shock.

His arms jerked and the gun pointed at me with renewed force. “Hands up!” he yelled.

I put them up. I heard footsteps rushing in from the front of the salon.

“In here!” the officer yelled, not taking his eyes off me.

“There’s been a mistake.” I tried.

He looked at me with unveiled disgust dripping from his features. “No mistake. You’re under the arrest for possession of an illegal substance.”

He glanced at the boxes lining the walls and then back at me. “Lots of it.”

Two more police officers flooded the tiny back room, all of them taking in the situation and then looking at me.

A pair of handcuffs appeared, and I felt my shoulders slump.

This was not at all how my plan was supposed to go.

22

Blue

“License and registration please,” the cop said, shining his flashlight right in my face.

I dug around and produced the items he asked for. He didn’t even look at them. “What are you doing out tonight?”

“We just came from seeing a movie.” I lied.

“You have any illegal substances in this vehicle?”

“No.”

I could feel Tony fidgeting in the passenger seat. I wanted to snap at him to control himself, that his anxious behavior only made us look guilty, but I couldn’t say a word.

“You mind if I take a look around, then?” the officer asked, friendly-like. I squinted up at his face, trying to see if I knew him. But the light from the flashlight was so blinding that I couldn’t make out his features.

I shielded my eyes from the light and said, “Actually, I do mind.”

Tony gasped and I stifled an eye roll. Dumb kid probably didn’t even realize that he didn’t have to let the cops search his car unless they had a warrant.

The officer regarded me stonily. “I’m going to have to ask you to step out of the vehicle.”

He wanted to see if I was sober. He wanted grounds to arrest me or search this car. The officer stepped back so I could open the door and get out. I glanced at Tony, who was sweating profusely.

“Chill, man,” I whispered.

“Dude, we are so busted.”

“No, we aren’t. I can handle this. Just play it cool. Stop fidgeting.”

He nodded.

Both of us climbed out of the car. The officer studied me and then asked me to perform a few basic tests. I passed with flying colors.

He seemed irritated by this and adjusted the cap on his head. “Stay here,” he said and then walked to his cruiser to run my plates and ID. I wondered what he would think when he realized I was undercover.

I couldn’t see what he was doing in the interior of his car because it was so dark, and I didn’t want to stare. Tony and I stood there for a while, the brisk night air pulling at our clothes as we waited.

Eventually the officer got out of his cruiser and walked toward me. Gone was the stiffness in his body. I prayed he didn’t say something that would give me away.

“You know you blew that stop sign back there?” he asked.

What? No, I hadn’t. I wasn’t a careless driver. “No,” I said strangely.

“That’s the reason I pulled you over.”

I glanced over at Tony, who was frowning. “He didn’t run no stop sign,” the kid argued.

“You arguing with an officer of the law?” the man snapped and shined his light directly in Tony’s face.

Tony threw up his hand and shook his head rapidly. “No.”

The officer looked back at me, lowering the light. I recognized his face immediately, and I turned so my back was to Tony and gave the man a glare.

He didn’t so much as blink. “I’m giving you a ticket for failing to stop at the stop sign,” he said.

I gave him a WTF look. He ignored me and began writing on his pad. A few seconds later, he turned his ticket pad toward me and clicked on the blindingly bright light again.

I had the urge to knock it out of his hands.

But then he shone it on my ticket. Which wasn’t a ticket at all.

It was a note.

“You see here that you have this amount of time to respond,” the officer pointed to the paper like he was explaining something as I read his hastily scrawled note.

He continued to explain to me how the ticket worked, but I stopped listening because the writing made my blood run cold.

Julie was brought in on drug charges. Julie is asking for you.

Come if you can.

“Thanks for explaining,” I said, still staring at the words.

The officer ripped the fake ticket off his pad and handed it to me. I had to take it or Tony would think it was weird.

“Stay out of trouble,” he warned and then went back to his cruiser and drove away.

“You were awesome,” Tony said, relief clear in his voice.

“Thanks,” I said, hollow, thinking about Julie and what the hell was going on. How the hell did she get arrested on drug charges?

I wondered if she asked for me. I wondered if she was scared.

I needed to get rid of Tony so I could go to the station and see her for myself. I started the engine, all the while brainstorming ways to get rid of my partner for the night. A cell phone rang and I stiffened, thinking of my department cell strapped under the seat. What if it was someone trying to reach me about Julie? What if something was seriously wrong?