Santa's Posse (14 page)

“You are too.”  He
stopped walking. 

She paused to
glance expectantly at his face.  “What is it, Miles?”  She followed his gaze to
where a group of teens stood just inside a nearby store.  The group was rowdy,
particularly one teen who was speaking loudly and threateningly to another boy. 

“Duty calls,” he
said.  “May I call you later?”

She nodded and
headed back to her office.  She found Jill on the phone, gave a wave, and
hurried to answer her own ringing telephone.  It was her mother on the line,
inquiring as to whether or not she still intended to come home for
Thanksgiving.

“Like I said, Mom,
it depends on the weather.  Barring a storm, I’ll be there.”

“But you won’t
stay the whole weekend?”

“I really need to
be here for Black Friday.”

She heard her
mom’s sigh at the end of the phone line.  “Just won’t be the same without you,”
she murmured.  “Your brothers are coming, you know.”

“I know.  Hey,
Mom, I have to go.  My assistant just stepped into my office.  I’ll call you
tonight.”

Jill held an
envelope in her hand.  She grimaced as she passed it to her.  “It’s from
Dolores.”

“Of course it is,”
Kellie said glumly, accepting the envelope that was even bigger than the first
one.  She eyed it as if it were a venomous snake, ready to strike.  “I suppose
I should look this over tonight.”

“Might want to
have a look at the other one, too,” Jill suggested sweetly.

“Yes, I suppose.” 
She checked her watch.  “It’s five ‘o clock.  What do you say we get out of here
on time tonight?  Quick, cut the lights and we’ll pretend we’ve already left
for the day.”

“You don’t have to
tell me twice,” Jill said, hurrying to her desk to gather up her coat and
purse.

Kellie locked the
door behind them and together the women left the mall, Jill heading left and Kellie
right, both calling out goodbyes to one another. 

Glancing up at the
sky, Kellie was surprised to see that dusk had already settled.  Days were
definitely getting darker and shorter.  Fortunately, the predicted storm hadn’t
arrived yesterday, but the crisp chill in the air portended weather changes to
come.

She hurried to her
car at a clipped pace, eager to shed her work wear and ease into a comfy pair
of sweats.  There was something about fall in the Pacific Northwest that made
her want to snuggle up with a good book and wile away an evening.

As she neared her
car, she thought she saw something or someone move around the passenger side. 
She increased her pace to a jog and then a run when she realized that there was
a person near her car.  She could just make out a dark head poking up above the
top. 

She rounded the
back of her car to the passenger side.  The man or kid, she couldn’t see which
it was, spotted her and took off running, holding something in his hand.  “Hey,
stop!” she cried, giving chase.

In her pumps, she
couldn’t run as fast as she would have liked.  If only she was wearing her
sneakers, but she continued after him just the same.  She reached up a hand to
situate her purse strap over her head and shoulder, and then made a grab for
her cell phone.  She hurriedly punched in the code for mall security.   

“Mall security. 
May I help you?” a male voice answered.

“I’m Kellie
Sanders, mall director,” she panted.  “I’m in the north lot, section B, chasing
a man who was breaking into my car.”

“You’re … chasing
after him?”

“Ye … yes,” she
huffed.  “Please send help.”

The call made, she
felt a rush of adrenaline that prompted a burst of power in her legs.  She ran
like she hadn’t run since she’d been a track star in high school.  Arms and
legs pumping, she closed the gap between her and the perpetrator.  If he
managed to escape the lot, she knew she would never catch him—and she
was
going to catch him.

Sending a quick glance
to see if help was coming, and seeing no sign of the cavalry, she knew what she
had to do.  The man was definitely tiring, since he’d slowed considerably. 
With a burst of speed, she closed the gap between them and tackled him around
the middle, bringing him to the ground with a horrific smack.  Fortunately for
her, he braced her fall, but she did feel a stinging in her knees where they
came into hard contact with the asphalt parking lot.

To her relief, she
heard the sound of a siren and glanced up.  It hadn’t occurred to her what she
might have done had help not arrived.  Fortunately, a patrol car braked to a
stop and two deputies charged from the car.  With effort, she climbed off the
man and stood back as cops approached, guns drawn. 

“Stay down,” a cop
ordered the perp, as his partner patted him down and checked him for weapons.  Kellie
saw him pull something from the man’s jacket pocket, but couldn’t quite discern
what it was.

“Miss Sanders?” a
young cop called to her.  “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” she
assured him, still feeling high on adrenaline.  She pointed at the bad guy.  “I
found him breaking into my car.”

“And you … chased
him?”

She nodded.  “Yes,
but I called for help too.”

“Uh, Miss, in the
future, call us first.”

“Oh, okay.  Got
it.  Call first and then chase.”

He shook his head
ruefully, biting back a chuckle.  “No, Miss.  Call us and wait for us to handle
the bad guy.”  He looked down at her knees and winced.  “You’ve injured
yourself.”

She glanced down,
noting the trails of blood dripping down both shins.  She waved off the severity
of the wounds.  “Road rash,” she said dismissively.  “No biggie.”

The man bit back a
chuckle.  “Just the same…”

Suddenly, another
patrol car arrived on scene, pulling up and coming to a sharp stop.  A door
slammed and Miles charged out of the car, assessing the scene as the thief was
cuffed and pulled to his feet. 

“What happened?”
he demanded, glancing from Kellie to the arresting deputy.

The young man
explained what had transpired, having difficulty suppressing the smile on his
face as he told him about seeing Kellie tackle the bad guy.

Miles swung his
head around to Kellie, his eyes as wide as saucers.  “You did
what
?”

She simply nodded
her head.  “Yes, I caught him.  I knew if he managed to get across the street
and duck into those trees, we’d never find him.”

He ran a hand
through his hair.  “
We
?”  He stood stone still then, his expression
stupefied.  He seemed to have lost the power of speech.

“Miss Sanders
needs to have those wounds tended to,” the younger deputy said, pointing to her
knees.  “She’s pretty scraped up.”

“I’m fine,” she
assured him, feeling as if she’d just finished a good day’s work.  “That was
invigorating,” she declared, as if the reality was an epiphany.  “I think I get
why you guys do what you do.”

Suddenly, Miles shook
his head as if to clear it, took an abrupt step forward, pulled his flashlight,
and shined it on her legs.  He gasped.  “You are hurt!”

“It’s nothing,”
she assured him with a dismissive wave. 

“We need to get
you cleaned up,” he said curtly. 

“It can wait.  I need
to give a statement.  I’ll meet you at the precinct.”  She turned to walk back
to the mall, but he took a hold of her arm.

“The
statement
can wait,” he said through gritted teeth, and turned to the deputy.  “I’m
taking her home.  I’ll … check in with you later.”

The man nodded,
noting his commander seemed angry.  He rarely saw Miles upset.  He gave a
speculative glance, passing his eyes between him and Kellie.  So the rumors
he’d heard were true, he thought.  His commander had feelings for this woman.

Kellie gave Miles
a befuddled glance.  “Taking me home?  Why?  And I can drive myself when the
time comes.”

He didn’t respond,
but simply propelled her to the passenger seat of his patrol car.  She watched
him with surprise as he urged her inside, closed the door, and strode
purposefully around the front of the car.  Wordlessly, he climbed in and turned
the key.  She felt the big V-8 engine surge to life.

As he drove away
from the mall and toward her house, she reminded him that her car was still in
the mall lot.  “It’s been broken into once today.  I’d really hate to leave it overnight.”

He turned toward
her, opened his mouth, and then promptly clamped it shut.  She noticed he
white-knuckled the steering wheel. 

“Is there
something wrong, Miles?” she asked.

He fixed her with
a brief gaze but turned away, focusing on the road instead.  Within minutes,
they were at the condo.  He parked the car in her space and climbed out.  She
began to exit the car, surprised to discover her legs had stiffened up quite a
bit.  “I guess I’m not as young as I used to be,” she joked, as he took her
arm.

Still, he remained
silent as he escorted her to her door.  There, she paused before inserting the
key.  “Well, thanks for the ride home.  Will you call me when I can have my
car?  I presume you’re going to be checking it for damage.”  Her eyes widened. 
“Will you let me know if anything seems to be missing?”  She gave a
self-deprecating laugh.  “I mean, it’s not as if you know what was in my
car—nothing of value,” she added hastily, with a flash of a grin, “but just the
same, I hope he hasn’t damaged the lock or anything.”

He didn’t speak,
but to her surprise, covered her hand with his own, turned the key to open the
door, and pushed it open.  He ushered her inside.  “Medicine cabinet,” he
commanded.

“Oh, in the second
bath, but I’ve got it covered.  Thanks again.”  She turned to the door, to let
him out, but he simply strode down the hallway to the bathroom, returning a
moment later with disinfectant, antibiotic cream, and bandages.

“Sit,” he ordered,
fixing her with a gaze.

“Really, I’ve got
it,” she said.  “I know you have to get back to the mall.  You have a perp to
interrogate.  I wonder if this guy is part of your kiddie crime ring?”  She
frowned.  “Well, he’s actually a bit old for that.  Maybe he works alone,” she
mused.

“Kellie, sit
down.”

His tone of voice
left no room for argument, and caused her to give him a perplexed glance as she
sat down at the dinette table in her kitchen.  He pulled several paper towels
off the roll beside the sink, soaked them in water, and then began dabbing at
her knees and shins.  It turned out the wounds were a bit deeper than a superficial
road rash.

She winced when he
carefully extracted bits of broken asphalt from her right knee, and then sprayed
the disinfectant medicine on both legs.  Next, he applied the antibiotic
ointment, and then used several adhesive bandages to cover up both wounds. 
“You’re going to need bigger bandages,” he told her, rising to his feet.

She waved off the
advice.  “It’s nothing.  I heal fast.  One time, my brother pushed me off the
roof of the garage and…”

He winced and
raised a silencing hand.  “Oh, sure, hearing about you falling off a garage roof
is going to make me feel
much
better.”

“The good news is
that, like today, I lived,” she said with a cheerful shrug.

Miles crossed the
room and sat down heavily on the couch.  He tipped his head back and closed his
eyes.  He remained in that position for several moments, until Kellie cleared
her throat and asked, “Uh, are you … all right?”

“I’m fine!” he
declared crisply, snapping his head forward and fixing her with his gaze. 
“Yeah, I’m fine.  And thank God, you’re fine too!”

“Well, of course,
I’m fine,” she said confusedly.  “Why wouldn’t I be?”

He abruptly rose
from the couch and began pacing.  Finally, he stopped and met her eyes again. 
“Why wouldn’t you be?  I’ll tell you why!  You just tackled a known felon,
that’s why.”  He shook his head.  “You
tackled
someone.  You just chased
a real bad guy—a criminal, because….”

“Because I didn’t
want him to get to the trees across the street,” she interjected.  “I figured
we’d never catch him then.”

“What is this ‘we’
business?” he demanded, staring at her as if she’d taken leave of her senses.

“I’m the mall director,”
she told him, lifting her chin slightly.  “I have a vested interest in catching
the bad guys who prowl the lots.  Do you disagree?”

He sighed and
returned to the couch, dropping heavily onto the plump cushions.  “I have a
headache,” he declared.

“I’ll get you
something.”  She dashed to the medicine cabinet and pulled out a couple
aspirins.  She filled a cup with water in the kitchen, and then crossed the
open concept room and passed the tablets to him.  He tossed back the pills and
she shoved the water at him.  “Drink it all.”

He complied and
she reached for the empty cup.  He shook his head.  “I need to hold onto it.”

“Why?”

“I need to keep my
hands busy.”

“Why?”

“Because I’ve
never taken a woman by the shoulders and shaken her, and I’m not about to start
now.”   

“Miles, what are
you talking about?” she inquired, watching him with a frown.  “Why would you
want to shake me?”

“Now?”  He gave a
humorless laugh.  “Or before? 
Now
, because you just asked that
question.  How could you
even
ask me that question? 
Before
,
because you…”  He enunciated carefully, as if speaking to someone who was slow
on the uptake.  “Because you tackled a man in the mall parking lot.”

She shrugged,
still clearly perplexed.

“You … could …
have … been … killed!” he cried, jumping from the couch and taking her by the
shoulders.  Rather than shake her, he startled her when he pulled her against
him, holding her tight.