Previously Loved Treasures (Serendipity #2)(54)

Tom Osborne was working the evening patrol shift. He was the father of a new baby, a colicky baby who’d cried through the night. For hours on end he’d walked the floor trying to quiet the infant, but she would not be quieted. Thankfully it had been a slow evening, and in less than an hour he’d be off duty.

With the patrol car parked on a darkened side street at the far end of Blue Neck Road, Tom leaned back in the seat waiting for his shift to end. He heard the roar of the car’s motor before he saw it fly past. Max had not yet reached the end of the street when Tom clicked on the siren and gave chase. Max heard the siren’s scream and stomped down on the gas pedal. With the patrol car in hot pursuit they traveled almost nine miles before Tom could pull ahead and force Max to the side of the road.

Believing a man who would try to outrun a patrol car capable of most anything, Tom climbed out with his gun drawn. “Get out of the car!”

Max did nothing.

“Get out of the car NOW!” Tom repeated. He stood to one side, not in front of the headlights but close enough for Max to see the gun in his hand.

“All right, all right,” Max grumbled. He opened the car door and stepped out.

Still keeping his distance, Tom shouted, “Hands in the air!”

Max obligingly lifted his hands. “What’s the problem?”

“You’ve gotta be kidding,” Tom replied. “You went through town doing ninety.”

“Speeding? That’s what this is about?”

“And failure to stop,” Tom said. “Why didn’t you pull over when you heard the siren?”

“I had the radio on,” Max lied, “I didn’t hear no siren.”

“You didn’t see my lights flashing?”

Max claimed he had his eyes focused on the road ahead and swore the only reason for not stopping was that he neither heard nor saw the patrol car giving chase.

“I was trying to put some distance between me and that crazy pawnshop owner.” He explained how he’d been shot at. Acting as if he were the one wronged, he added the sound of earnestness to his words.

“That don’t give you the right to be endangering other people,” Tom said. He holstered the gun, then asked for Max’s license and registration. When everything checked out he handed them back to Max. “The pawnshop owner’s harmless. He’s just overly cautious about being robbed again.”

“Overly cautious?” Max repeated. “He was trying to kill me! You wanna arrest me for speeding, and you’re gonna let him get away with attempted murder?”

After a good half-hour of back and forth, Tom regretted he’d given chase. Max was a fired up nut-ball, and arresting him would mean hours of paperwork on a night that couldn’t end quickly enough.

“Look,” he said, “all this is getting us nowhere. What happened at the pawn shop is just gonna be your word against his, so how about I’ll cut you a break on the speeding and failure to stop violation, and you just move on?”

Although the thought of getting even with Buddha was already set in his mind, right now Max wanted his freedom more. “Yeah, okay,” he said and climbed back into his car. Even as he drove off Max was already thinking about payback.

~

After the night he’d had, Max wanted some relaxation and his first thought was of Maggie Sue Somers. Maggie Sue was the kind of woman who was always up for a good time. She knew how to make a man relax, and right now she was exactly what he needed. He made a left on Elm and headed for the Owl’s Nest.

When Max pushed through the door he’d hoped to find her draped over the bar, but the place was near empty. A young couple snuggled in a back booth, and behind the bar Freddie washed glasses.

“You seen Maggie Sue tonight?” Max asked.

Freddie shook his head. “Not tonight.”

Max fumbled in his pocket for change, then headed to the pay phone.

After a single ring, she answered with a drawl so thick it made a man feel antsy just listening to the sound.

“Hey, baby,” Max said. “I’m at the Owl’s Nest. If you ain’t doing nothing come on down, and I’ll buy you a drink.”

“One drink?” Maggie Sue giggled. “Why, one drink ain’t hardly worth a girl’s time.”

“How about I’ll keep buying long as you keep drinking?”

“Oh, Maxie, you’re such a tease.” She gave another breathless giggle, an unwritten invitation. “Twenty minutes. I’ll get all prettied up.”

“Wear that red dress,” Max suggested, “you know, the one I like.”

After he hung up the phone, Max settled at the bar and ordered a bourbon. “I’m gonna run a tab,” he told Freddie. “So when Maggie Sue gets here, keep ’em coming.”

Freddie rolled his eyes. “You gonna actually pay this tab, or is it going to be another night when you forgot and left your wallet home?”

“Shithead,” Max grumbled.

~

Maggie Sue showed up a half-hour later.

“I thought you said twenty minutes,” Max grumped.

“So I’m a little late.” Maggie Sue flashed a smile and twirled herself around. “Ain’t this worth waiting for?”

She scooted herself onto the stool alongside Max, then ordered rye and ginger. “Double up on the rye,” she added, and Max smiled.