The Birthday List(78)

“On edge!” Poppy shot up. “We’re in jail, Jimmy.” Her eyes came to me. “Cole, I can explain.”

“Not now.” I looked down the hallway to see the cop from the front desk coming down with a fistful of keys. “Both of you stay quiet until we get out of here. Then you’ll have your chance to explain.”

Poppy and Jimmy stayed quiet as the officer and I escorted them out of the cellblock. They didn’t mutter a word as I signed their bail papers and the credit card receipt. And they nodded in silence as the officer told them that they had to appear at the arraignment or I’d lose my bail money and they’d have warrants issued for their arrest.

“Where’s your car?” I asked Poppy as we stepped outside.

“At the warehouse.”

“Let’s go.”

I marched back across the complex with Jimmy and Poppy following behind me like children after being scolded by an angry parent.

We went straight to my truck and got inside, with Jimmy riding shotgun and Poppy in the back. When the doors were closed, I took a deep breath, trying to calm down. But not even the white-knuckle grip I had on the steering wheel eased the anger flowing through my veins, and the hold I’d kept on my temper fell to pieces.

“What the fuck were you thinking?” I roared, twisting toward Poppy in the back. “Is checking some goddamn check box really worth a criminal record? Jesus Christ, Poppy. We’ve talked about this. You could get charged with a felony. A felony! That stays with you forever.”

“I know.” As Poppy’s frame crumpled, my anger fizzled.

“This is my fault.” Jimmy came to her rescue. “But we’ve got a plan.”

“A plan?”

Did Jimmy actually think he could beat the system? If we were lucky, these two would only end up with misdemeanors.

“I’m taking the blame for this whole thing,” Jimmy declared.

“Jimmy, no!” Poppy protested. “I pulled the alarm. It’s my responsibility. I won’t let—”

I held up a finger, silencing her rant, and kept my eyes on Jimmy. “Keep going.”

“I pulled the alarm. Poppy and I were at the warehouse. We went to coffee at the place next door, I’ve got the receipt to prove it, and then I told her I wanted to check out the warehouse. I wanted to see how it had changed over the years since I knew who used to own it. We snuck inside and I pulled the alarm. On accident.”

“An accident.” I deadpanned. “That’s your plan?”

He nodded. “Yep. I tripped, grabbed the wall and yanked the alarm.”

I sighed and looked back at Poppy. It killed me to see her beautiful cornflower blues filled with worry. “How about the truth this time?”

She nodded. “Jimmy found out that the sprinkler system had been turned off in the warehouse because they’re getting ready to do a renovation. We went for coffee—that part is true—and then walked across the street to the warehouse. We snuck in and I pulled the alarm.”

“The sprinklers were all shut off, but the alarms were still active.” Jimmy shook his head. “Bad intel on my part.”

Intel. Jimmy was acting like this was some fucking covert operation and he was a secret spy, not something that could ruin my girlfriend’s reputation as an upstanding citizen.

Poppy touched my arm. “We thought doing it this way would be no big deal. That I’d be able to pull a pointless alarm and finish the item for the list without actually committing a crime. Neither of us had any idea the alarm was still active. I swear, this was all an innocent mistake. We didn’t even run after the alarm went off. We just waited until the fire department arrived so we could tell them we’d pulled the alarm. They called the cops and . . . you know the rest.”

“Okay.” I closed my eyes and took a breath, then turned the truck key and backed us out of the parking lot. I used the drive to The Rainbow to think of how we were going to deal with this before the arraignment next week.

Parked in front of the retirement home, I looked at both Jimmy and Poppy, telling them with my scowl that I was in charge. “Here’s what we’re going to do. First, you’re going to tell the judge the truth. All of it. Starting with the list and why you pulled the alarm in the first place. Then you’re going to promise to never, ever break the law again and hope that the judge is a bit sentimental and gives you a fine instead of jail time.” My eyes snapped to Jimmy. “But we’re sticking with the truth here. Not some crazy story.”

Jimmy surprised me when he didn’t argue. He nodded at me and reached back to pat Poppy’s knee. “I’m sorry. I’ll see you soon.”

As he disappeared inside, Poppy climbed over the console and took his place in the passenger seat. “I’m sorry, Cole. I know you’re mad. I know you told me not to do it, but we honestly thought it would just be pulling a switch that didn’t work anymore.”

I took her hand. “I didn’t realize pulling a disabled alarm was an option. I thought you’d want it to be real. If you had just asked me, I could have talked to the fire department and gotten you a whole list of buildings where the alarms didn’t work.”

She hung her head. “I just . . . you’ve been doing so much for me. I can’t keep taking from you.”

Huh? “What are you talking about? And where is this coming from?”