shepherd changed immediately from ears perked up, mouth closed, eyes sharp to panting happily. He came out of his sitting position to approach Baxter, who crouched to greet him.
“I expect you had the same idea,” said Jake. “Checking on the property.”
“Yes.” Helga looked past him, shining her light into his car as she walked around it. “Is that an open bottle of alcohol in there? No, two bottles?”
Shit. Crap.
“Um…I don’t know what you’re looking at,” he said innocently as Baxter muttered something again, standing upright once more.
“And the keys are in your ignition, Dr. DeRiccio,” she went on coolly. “Looks like you were going somewhere with open alcohol in your vehicle.”
Jake kept his mouth shut and hoped Helga had heard more than Vivien’s side of their breakup story…otherwise, he was in deep shit.
“Mr. James, it appears there’s an entire case of beer from B-Cubed in the conveniently located back seat of this vehicle—not in the hatch—and there are several bottles open in the front seat.” Helga was not amused, and Jake felt Baxter squirming next to him.
Neither of them said anything as Helga continued her circuit of the vehicle, shining her light through each window. Baxter managed to give Jake a miserable look when she was at the back of the car, then he erased the expression when she came back around, looking into the driver’s-side rear window.
“All right, you two—both of you know better than to—”
She stopped abruptly at the sound of a vehicle crunching over the gravel near the front of the theater. They all spun around as a car came into view from around the front. The approaching vehicle stopped suddenly and then, with a sudden roar of its engine, accelerated, turned with a spurt of gravel, and blasted out of the parking lot.
“Shit! Shit!” cried Helga as she sped toward her patrol car. “Butch! Let’s go!”
But she was moving so fast, and the dog was suddenly whipped up into such excitement from the tone of her voice, that when she took off, Butch ran in front of her. She tripped over him and nearly took a header onto the hood of Jake’s car.
Baxter caught her just before she connected with metal. She pulled roughly from his grip, still trying to get to her car…but by then, it was obviously too late.
The other vehicle was gone and the night was silent of any sound but the distant rumble of a car engine.
“Shit!” Helga exclaimed again, and ran to her car anyway. “I’ll be back,” she said to Butch as she yanked open the door. “Watch him,” she said to the guys.
Her dog obviously thought this was a game, as he was running around in circles and barking and generally getting underfoot. Baxter grabbed the dog’s collar to keep him out of the way as the patrol car roared to life and squealed out of the parking lot, sending another spray of gravel shooting toward the three of them.
“Hell,” said Jake, staring after the red taillights. “That was—”
“Quick, get rid of the beer and empty bottles before she gets back,” Baxter said, already diving into the Lexus.
“All of it?” Jake said, shocked and dismayed. “Don’t be silly, she’s not going to—”
“Oh yes she will,” Baxter said, emerging with the two empty bottles. “Dude, I’m serious. Get that case out of there. We’ll stash it somewhere and come back for it later. If she doesn’t find it first.”
A little shocked at his friend’s tight nerves, Jake nonetheless did as he was told. After all, Baxter knew Helga better than he did.
But he wasn’t about to throw the beer away, so he took the case over to one of the Dumpsters and put it on the ground behind it, safely in the shadows.
When he came back, he found Baxter giving Butch another good scratch.
“We could just take off if she hadn’t left him, you know,” he said, standing as Jake approached. “She planned it that way. She is so going to arrest us.”
Jake smothered a laugh, shaking his head. “If you say so.”
“Trust me, I know that woman. I—” He bit off the rest of his words as a pair of headlights turned rather sedately into the parking lot.
Butch perked up—he must have recognized the sound of his mistress’s vehicle—and sat, waiting expectantly with his eyes trained on the police cruiser. By contrast, Baxter sagged a little and leaned back against Jake’s car, arms folded over his middle as if waiting for the axe to fall.
“I didn’t catch him,” Helga