Chapter 18

Friday Afternoon …

N ow at the station, Doreen parked, looked over at Tammy, and asked, “Are you ready?”

Tammy shuddered and shook her head. “I’ve never been here before.”

“This part’s easy,” Doreen told her. “You just have to tell the truth. Let’s go on in and talk to them.”

“But what if they arrest me?”

“Did you do anything wrong? Did you have anything to do with murder or theft?”

Tammy immediately shook her head and stared at Doreen in shock. “No, of course not.”

“Then I’m not sure what you would be arrested for.”

She lowered her voice. “I work as a prostitute.”

Doreen nodded. “As of now, that’s your former career,” she pointed out, “and, since you didn’t get caught soliciting, can they charge you with that?”

“Do you think so?” Tammy nervously chewed on her bottom lip, wondering just what her options were.

“Pretty sure they can’t charge you for something they haven’t seen you do. Have you ever been picked up before?”

Tammy shook her head. “No, I’ve come close a couple times, but I’ve always run away.”

“Smart. Learning to run at the right time is always a good idea. Come on. This time you have no need to run.” She hopped out, opened up the vehicle, and let Tammy and the animals tumble out. She quickly scooped up Goliath and clipped him onto his leash.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a cat on a leash before,” Tammy said, staring down at Goliath, who was not looking too happy.

“He prefers not to be on the leash, but, where he can get into a lot of trouble”—she tilted her head toward the station—“such as here, then I keep him on a leash. Come on, Goliath. Behave yourself.” But he threw himself on the ground and glared at her. She took two steps, but he wouldn’t budge. She tried to move a little bit forward, giving him a slight tug, and he just stared at her, while she dragged him forward a few feet. She stopped and raised both hands. “That won’t work.”

Thaddeus started to cackle on her shoulder.

At that, Tammy smiled at her and her animals. “They really do control this, don’t they?”

“You mean me?” Doreen asked, with an eye roll. “I try not to let the world know how much control they have over me, but I’m kidding myself if I think I can hide it.”

Tammy chuckled. “I haven’t seen anything this funny in a very long time, so keep at it.”

“Yeah, you’ll find that Doreen has a lot of amusing moments,” Mack interjected from behind her.

Doreen turned and glared at him. “You could help out and call to Goliath.”

He walked over, leaned down, and gave her a big kiss. Then he looked at Tammy, reached out a hand, and greeted her. “Hi, Tammy. I’m Corporal Mack Moreau.”

She stared at the hand proffered and then slowly reached out.

Doreen nodded. “Remember that you are a human being. I don’t care what job you had or how Jed thought about you. You are not less than anyone. You are certainly as deserving of a handshake as anybody else.”

Tears came to Tammy’s eyes. “After you’ve been treated as if you’re so much less for a very long time, you forget what anything else is like.”

“You do,” Doreen agreed, “but you will remember soon enough.” Tammy stared at Doreen, and she nodded. “Yeah, unfortunately I do know what I’m talking about, but thankfully my situation has completely turned around, and I am no longer under the thumb of an abusive man.”

“What about him?” Tammy asked, with a nod toward Mack.

“I’m not under his thumb either,” she replied, with a mischievous grin, as she faced Mack. “I don’t think he wants me under his thumb.”

“No,” he muttered, with a heavy sigh, “although there are definitely times when I want to tell her to stay put and would like to know that she will, but she doesn’t do that very well either.” He burst out laughing at that. “Come on in. We’ll have to ask you some questions.” At that, Doreen went to move forward, and Goliath once again laid there and stared at her.

She let out a breath very slowly, very carefully, and muttered, “Goliath, you are testing my patience today.”

Mack crouched down in front of him. “Hey. Buddy. I haven’t seen you all day. Where were you?” Goliath immediately hopped to his feet, bounded forward, and jumped into Mack’s arms.

Doreen glared at Mack. “You could have done that from the beginning.”

“Yeah, but it was much more fun to watch Goliath get the better of you,” he teased.

When he reached out his arm, she thought he would put it around her shoulders, but instead he was reaching for Thaddeus, who immediately walked up onto his shoulder and tucked up against him.

“Thaddeus loves Mack.”

She groaned. “See, Tammy? This is what I put up with.”

But Tammy was laughing, the delight obvious on her face. “Oh my, you guys are great together.”

“I keep telling her that,” Mack stated, “but she’s still not convinced.”

At that, Tammy looked at Doreen in surprise.

Doreen shrugged. “I just came out of an ugly divorce.”

“Yeah, but that’s out of an ugly divorce, not into one. This guy is amazing,” Tammy noted, having lowered her voice. “You really should snag him up before somebody else does.”

“Thanks for the words of wisdom,” Doreen muttered, with a groan. “You and everybody else keep telling me the same thing.”

“So maybe you’ll wise up and listen.” And, with that snappy retort, Tammy quickly stepped behind Mack and followed him into the station.