6
The deputy looked at me as if I’d proposed a lewd and lascivious act. He said he’d appreciate it (“Ms. Brennan”—that’s never good, when they know your name) if I’d follow him to the Sheriff’s Office. I’m not sure it would have remained merely a suggestion, or that I would have been driving my own vehicle, had I shown my usual degree of tact. But since I’d planned to stop there next anyway, it didn’t seem worth my while to annoy an officer of the law.
Back in the car, I dug my cell out of my purse, certain the rental car clock must be wrong. Damn—it really was three o’clock; no wonder I was hungry. I’d have to watch my mouth, there being a strong correlation between my ill-advised utterances and borborygmi. I put on my sunglasses and released my brain-squeezing ponytail, then scavenged
