A lawless man

Chapter one continuation part2

"Ow, dammit, "he cursed as he cradled his injured hand in his good one. He made his way back around the front of the car,eyeing the woman in the driver's seat suspiciously. Some college kid,he guessed. She gazed back at him steadily, but looked plenty worried. Which of course was fine with him. Why should she be comfortable when he was feeling so agitated himself?

When Richmond stood beside the driver's side window once again, he squared his shoulder resolutely flexed the fingers of his injured hand and stated, as if the past several minutes has never occurred, "License and registration. " The woman beside him smiled nervously again, then reached across the seat and began to pick through the gloves compartment. He watched her intently, assuring himself his interest was only idle curiosity. The way her yellow Tshirt strained against her back let him know she wasn't wearing a brasserie, and his eyes lingered at the waistband of her faded blue jeans before dipping lower to inspect the slight flare of her hips. He Was still considering that fact when she turned back around and caught him ogling her,and her triumphant expression at having found her registration quickly turned sour.

"See anything you like? " She snapped.

Richmond reached for the registration without comment, then extended his hand for her License, as well. The woman slapped it into his palm silently, her eyes flashing with a combative fire. After he'd scanned both documents, he asked, "Mrs King, do u realize how fast you were going back there?" "About thirty-five? "She asked hopefully. "Try forty-five. "

she shook her head vehemently. "There’s No Way I could have been going that fast. I......"

"Forty-five in a school zone,"he clarified further.

"A school zone? that's not A school zone. Not now, anyway. not at noon."

"Yes, ma'am,at noon. A lot of those kids go home at lunch. "

Well, this was the first Noah had ever heard of that. Of course, she didn't normally drive this way when she was meeting with her brother for lunch, but since she'd been running so late, she had opted to try for a shortcut. She was about to explain to him, but Officer Rowan Had disappeared with her identification, and she realized belatedly he returned to his motorcycle, presumably to run a check on her. The thought that he could be suspicious of her character insulted Noah as much as anything else he'd said,and she fumed silently as she awaited his return.

"Officer, I can explain, "she said what the policeman stood beside her window once again. He said nothing in reply, but raised his left eyebrow in that a curious way again. The gesture, along with his silence indicated to Noah that he was at least willing to listen.

" I was running late for an appointment, " she began. She could tell immediately that she'd lost him with that. No doubt he'd hoping for something really creative and juicy that she was being followed by Body snatching pea pods from outer space, or was on her way to meet Elijah, who had been spotted working as a pastry chef at the local thrift bakery. Officer Rowan dropped his gaze back to her License and registration, then pulled a ticket book from nowhere and began to write.

"No really, "she said, trying again. "I was supposed to meet my brother, Tyson, twenty minutes ago, and he hates to be kept waiting. Actually, he's kind of a jerk, but it’s only because he's so insecure. If I told him that, though, he'd Go through the roof. Besides, I'm always late when I'm supposed to meet my brother. I suppose that psychologically significant, but, then,How many brothers and sisters get along, you know? Of course,Tyson would probably blame my always being Late on the fact that my parents divorced sixteen years ago, and then he'd ask me if I ever called that analyst he recommended, and I just don't want to get into that with him again......."

Noah's voice trailed off when she realized how hysterical she was beginning to sound. Honestly,the moment she got nervous, she always started running off at the mouth like nobody's business. When she was that Officer Rowan was no longer listening, she tried a new track.

"Would you believe I was being followed by aliens? "

His pen paused about halfway down the page on which he was writing, but he didn't look up.

"Or that I was on my way to meet......? Oh, never mind. "

The pen began To scratch back and forth again.

Noah sighed. This was just what she needed. She couldn't afford to be late meeting Tyson. She couldn't afford another one of his long winded momologues about how badly she'd screwed up her life since her divorce. Most of all,she decided further when Officer Rowan struck the ticket book and pen under her nose with a silent demand for her signature, she couldn't afford a seventy-five dollar speeding ticket.

"Seventy-five dollars?" She cried when she saw the total.

Officer Rowan remained his usual stoic self as he nodded. Noah felt moisture forming under her arms and between her breasts, noted that he still seemed as cool and collected as ever, and wondered what it would take to make him break into a really good sweat.

"Yes, ma'am. Seventy-five dollars is the fine for going twenty miles an hour over the speed limit in a school zone."

"But I told you I wasn't going forty-five. "

"And I told you that you were."

Noah narrowed her eyes at him fitfully. This was not going well not well at all. She'd always had a problem with authority figures, ever since she'd been sent to the principal's office in first grade for throwing spitballs at Boston burgess, even though Boston had started it. That probably what had gone wrong with her marriage. Not that she trew spitballs, of course, but that her ex husband had always pulled an authoritative routine that had nearly driven her mad.

"Well, I can't afford seventy-five dollars, " she told Officer Rowan, handing back the ticket and pen without signing, as if in refusing her signature, she would no longer be responsible for her transgression. "Sorry."

But instead of taking the ticket back, Officer Rowan only continued to stare at her. "You could always opt for traffic school, " he suggested.

"Traffic school, " Noah repeated. "I've heard about that. Isn't that where they put you in a dark room and show you that gory, horrible film about reckless driving, with children getting decapitated and animals being run down mercilessly until there's nothing left of them but only an oily spot on the road?" She thought for a moment. "Or do the animals get decapitated and the children get run down.....? Well, anyway, thanks, but I can see that stuff at my local cinema at my own convenience. I don’t think I want to go to traffic school. "

She noticed a slight twist in Officer Rowan's jaw before he set his teeth more completely on edge. He bent forward until his face filled the driver's window, and suddenly Noah wondered what madness had overcome her to make her spar with him in the first place.

"Well,then, Mrs King, " he said in a low, level,utterly dangerous voice," in that case, i could take you downtown in handcuffs right now and tell everyone you resisted arrest."

Noah opened her mouth to argue, decided quickly that such a reaction will get her nowhere except maybe booked into a Suite at the Hoosegow Hilton then scrawled her name illegibly on the ticket beside the place where officer Rowan had so thoughtfully provided her with an X to mark the spot.

"I'm going to argue with the judge over this, you know," she assured her tormentor as she handed the ticket book back to him.