Page 123 of Sunset Beach
“No. I was going for a walk on the beach. If you want to look in my pockets you’ll see my phone, my house keys and a couple of bucks,” Drue said.
“Name? Address?”
“My name is Drucilla Campbell, and I live at 409 Pine Street, Sunset Beach,” Drue said.
“I want her searched,” Shelnutt snapped.
The cop looked at Drue and cocked his head.
“Go ahead,” she said wearily, raising her arms over her head.
His cheeks glowed crimson as he gingerly patted her down.
“See? No crowbar, no lock picks, no dynamite,” Drue said. “Just a stupid misunderstanding. Can I go now? My knee is killing me and I really need some Advil.”
“No way,” Shelnutt said. “I want her charged with criminal trespass and breaking and entering.”
Drue’s heart sank. She’d really thought there was a good chance she could talk her way out of this mess.
“Okay,” the cop said, motioning toward the hallway. “Let’s go.”
“Handcuffs?” Shelnutt said sharply.
“Oh yeah.” The cop snapped the cuffs around her wrists and led her out of the building and to his waiting police cruiser, whose flashing blue lights had attracted a small gathering of curious guests.
It was barely a ten-minute drive to the Treasure Island police station. Drue slumped down in the backseat, mortified. At least, she thought, at 2:00A.M.it was unlikely that anybody she knew would see her riding to jail in the backseat of a cop car.
“Do you happen to know Rae Hernandez?” she asked the officer.
“Detective Hernandez? Yeah, I know her,” the cop said.
“Any way I could get you to call her?” Drue asked. “I didn’t want to sayanything in front of those guys at the hotel, but she’s kind of the reason I was there.”
“No way,” the cop replied. “She’s off duty, and I’m not gonna be the one calling her at two in the morning. If you know her, you know what she’s like when she’s pissed off.”
“I do know her, and I promise you she’ll be even more pissed off if you don’t let her know I’ve been arrested for trespassing at the Gulf Vista,” Drue said.
“That’s a call that’s way above my pay grade,” the cop said.
After he’d removed her from the cruiser, fingerprinted and booked her, the officer, whose name turned out to be Daniels, handed over her phone.
She stared at it for a moment, trying to think of an alternative, but lacking one, she called her father’s cell phone.
It rang four times and went to voice mail, so she disconnected and tried again. This time, to her great regret, Wendy answered.
“Drue? Do you know what time it is?”
“Yes, Wendy, I do. Can I please speak to Dad?”
“He’s sleeping. We were both sleeping.”
She heard her father’s voice in the background, then heard Wendy again. “He wants to know what the problem is.”
“The problem is that I’ve been arrested and charged with trespassing, and I’m at the Treasure Island police station,” Drue said.
“Is this some kind of a sick joke?”
Before she could answer, Brice came on the line. “What was that last part? Did you say you were arrested?”
