Page 58 of Wild Sentinel

Lenny panicked and contemplated his options. He didn't have many. I wouldn't call Lenny old, but he was in his mid-50s, and not in the best shape in the world. He had a bit of a belly. He’d been doing this kind of thing for a long time. But his days of running on foot from the police were likely behind him.

We moved around the pit and walked down the dirt access ramp to surround him.

We had no jurisdiction, and I hoped he didn't do anything stupid. The last thing I needed to do was shoot this scumbag in LA County. I'd have a lot of explaining to do.

Lenny’s hand moved toward the small of his back.

“Don’t even think about it!” I shouted, keeping my weapon aimed at him.

With a frown on his face, he finally tossed the shovel down. Lenny raised his hands in surrender and ate the dirt.

Jack approached and slapped the cuffs around his wrists while I called Detective Mitchell. This was her jurisdiction after all.

"Do you have any idea what time it is?" she asked in a sleepy voice.

"I think you’re going to want to get down here.”

"I'm not having a drink with you. Certainly not now. You’re cute and persistent, which is admirable. But sorry. Does this kind of thing usually work for you?”

"I'm not inviting you for a drink. I found Molly Dean. And I have a suspect in custody.”

"Who is Molly Dean?”

"Well, if you come down here, you can find out. Or we can just leave her body here to rot. It's up to you.”

"Where are you?”

I gave her the location.

Jack pulled on a pair of gloves and removed Lenny’s pistol. A suppressor was threaded to the barrel.

Lenny was smart enough to keep his mouth shut.

Sharon arrived with her partner, George, 20 minutes later. Neither looked too thrilled about being yanked out of bed at this time of night.

Flashlight beams slashed the darkness as they made their way down to us.

Jack handed Lenny's pistol to Sharon. "Pulled that from the perp."

She snapped on a pair of gloves and took it from him. "Did you touch it without gloves?”

Jack shook his head.

"I’ll need both of your duty weapons," George said to us.

My brow wrinkled with confusion. "What for?”

"Because you're out of your jurisdiction. You’re carrying out law enforcement duties like you own the place. You can get your pistols back when you leave the county.”

Neither JD nor I volunteered our weapons.

"I'm not playing around with you. The courts are going to have a field day with this. We’ll be lucky if anything sticks because of you."

"It was a lawful arrest. We’re just two citizens who witnessed the commission of a felony. We had reasonable cause to arrest.”

"You’re out of state with no authorization to act in a law enforcement capacity. Surrender your firearms, or I’ll place you under arrest for unlawful possession."

I shook my head. "As law-enforcement officers on active duty, we have a right nationally to carry concealed.”