Maddock prayed Bones could resist that kind of provocation. He closed his eyes and waited for his friend to respond to the challenge. Thankfully, Bones kept his silence.
“I’m getting tired of waiting. You got five seconds to show yourself before I start sending bullets your way.”
Maddock remained silent. Ramos didn’t know they were there, and if he wanted to search for them, he’d have to pick a side of the room to check out first. Left or right? If he chose badly, they might be able to outflank him.
Five seconds passed, and Maddock heard a light scraping of footsteps. They weren’t loud enough for him to determine the direction in which Ramos was moving. Maddock grabbed a book from the shelf next to him and tossed it over a shelving unit toward the doorway.
The thud of it striking the ground sounded out of proportion to the size of the tome. He half expected the detective to fire a shot in that direction, but the man wasn’t falling for it. Maddock wanted to do something else besides just stand there, but he knew that the worst thing he could do was to move without a definite plan. So he crouched near the end of an aisle where he was hidden by shadows but still had freedom to move quickly if needed.
Then he heard the faintest of whispers.
“Dominos.”
Maddock had to hand it to his friend. Bones’ plan would likely create the diversion they needed to escape. Standing about ten feet apart, they each shoved hard on one of the shelving units. The groaning of metal preceded the toppling of the seven-foot-high structure. It bridged the four feet of aisle on the other side and then crashed into the next unit.
As that unit started to fall, Maddock and Bones bolted for the door. Before reaching it, they heard a cry of surprise, and Maddock hoped that Ramos had been struck by one of the falling shelves. He fumbled with the door handle before realizing that Ramos had locked it from the inside. The man definitely wasn’t dumb. He quickly unlocked it and he and Bones stepped out into a dimly lit corridor.
And found themselves face to face with three uniformed police officers with guns drawn and pointing at the door.
“I’m telling you, you’ve got the wrong guys.” Bones tried to slap the table with his hands, but the manacles allowed him only a couple inches of leverage.
Detective Ramos held a disposable ice pack over a bruise just under his right eye, which had turned a dark purple in the two hours since an unidentified object from the collapsing shelf had struck him. His expression did not convey enjoyment. On the plus side, he hadn’t said a word about Melissa, which indicated the detective had no clue about the role she’d played.
“Bonebrake, I imagine you think you’re funny. We got you boys dead to rights breaking into one of our most sacred landmarks, not to mention destruction of private property and assaulting a police officer. The courts round these here parts don’t take kindly to that sort of thing, and given the judicial backlog, y’all could be our guests here for quite some time. So, how ‘bout we try again and you tell us what you’re really after.”
Another detective occupied the chair next to Ramos. Slight of frame and with short hair and a forgettable face, he hadn’t said a word. Maddock had no doubt who the alpha dog was in this partnership. He jumped in before Bones said something to make their situation worse.
“Detective, I can appreciate what it looks like, but I want to make sure my girlfriend is safe. You didn’t seem to be taking the situation seriously so we decided to look around and see what we could find.”
“So we can add a charge of interferin’ with a police investigation?”
“I’m sorry. You mean you were still conducting an investigation here? I noticed all the crime scene tape is already gone and the fingerprint dust cleaned up.”
“You were messing around with my crime scene, Maddock. By definition, you’re interferin’.”
“Dude, you didn’t even know the records storage room was part of the crime scene,” Bones added.
Ramos’ face went scarlet. “It doesn’t matter.”
Maddock sighed. “Fine, whatever. I told you why we were there. If you’re not going to listen to us, then get us an attorney.”
Ramos licked his lips and raised his eyebrows. “Why? You fellas got something to hide?”
Bones laughed. “Ramos, don’t tell me that line actually works on anyone with a double-digit IQ.”
Ramos showed the first signs of anything other than annoyance by displaying a set of crooked teeth. “Hey, it was worth a try. But seriously, once the lawyers are around, I can’t do nothin’ for you. Tell me this, why did you assault Sarah Abrams yesterday?”
Bones and Maddock shared a puzzled look. Maddock said, “Assault? What are you talking about?”
“You heard me. You expect me to believe there was a break-in and an assault one day and then you boys just happened to break in the next?”
Maddock shook his head. “This is pointless. Attorney. Now.”
Ramos’ hands caused the table to creak as he raised himself from his seat. “Have it your way. You may be here a while.”
The door swung open and a woman entered. “No, Dwayne, they won’t.”
The woman had walked with a slight limp through the door, but aside from that she conveyed nothing but competence. Red hair that hung just below her shoulders, a trace of freckles, blue eyes with the slightest trace of green. She reminded Maddock of someone.
“I want to believe!” Bones exclaimed.
The newcomer rolled her eyes and Maddock realized that Bones had identified the resemblance to Special Agent Dana Scully from the show The X-Files.
She pointed at Bones. “Like I’ve never heard that before. You don’t do too well with the ladies, do you?”
Bones’ eyebrows wrinkled and he looked at Maddock. “The one on TV is much nicer. Smarter, too.”
“If you two are done with your fantasizing, perhaps we could talk about why I’m actually here.”
Ramos snorted. “Boys, this is Lieutenant Sandra Sterling. What a surprise. Yes, tell us why are you here? Last time I checked, this was just the lowly Mount Vernon District Police Station, not Club Fed over in McLean.”
“Dwayne, my friend, I’m about to do you a big favor. I’m about to relieve you of responsibility for dealing with these lowlifes. No thanks are necessary. ” She handed him a sheet of paper which he glanced at before folding it and stuffing it in his breast pocket.
“Us country bumpkins not quite up to your high-tone Park Police standards?”
“Lose the chip on your shoulder, Dwayne. It’s unattractive, and you need all the help you can get in that department. We all know you were raised in the canebrake and pulled yourself up by your jockstrap to graduate from William and Mary. With two break-ins and an assault on National Park property, it was a question of when, not if, we got involved.”
Ramos held her stare for several seconds. Then he shrugged and reached for the key to the cuffs which secured Maddock and Bones to the interview table. Maddock massaged his wrists as he stood, glad to be free of the confinement.
With a move so quick that Maddock barely saw it coming, Sterling slapped a cuff around one of his newly free wrists. “Not so fast, Mr. Maddock. The three of us are going to have a little talk somewhere more private. The cuffs mean that I won’t have to worry.”
Bones held out his arms, palms up. “I like a woman who accessorizes. And you don’t have to worry about us, we’d never hurt you.”
Sterling regarded him the same way Maddock recalled his second-grade teacher looking at a student who tried to eat chalk. “I’m not worried about that, Bonebrake. If one of you tried something and I had to take you down, it wouldn’t look good on your service records. I don’t want that on my conscience.”