Free Details at Ten by Ardella Garland Page A

through my mind.
    “Let me take a look,” Doug said, more to himself than to me, as he carefully examined my forearm.
    I struggled to straighten up a bit and Doug held me close. “Lean on me.”
    It was a great relief to rest and let him help me.
    “It’s not broken. Does it hurt, Georgia?”
    “No, it’s just numb from falling on it, I think.” Umphf! My mistake. I bragged on myself too soon. When Doug raised my arm out-ward, prickly nerves danced beneath my flesh and pain found my elbow. “Awww! Sssssh—take it easy.”
    “Serves you right, coming out here alone!” Doug scolded now that he realized that my injury was minor. “He could have killed you, you know that?”
    “Well, I tried to get help from you,” I shot back. “Where were you? Out—” then I stopped before saying,
with some woman?
My face flushed.
    Doug waited two long beats before saying, “I was out driving one of my friends home. He’s got a drinking problem. His girl called me from a bar because he wouldn’t give up the car keys—that is till I got there.”
    I felt about as big as an extra in
The Wizard of Oz
. Our eyes met and Doug had a glint in his. He was enjoying the fact that I had been a bit jealous. “It was a boneheaded idea you coming out here by yourself, but all in all, you handled yourself pretty well.”
    “Thanks, I guess those self-defense classes paid off.”
    Suddenly our attention was captured by the two cops who were now slowly walking back our way. “Aww, hell,” Doug cursed, “they didn’t get him!”
    Doug began directing the officers. “Okay. Let’s check the immediate area and get an evidence tech down here. Georgia, where was he? And where were you?”
    Doug helped me up and I pointed out the green switch box, the stack of red bricks, and finally the iron rails. “They’ve got half the money—five hundred dollars. I marked it.”
    “How?”
    “I asked the cashier at the currency exchange to give me new hundred-dollar bills and I took nail polish and whited out the word
In,
see?” And I showed Doug the bills I had left.
    “Nice idea, but you need to leave the police business to me.”
    I was too tired to crack back. We waited around for the evidence technician who worked this district. A small, wiry man in jeans, a short-sleeved blue shirt, and dark blue tie arrived in about twenty minutes. He had thick, black hair everywhere, on his head, eyebrows, and wisps coming out of his nose. He grunted out the name, Tillner, and asked me to point out all the places where the suspect was standing.
    I walked him and Doug over to the metal switch box. Tillner opened up his evidence case and inside were three powders: white, black, and black metallic. He also had an assortment of brushes with soft hair that fanned out like the ones women use to apply makeup.
    “Think you’ll be able to lift something?” Doug asked.
    “I’m the master.” Tillner sniffed, then spit as he got on his knees and examined the metal surface of the switch box. “I don’t miss jack. The crapshoot comes later. The print I lift has to match a person with a set on file. The computer will spot the match and spit out a suspect.”
    Doug gently took me by the arm, leading me off to the side. “Okay, Georgia, think. Did you get a look at the suspect’s face at all?”
    “No, Doug, he kept holding me down and turning my face away.”
    “Your mind could be hiding stuff from you. You can’t remember anything distinguishable about him?”
    I shook my head no.
    “Do you remember what he said?”
    “On the phone he asked did I want Butter, and he asked for money, and he told me where to be, and I came. He gave me a piece of Butter’s dress as proof … then the stray cat ran through and all Cain broke loose.”
    “Okay. You need to come back to the station with me right now. I’ve got some mug shots for you to look at. Maybe they’ll jog your memory.”
    “Okay.”
    Doug helped me walk over to my car. “Can you follow me or do