Page 59 of Fallen

“Well, you were.” He smiled back and cocked his head. “Are you Dan and Rhoda’s girl?”

“They’re my parents.”

His eyes landed on her English clothes. “If you don’t mind my saying, you don’t look very Amish tonight.”

She laughed. She almost told him she was on rumspringa, which wasn’t quite true, but thought it might lead to a question about her drinking. Better to play it safe. “I had to work today,” she said. “Then I went to the movies with my girlfriend.”

“Yeah? What did you see?”

“Twilight.”

“I hear that’s a good one,” he said.

She began to relax. For a police, he seemed like a nice guy. Laid-back. Reasonable. Hopefully, he wouldn’t give her a speeding ticket.

He stepped back and looked at her car. “Never seen an Amish girl driving a car alone on a back road at one o’clock in the morning.”

“I’m on my way home.”

“Parents let you stay out this late?”

She laughed. “I’m kind of late.”

“They wait up for you?”

“I hope not!” She laughed again and she thought maybe he liked her and had decided not to write her a ticket. All she had to do was be nice and polite. Charm him a little, the way she saw the English girls do. She was home free.

He laughed, too, then came closer and leaned in. “You been drinking tonight?”

“I don’t drink.” She punctuated the statement with a laugh, but she didn’t miss the nervous tick at the back of her throat. “It’s against the rules, you know.”

“Huh.” He scratched his head, looked around. “That’s what I thought.” Grimacing, he turned back to her and sighed. “I still have to check. You know, do my job. Would you get out of the vehicle? This won’t take too long.”

Rachael didn’t move. She didn’t want to get out. Didn’t want this to go any further. But what could she do?

“But I haven’t been drinking,” she said. “I just … want to go home.”

“It’ll be all right.” He reached for the door handle and opened it for her. “Come on, now. A quick sobriety test and then you’ll be on your way. I’m sure you’ll do fine.”

“Oh. Well.” Not knowing what else to do, Rachael got out of the vehicle. Feeling self-conscious now. Nervous because she thought he probably knew she’d lied to him. That she’d been drinking and maybe he wasn’t her new best friend after all. What was she going to do if he wrote her a ticket? Or worse, took her to jail? What would she tell her parents? What if they had to bail her out of jail? How much would it cost them?

“Here’s what you need to do,” he said, indicating the painted line on the shoulder of the road. “Put your arms out like this.” He demonstrated. “Take nine steps, one foot in front of the other, heel to toe. When you reach nine steps, put your head back like this.” He tilted his head back so that he was looking up at the night sky. “And touch your nose with your index finger.”

Rachael took in every word, a little relieved because she thought she could do it. If she could remember all those instructions. The truth of the matter was she had been drinking and she wasn’t exactly at the top of her game. Surely she could manage something so simple. Then she would drive straight home. Even if she got a ticket, she could pay for it herself. Her parents didn’t have to know. No one had to know.

He leaned against her car and crossed his arms at his chest. It was as if he was settling in to watch a movie or something. When she hesitated, he raised his brows. “Go on,” he said.

Feeling self-conscious, she walked to the painted line. She took a deep breath, stretched out her arms, and began to walk, heel to toe. Two steps in and she lost her balance, missed the line by a few inches. It was the heels, she realized. She looked back at him. “It’s the shoes. May I take them off?”

He was already coming toward her, reaching for something in his belt. Alarm swirled in her gut when he pulled out what looked like handcuffs. She raised her hands, felt the tears spring in her eyes. “I can do it. It’s just that these heels are—”

He reached her, set his hand on her arm, slid it down to her wrist. “I’m placing you under arrest for drunk driving.”

Alarm spiraled inside her when the cuff encircled her wrist. He snugged it tight. The metal hard and cold against her wrist when it clicked into place.

“Please don’t arrest me.” She tried to sound calm, but panic rang in her voice.

He took her other hand, pulled it behind her, and cuffed her. “Do you have any weapons on you? Anything sharp that I should be concerned about?”