Suspect

Officer Sean Timmons sighed as he parked his cruiser. It had been a long night. Normally, this was a pretty quiet town, boring even. Sean liked the quiet. It was one of the reasons Sean relocated here from Las Vegas. But the night had not been a normal one. First, there was the report about the abandoned car outside of town. The red Ford was idling on the shoulder, driver's door open and no sign of the owner. Sean had been finishing up checking out the owner's residence when he got the call about this incident - a car off the street and crashed on a lawn.

As Sean stepped out of his patrol car, a man wearing only boxer shorts approached him. Sean raised his hand, unsure of the man's intentions. "Just a minute. Stop right there." Sean said in an authoritative voice. The man stopped and put his hands up.

"Officer," Rusty began, "I live here. This woman is crazy. I think she's been stalking me!"

Sean looked over toward the car. "The driver, you mean?"

Rusty nodded. "I've seen her car outside my place before. I used to work with her. She's not sane. She's in her car, talking to her cat."

Sean nodded as if he'd heard this kind of story a thousand times before. He took Rusty's name and radioed the station. Rusty hadn't called the police but he surmised that his nosy neighbor, Mrs. Pryor, probably did. Apparently, she was a bit of a busy-body and kept track of the comings and goings of the street. Her type may be annoying to the neighbors but they can be a police officer's best friend, Sean thought. After verifying Rusty's address, he asked Rusty to step back while he approached the car. Glenda sat calmly, looking at the mirror and chatting. Sean could hear her giggling occasionally. He rapped on the window and waited as Glenda rolled it down.

"Ma'am, please step out of the car."

Glenda calmly stepped out of the car and stood quietly. Her mood was much more sober than Sean had observed seconds earlier.

"Officer," Glenda began, "I'm terribly sorry. I'm very tired and I guess I just lost control of the car. Before I knew it I was up on the lawn."

"Ma'am. The man who lives here seems to think that you've been stalking him."

Glenda smiled to herself, happy that Rusty had noticed her. "Gosh no," she said, innocently. "I mean, we used to work together and I may have happened by once or twice to see if he was interested in seeing a movie or something but nothing more than that. Honest officer." Glenda tried her best to look sincere.

Sean nodded. The homely, beady-eyed woman seemed harmless enough. Maybe she had a thing for this Rusty fellow, but 'stalking' was probably a little too harsh a description. "Okay ma'am. I believe you. But I'm still going to need to write you up for reckless driving and I'd like to give you a test to see if you're under the influence."

Glenda nodded. The only influence she was under was called Rusty and the test wouldn't detect that. "Whatever, you want, officer. I don't want to be any trouble."

Sean wrote up the ticket and administered the breathalyzer. Glenda did not appear to be inebriated. Already, Sean was going over what he would say to appease Rusty. The fellow obviously thought Glenda was a threat. He'd have to handle it carefully, drawing on his years of expertise. Sean wrote up the ticket and handed it to Glenda. "Okay ma'am. Ease yourself slowly off the tree roots and back down to the street. You should be fine."

As Glenda started back to her car, Sean put away his notebook and took a step towards Rusty. An image flashed in his mind - Glenda taking the ticket. Sean turned back toward Glenda. "Uh ma'am?" he called out.

Glenda stopped and turned. "Yes officer? Did I forget something?"

Sean walked over to her. "Ma'am, can I see your hands please?"

Confused, Glenda held out her hands. Sean studied them. He hadn't imagined it. The address of the missing driver was written on her left hand. "Ma'am. I'm afraid you're going to have to come with me."