Then maybe the car is not stolen, but that doesn’t mean they’re not hiding something else. He dropped his cigarette and crushed it under his boot. Lawson, Greer, pin him on the hood. Lawson moved first. He came from the left, grabbed Audrey’s arm, and twisted it behind her back in one motion.
She dropped her water bottle. It hit the concrete and rolled under the cruiser. Before she could say a word, her face was pressed against the hood. The metal was scorching. Georgia noon in July.
The hood of a police cruiser that had been sitting in the sun all morning. Audrey’s cheeks sizzled against it. She tried to turn her head. Lawson’s hand pressed harder. Don’t move.
Greer grabbed Nicole by both shoulders and slammed her down next to her sister. Nicole’s forehead hit the hood. She gasped, not from the impact, but from the heat. Her hands flew up instinctively. Greer caught both wrists and pinned them behind her back.
Please, you’re hurting me. Good. Then hold still. Thornton stood three feet behind them, arms crossed, watching. He wasn’t sweating.
He was standing in the shade of the cruiser’s open door. Cuff him. Lawson pulled out his handcuffs. The metal clicked around Audrey’s right wrist first, then the left. Too tight.
She felt the edge cutting into the bone. She didn’t say anything. She knew from 8 years of investigating cops that asking them to loosen handcuffs only made them tighten more. Greer cuffed Nicole. She flinched when the metal touched her skin.
The cuffs had been sitting in Greer’s belt, baking in the sun all morning. They burned. “What are we being charged with? ” Nicole’s voice was shaking, but the words came out clear. Years in a courtroom had trained her to speak, even when her body wanted to collapse. Thornton laughed.
“Charged? Who said anything about charges? ” “You can’t detain us without probable cause. That’s lady. ” Thornton took one step forward. Do I look like I care about your big words? Nicole turned her head on the hood.
What you’re doing right now is illegal. This is unlawful detention, and I will. Thornton put his hand on the back of Nicole’s neck, not squeezing, just resting, heavy. His palm covered from her hairline to the top of her spine. He leaned down until his mouth was near her ear.
Say one more word. I dare you. Nicole went silent, her lips pressed together so tight they turned white. She could feel his breath on her neck, warm, wet, smelling like cigarettes and something sour. He held his hand there.
5 seconds, six, seven. Then he pulled back and wiped his palm on his pants like he’d touched something dirty. That’s better. Audrey lay still, her hands cuffed behind her back. the pendant pressed against her chest, trapped between her body and the scorching metal. She’d pressed it the moment Thornton threw their IDs on the ground.
That was 9 minutes ago. Every 30 seconds, her GPS coordinates pulsed to FBI dispatch in Atlanta. A small red light blinked beneath her black tee, invisible against the dark fabric. Nobody saw it. 9 minutes.