CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
There was a police cruiser parked next to Michaela’s rental.
Trisha looked up at Michaela. ‘What the fuck?’ she said.
Michaela shrugged. They walked over to the cruiser. It was empty, the police radio crackling to an invisible audience. ‘Where is he, or she?’ she asked. There was no one around.
‘Did you lock the door?’ Trisha asked.
‘Yes of course I did. This isn’t our place, remember; I’m not going to take any risks with it.’ Michaela scanned the front of the cabin.
‘So where is the dude that goes with this?’ Trisha pointed at the cruiser.
He appeared around the side of the cabin. Tall, well-built, a bit of a swagger under the heavy police utility belt. Trisha flashed a glance at Michaela.
The officer came forward. ‘You the ladies been staying here?’ he asked.
Michaela nodded.
He hooked a thumb in his belt and towered over them. ‘May I see some identification, please?’
Michaela glanced toward the cabin. ‘May I ask why?’
The officer narrowed his eyes at them both. ‘We’ve received a complaint of trespass, Ma’am. That identification, please?’
Trisha glared up at him. ‘That’s bullshit,’ she said. ‘We’re not trespassing anywhere. We were invited to stay here. Who the hell’s been saying we weren’t?’
The officer trained his gaze on Trisha and curled up his top lip. ‘You were trespassing on the grounds of Glimmer Lodge this morning.’
Michaela was shaking her head. ‘The lodge?’ she said. ‘We weren’t trespassing there. Selena, the old lady, she invited us to have tea with her.’
The officer folded his meaty arms. ‘No Ma’am, that’s not the information I have. According to Mrs. Gardener’s son, you were there uninvited and you upset Mrs. Gardener mightily. He had to take her away and put her to bed. She’s not a good lady, and he is greatly annoyed that you would upset her like that.’ He took out a small notebook and consulted its pages. ‘He states also that you were wandering unauthorized around the property.’ He snapped the notebook shut. ‘Now, perhaps you could show me that identification?’
‘We’ll have to go inside,’ Michaela said, shaken.
Trisha was still fuming. ‘We weren’t doing any harm,’ she said. ‘We didn’t even know we were on their property. I just went for a simple walk. And Selena, Mrs. Gardener, she was pleased to have some company, she said so. We didn’t mean to upset her.’
The officer just stared at her. ‘Identification, please. And if you could tell me how you come to be staying here?’ He indicated the cabin. ‘This is Gerald Curran’s place.’
They climbed the steps to the porch and Michaela fished in her pocket for the key. ‘We’re friends of Dr. Allison Curran,’ she said. ‘She gave me the key and said we could use the place while they were in Paris.’ She held out the key as proof.
The officer disregarded the key and followed them inside. ‘Paris? That would be Paris, France?’
Trisha rolled her eyes. ‘Yeah Einstein, of course, Paris, France.’
The officer turned his gaze to Trisha. ‘So there’s no way of checking your story then, is there?’
Michaela intervened. ‘We have the key,’ she pointed out. ‘And if it is necessary to take this further, Officer, then Mr. And Dr. Curran can be contacted even in Paris, France.
‘We’re sorry we upset Mrs. Gardener, but it was unintentional. And we certainly weren’t aware that we would be trespassing by taking a walk around the lake.’ She stared at the uniformed man. ‘We won’t be going for any more walks around that end of the lake. Will that be satisfactory to all parties?’
He didn’t answer her question. ‘Where are you from?’ he said instead.
Michaela crossed her arms. ‘New Zealand,’ she said.
‘Show me your passport,’ he said. ‘I suppose your visas are all valid and correct?’
Trisha groaned. ‘What’re you harassing us for? We haven’t fucking done anything wrong for Christ’s sake!’
Michaela put a reassuring hand on Trisha’s arm. ‘You’ll find everything in order. If you excuse me, I’ll get my passport for you.’ She turned to Trisha, ‘Trisha, why don’t you get your ID too, so the officer here can get his information and be on his way?’ She looked back at the uniformed man. ‘We don’t want to keep wasting his valuable time.’
She tugged Trisha away into the bedroom where their bags were.
‘What an asshole,’ Trisha said, sitting down on the bed.
‘Yeah, for sure,’ said Michaela. ‘It’s a bit over the top, don’t you think?’ She pulled her passport from her bag. ‘Come on baby, grab your papers for Big Brother out there and let’s get rid of him.’
‘Fuck this,’ said Trisha, but she dug out her wallet anyway.