Read Mean Woman Blues for Free Online

embarrassment she even remembered that her last message to him was a cake thrown against his door. And in a way, that was the thing that tipped the scales. Because deep in her heart she knew that Isaac would leave the other woman— if she hadn’t already caught her plane— to come bail Terri out no matter if he was planning to run away and get married first thing in the morning.
    He just wouldn’t be able to stand the thought of Terri in jail. He’d probably do it for any of her current six or eight cellmates without even knowing their names. This was the kind of guy you wanted to see on the other side of the cell door. She might never see him again, she might wear out her welcome sometime in the next two hours, but she couldn’t help it Isaac was the person she needed.
    Once out of the cell and back in the holding tank, she tried him again. A woman answered, accepted the charges.
    “Terri? Terri, this is Lovelace, Isaac’s niece.”
    Niece?
Niece?
Terri was too astonished to answer. He hadn’t cheated on her. But why the hell had he lied about going home to see his mother?
    “I guess you saw me through the window tonight. Listen, Isaac said to tell you he’s on his way.”
    “On his way where?”
    “To bail you out. You poor thing. Did you get stopped for traffic tickets?”
    “Brake tag,” she said, nearly swooning with relief.
    “Oh, you poor, poor thing. I’m so sorry.”
    Terri barely heard her. She was getting out within the hour.
    After their wild goose chase, Isaac and Lovelace had gone home and had a glass of wine. She was flying first thing in the morning and felt the need of a soporific; he was upset.
    He called Terri every fifteen minutes, growing increasingly anxious. He talked his niece into another glass of wine.
    But, finally, as the living room was Lovelace’s bedroom, he had no choice but to leave her to get some sleep before her flight. He read for a while and finally fell asleep. He had no idea when the first call came, but he went back to sleep afterward. The idea that it might be Terri just didn’t penetrate. He’d gotten that kind of wrong number before; he thought nothing of it.
    When the second call came, and he actually heard her name, he snapped to as if someone had yelled “Fire!” It was instantly clear what had happened. Furious with him (maybe broken-hearted, he flattered himself), Terri had gone out and gotten drunk. She’d either gotten into some kind of altercation and been busted for disturbing the peace, or she’d gotten a DUI. Thank God she hadn’t been hurt.
    He got up, pulled on some jeans, and headed for the nearest ATM for bail money, stopping only long enough to tell Lovelace what was going on.
    He took about five hundred dollars, not knowing how much he’d need but figuring that would do it.
    He had never been to Central Lockup, and certainly not at night. Thus, he was unprepared for the knots of shady characters hanging out in front, as if it were a crummy bar. What a weird place to hang, he thought. Why
not
a bar? As he went in, one or two accosted him: “Sir? Need a bail bondsman?”
    So that was it. They were bail bondsmen.
    There was a deputy at the desk. “Have you got a Terri Whittaker?”
    He looked at something, maybe a computer screen. “She’s not showing up.”
    “Theresa. Theresa Whittaker.”
    After about ten minutes, maybe twenty, he finally nodded. “Yeah, we’ve got her.”
    “I’d like to bail her out, please.”
    “You can’t bail her out.”
    “What do you mean I can’t bail her out?”
    “Bond hasn’t been set.” He seemed to take pride in this.
    “Well, can I see her?”
    “Are you kidding?”
    “No. Why?”
    “She hasn’t even been booked.” As if that was supposed to mean something.
    “Well, when will she be booked?”
    The deputy shrugged.
    “Look, when is bond going to be set? Can I get it set tonight?”
    “Not unless you know somebody who has the nerve to wake up a judge. She’ll be in court at ten