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father coming in here to get you. I bet he made every cop who was there tell him what you did.”

    Thicker Than Water 27
    Two men, arguing in loud, strident Spanish, brushed by. They had badges on chains around their necks. Another yelling man, pointing a finger at one of the detectives, approached. The detective slapped his hand and yelled back.
    “Hey!” The clerk had returned to her desk, and now she used the microphone. “Take it inside!”
    The three men gave her a look, then shoved through a worn, wood paneled door off to one side, which opened into a large room filled with desks and papers. The clerk watched them, then looked up, made eye contact with Kerry, and curled her finger inward.
    “Officious little—”
    “Dar.” Kerry patted her lover’s leg. “C’mon, let’s get this over with.” She led Dar over to the counter and rested her elbows on its chipped Formica surface. “Find her?”
    “Yeah.” The woman shuffled some papers. “You a relative?”
    “No. Just a friend.” Kerry moved a little closer and tilted her head to see the officer’s nametag. Funk. Hm . “She had a little trouble with her folks.”
    “No kidding,” Officer Funk said. “All right. The bail’s a thousand dollars.”
    Kerry saw the officer’s eyes lift to her and she suspected she was waiting for a reaction. Kerry smiled pleasantly. “Okay. Do you take checks? Credit cards?” She waited a moment and there was still no reaction from the officer. “Animal pelts?”
    “Cash,” Officer Funk replied. “Ten percent.”
    Dar removed her wallet from her hip pocket and sorted through its contents. She removed a hundred dollar bill and tossed it onto the counter. “There.”
    Kerry opened her mouth to object, then realized she didn’t have that much cash on her. She pushed the bill closer to the officer. “There.”
    They stood there while the paperwork was completed, what looked like an eight or nine part form along with a sheaf of other documents. “I didn’t have to sign that many things for my new car,” Kerry commented idly.
    “You weren’t buying it from Dade County,” the officer muttered. “All right. Jack, c’mere. Get me this one from the holding area.” She thrust a piece of paper behind her, and it was taken by a shorter man in uniform, sporting a thick, dark mustache. “This is your receipt.” She pushed a form to Kerry. “She comes up for a hearing in ten days. Make sure she’s there, or you’re in the hole for the other nine hundred.”
    Dar leaned forward. “What is she charged with?”
    The deeper tones caught the officer’s attention and she looked 28 Melissa Good up to find Dar’s piercing eyes pinning her. “Destruction of property.”
    “What did she break?” Kerry asked.
    “Car window.”
    Dar’s brow creased. “Wouldn’t it be cheaper to just pay for the damn window?”
    Officer Funk shrugged. “Her parents pressed charges. Guess they figured the kid couldn’t pay.”
    “Bastards.”
    The policewoman stopped from standing up to put away her papers and peered through the glass at Dar. “I don’t know. If my kid told me she was queer, I might do the same thing.” She shrugged and walked away.
    Kerry turned and met Dar’s eyes, and they looked at each other in silence. After a moment, an inner door opened and the short, male officer appeared, one hand grasping Lena’s arm. The girl was very quiet, her face showing signs of rough handling and her clothes ripped and stained. She looked up and saw the two of them and a look of utter gratitude lit her face.
    “Hey, Lena.” Kerry smiled at her. “C’mon, I bet you want out of here.”
    “Oh.” Lena closed her eyes, then opened them. “You bet your ass I do.” She paused awkwardly. “Um…I mean…”
    “I think you said exactly what you mean,” Dar drawled.
    “Let’s get out of this place.” Her eyes drifted and met Officer Funk’s. “It stinks.”
    They went out through the large double doors and into the