Execution Style by Lani Lynn Vale

hold up under Miller’s scrutiny.
    “Baby, are you okay? Do you need me to call the police?” Sarah asked in her nail-against-chalkboard voice.
    I’d hated that voice for eleven years now, and if anything else, it’d only gotten more annoying.
    My hands tightened on Miller’s arm, and he finally looked down at me to see what was wrong.
    His eyebrows lifted when he saw that my eyes were directed to the woman over his right shoulder. Which caused him to turn slightly to keep both of them in his sight.
    Taking me right along with him.
    “I am the police, lady,” Miller snapped.
    Sarah raised her eyebrows at me. Those perfectly sculpted in black pencil eyebrows that I’d wanted to rip out for my entire life arched like they did when she was about to say something snotty, and she didn’t disappoint.
    “Well,” she said in a huffy, fake Southern voice. “It’s obvious that , if you’re with her,” she said, pointing at me. “Then you’re not a worthy police officer. Surely you could find someone that hasn’t been used so… thoroughly .”
    I started forward almost before I even realized I was moving, startling both Miller and Sarah.
    My hand cracked across her face with a sharp ‘ clap ,’ causing her head to whip around comically.
    Heh, I hadn’t ever slapped someone before, but damned if it hadn’t felt freakin’ awesome ! My hand stung slightly, but overall it didn’t hurt like I’d seen in movies.
    And during my contemplation of this, Sarah had tried to retaliate, but Miller stopped her before her hand could move more than a foot from her body.
    I smiled secretly inside, nearly dying in laughter as she gave Miller the most venomous look she could muster with her face streaming tears and a red hand print over her face.
    Devon, who’d been watching in silence, finally started forward when Miller had Sarah’s wrist pinned to her body.
    Miller started to move her away from me, but Devon, not one to be shown up, threw himself into the fray.
    “Get your hands off my wife!” Devon roared.
    “Oh, dear,” I said, pulling out my phone and calling Foster.
    I could see this going into dangerous territory really quick, especially with the way the citizens dining in the café and standing outside started to encircle us, their voices rising.
    “Hello?” Foster asked questioningly.
    “Uhh, hey this is Mercy. Your brother and I are at Catfish Charlie’s, and we have about fifteen people surrounding us. I think we need some backup,” I said hurriedly.
    I could hear Foster move in the background, and then what sounded like a door slamming shut, followed shortly by the sirens turning on in the background. “Be there in less than two minutes. Keep me on the line.”
    He sounded exactly like his brother with his bossiness.
    Keep me on the line.
    As if I would’ve done anything differently!
    Soon the crowd went from fifteen people to even more, and I was pushed back until I wasn’t even within arm’s reach of Miller anymore.
    Knowing he’d be able to handle the situation better if I got myself out of the way, I moved until I was behind the swinging door that led behind the counter, and then went even further to back into the space between the ice machine and the cash register.
    I could still see everything that was going on, but they couldn’t get to me unless they jumped the counter.
    Which I didn’t think they were going to do since they all seemed interested in was Devon yelling at Miller to let his wife go, all the while his wife tried to slap Miller for ‘assaulting her indecently.’
    “You’re trouble,” an older male’s voice said from the window that led into the kitchen.
    I looked up to find Jimmy-John, the owner of Catfish Charlie’s, looking at me accusingly.
    I held up my hands and said, “I didn’t have anything to do with it!”
    He shook his head. “Mercy girl, I’ve known you since you were barely old enough to stand. You’re always in the middle of everything, whether you mean