Sterling's Reasons by Joey Light Page B

at Sterling. “She’ll be all right. You don’t have to stay with us.”
    “Did they have guns?” Sterling asked, wondering how close they had all come to death.
    “Said they did. We didn’t take the chance. It’s not worth our lives. Hush now, Sadie. It’ll not change a thing.”
    Sterling felt so sorry for them. It was obvious they had worked hard together for a long, long time, and now two thugs had come in here and changed their lives. More, she was angry with Joe. They’d been violated, and right under a policeman’s nose. He could have stopped all of this, but he hadn’t.
    She couldn’t understand it. It didn’t make any sense at all.
    “Thank you for your concern, young lady. Your husband is waiting for you.
    It’s okay. There’s nothing you can do.”
    Her husband. A natural assumption, but her reaction was not natural. It sent a chill of the unknown up her spine. “I saw them. If you need any witnesses, just call this number.” She handed him her card after she hastily penciled in the number at the cottage.
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    Sterling’s Reasons
    The sidewalk was devoid of Joe. She looked this way and that. Guessing that he’d gone to the car, Sterling squared her shoulders. She gathered her stuff, smoothed her skirt, and headed to where they parked the car. She was furious.
    The thugs had managed to get lots of money and all the jewelry they could scoop up. The poor old folks were so upset and shocked…and scared it might happen again. Their lives would be in a mess for a while. And Joe. Mighty Joe the Cop did nothing. He hadn’t even tried.
    She was angry. She was appalled. She was disappointed. He was in her car behind the wheel. She stopped in front of the shiny vehicle and glared at him.
    “How could you? You could easily have nabbed one of them. At least they would have stood a chance of regaining some of their merchandise.”
    Lighting a cigarette, Joe barely glanced up. “You want to get in the car?
    You’re causing a scene.”
    “I’ll cause one if I want to. How dare you be so complacent when you had the ability to do something? Get out from behind the wheel.” She banged the hood of the Porsche with her bag.
    “I’m driving home. Now, get in,” he ordered.
    She stood a moment longer, trying to regain some semblance of composure.
    She wasn’t sure she wasn’t going to bop him a good one when she sat down beside him.
    He sat silently, waiting. He wasn’t going to listen to any of her bull. He wasn’t a cop any longer and he wasn’t going to take on the problems of the world for the rest of his life. Those creeps would be caught and most of the jewelry recovered. The courts would slap them on the wrist and set them free in a short time, anyway. Stuff like this was somebody else’s trouble for a change.
    He was tired of it. And he didn’t want another investigation. He didn’t want to

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    Joey Light
    answer any more questions. Besides, the old people had to have insurance. It wasn’t his problem.
    She slammed herself into the passenger seat and jerked the seat belt on. “If you’re driving, do it and forget stopping for the movies. I’m not in the mood.”
    Nor was he. Joe shot the car out of the parking space and drove with great concentration. Once on the open highway he let the car cruise at seventy.
    “You’re speeding,” she said nastily.
    He wasn’t sure he liked her temper. She could be just as mad as she was happy and he didn’t want to have to handle that or anything right now. He didn’t like himself. He didn’t like her. The urge had been there. His policeman’s heart and training had told him to collar those two-bit jerks. It was almost another way of punishing himself. To keep from doing it. That realization hit him. He hadn’t thought of his self-imposed isolation as punishment. He hadn’t thought about it at all until this deranged woman had come on the scene. He didn’t have to take any of