Only, very few people ever got the chance to see the inside.
I turned onto the two-lane highway that paralleled the more sedate drive that bordered the lake, then frowned and took my foot off the accelerator as I saw the flashing lights of marked units up ahead. “Shit.”
Ryan flicked a glance at me. “What?”
I grimaced, glancing at my rearview mirror. There was no way to turn around, and even if there was, it would look insanely suspicious. “It’s state police. They must be doing a DWI checkpoint.”
His face etched into a frown as he looked at the distant flashing lights. “Are you sure it’s not some of your guys?”
I continued to slow. “Nope. State police have all blue lights. We have red and blue, as does the sheriff’s office. Shit.” I wiped my hands on my jeans. There was no reason for them to want to look in the back of the truck, but there was also no way to warn Kehlirik to remain quiet and still. This U-Haul didn’t have a window between the cab and the truck. I was just going to have to hope that Kehlirik would wait until I opened the back door to emerge. I didn’t want to think about what would happen if he came out in the middle of about a dozen state troopers.
A wicked grin crossed Ryan’s face. “I dare ya to sic the demon on them.”
I tried not to laugh, but I wasn’t very successful. “Stop that.”
“I double-dog-dare you. I’d love to see them scatter, screaming like little girls.”
“Shut up! I knew it was a mistake to bring you along,” I said, thwacking him on the arm. But the mental image was there, and I couldn’t help but snicker. “Okay, that would be pretty damn funny.” I glanced at him, matching his grin with one of my own and allowing myself to enjoy the brief moment of shared silliness. Then I forced my face into an overly serious expression. “Now, behave yourself,” I ordered, as I slowed to a crawl and joined the short queue of cars going through the checkpoint.
“Yes, ma’am!” he replied, drawing such a dour and stern face that I almost burst out laughing again.
“Why do I put up with you?” I asked in mock despair.
He sighed tragically. “You’re obviously madly in love with me.”
I let out a snort of amusement, even as a silly thrill ran through me. “And you’re obviously on drugs!”
Then we were at the roadblock and I had to school my expression into a less giddy one. I didn’t recognize the trooper who waved me to a stop, but I didn’t have much cause to deal with troopers either. The road we were on was a state highway, which made it the troop’s jurisdiction, though usually the only time anyone gave a crap about that was when there was an accident and we had to decide who would write the report.
“License, registration, proof of insurance,” he recited, tilting his head back to look up at me, which I could tell bugged the crap out of him. I’d worked plenty of checkpoints, and I knew that I liked to be able to see into the person’s car and smell their breath.
I gave him a friendly smile and handed him the rental paperwork, then pulled my license out of my wallet, positioning it to be sure that he caught sight of my badge. I expected him to say something about that, but he didn’t, which only made me more nervous. Not that I was a staunch believer in “badging” one’s way out of tickets or DWIs, but this was one time when it would be seriously nice to just be waved on through. I kept my ears trained on the back of the truck while the trooper looked over my paperwork. Ahead of the truck and to the right, I could see another trooper administering a field sobriety test to a dark-haired young man beside a yellow Mustang. My lips twitched as I watched the man stagger and nearly fall on his face during the walk-and-turn. Yeah, he’d be taking a ride in the back of a car real soon.
I returned my attention to the trooper as he lifted his eyes from the paperwork. He glanced over the truck, mouth drawing down in a slight frown. “Why are you driving a rental truck at midnight?”
I shrugged and smiled. “I worked late today, and this was the only chance I had to get over to my aunt’s house to clean some of the crap out of there.”
The frown stayed on his face. “Have you been drinking tonight?”
“No, I’ve been working a case.”
I heard the sound of claws on metal from within the truck, and it took every ounce of control I had to keep from reacting. I had a brief frisson of hope that it hadn’t been all that loud, that I was aware of it only because I’d been listening for a sound, but I wasn’t that lucky. The trooper’s gaze snapped toward the back, and his frown deepened. “What’s in the truck?”
I gave a sigh. “I think one of my boxes fell over. Look, I’m not trying to be a pain, but I don’t want to be up all night moving this stuff.”