Of all her siblings, Kyle was the most intense, sometimes hard to read. He sighed heavily, scrubbing his hand over his face before leaning forward, placing his forearms on top of the table, his hands also clasped together. “I know you, sis. No, I don’t think you have anything in your car. I’m just pissed that of all the people I know in the school that have shit and deal shit, you have to be faced with this because the dogs reacted.”
Her brow furrowed as she tried to imagine the scene in the parking lot. “They’re trained to just sit when they smell something, right?”
Nodding, he said, “Yes. Generally, it’s with drugs but there can be other things that might confuse the dog, so that’s why we check it out.”
It only took a few minutes for the other officer to come back into the room, but each moment felt like an eternity. The battle between throwing up and passing out was real. He laid Caitlyn’s keys on the table while shaking his head. “Nothing was found.”
Even though she knew that there were no drugs in her car, she could not hold back the air rushing from her lungs.
“The dog reacted to a scent in the back seat, not the trunk. But, upon close inspection, there was nothing to be found.”
While his words were exonerating her, she could not help but feel that his tone was implying guilt.
“Have you carried anything in your car that you think might have caused a reaction?” Carter asked. “Anything from someone else?”
Jerking slightly, her eyes widened as she looked at them. “I just had my car filled with potpourri, scented candles, and herbal tea for the Fundraising Fair. Good grief, all of that essential oils, dried herbs, various flavors, and scents has made my entire car smell strange but also very citrusy and grassy!”
Kyle jolted, his eyes wide. “All that crazy smelling stuff you were selling? Hell, no wonder they reacted.”
“Yes,” she groused.
He, Carter, Robert, and the other officer all nodded, their stances relaxing, as well. Seeing Kyle’s face after she’d given her explanation made her love her brother even more. He trusted her, hated that she’d been put through this, but was relieved as fuck that there was a good reason. Carter grinned widely, his expression going a long way to helping quell the nerves still jumping around in her stomach.
The other officer who was writing looked up. “I’m taking all this down, and we’ll just need you to sign it.”
Carter stood, and as he walked out of the room reached over to squeeze her shoulder. “I know that was nerve-wracking. Sorry to put you through that. I’ll see you at the next family dinner, okay?”
She twisted her head and looked up at him, plastering a wide smile on her face. It’s not that it was fake, she truly loved her brother-in-law. But right now, her skin felt prickly as anxious nerves continued to slither over her. “It’s okay, no worries. And yeah, I’ll see you at the next family get-together.” She watched as he and the other officers walked out of the room, probably to go question someone else.
Blowing out a breath, she signed the form the officer held out to her after reading it over. Looking up, she noticed Kyle remained in the room although he shifted to a chair closer to her. It was on the tip of her tongue to ask if he didn’t have someone else to go question and terrorize but she knew that was petty. He had a job, and truth be known, she wanted him to help rid the drugs from her school. But, still raw, she sat waiting to see what else he was going to say, her gaze roving over him. Her three brothers were so similar in appearance, it was easy to tell they were siblings. But where Rory often had a smile on his face, and Sean had a benevolent maturity, Kyle had always been more of a loose cannon, and yet, one of the first to jump to her defense and make sure he was taking care of his baby sister.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Kyle, my car was so crammed with scented everything this past weekend that I’m not surprised the dogs trained for sniffing drugs reacted. But you’ve got to cut me some slack. Getting called down to the office at the end of the day, being questioned by the police, and knowing that the police are searching my vehicle was all a bit nerve-wracking.”
He reached over and held her hand. “I’m sorry, sis.” He stood and bent, kissing the top of her head before she stood and they wrapped her arms around each other.
“Don’t be, Kyle. You’ve got a job to do and I’m glad you’re here doing it. I know kids are using and dealing. And I’d like that shit out of my school, so if I have to be a little uncomfortable during the process, that’s okay.”
They walked out together, then said goodbye. She had no desire to go back up to her room, so she headed out to the teachers’ parking lot. Approaching her car, she had the strange feeling of violation. Ridiculous, since the only thing they did was take a look inside her car and let the dog sniff. And yet, her insides still twisted and turned.
“Caitlyn!”
She turned at the sound of her name and saw Renée and Barbara hurrying toward her. A smile met her lips, the first real one she’d had in almost an hour. “Hey,” she greeted, her voice weary.
“Are you okay? We heard they were searching a lot of vehicles,” Barbara said.
Renée glanced toward her car before shifting her gaze back to Caitlyn. “What do you think it was?”
“I heard there were at least four cars where there was nothing but lawn grass or insecticides,” Barbara continued. “Although, there were about six kids who had drugs or drug paraphernalia in theirs.”
“It must have been all the stuff I brought to the fair,” she replied.
Renée snorted, then winced. “Oh, my God. I’m sorry, but I just thought of how all that incense must have driven those dogs’ noses crazy!”
“You’re right. I had candles, potpourri, herbal tea. All those scents mixed together in my car must have set the dogs off.”
The other two women nodded before Caitlyn hugged them goodbye. Climbing into her car, she heaved a sigh before pulling out onto the road. She tried to maintain the air of nonchalance but to no avail.
Arriving at home, she parked and looked toward the house, her gaze landing on Griffin and his crew working on the porch at the side of the house, Russ with them. Suddenly, hit with a thought, she jolted. Russ’ backpack! His backpack had been in my car also!
Having no idea what to do, she climbed from her car, offering a weak smile when Griffin waved. Her smile faltered when Russ turned and looked at her, a slight grimace on his face. She forced the corners of her lips to lift again before heading to the front door.
She’d barely made it through the front door when Margaretha's door opened and her name was called. “Caitlyn, my dear, come and have tea with me.”
She hesitated for a few seconds, battling between the desire to go home, break out the wine, and hide from everyone, or sit with her sweet landlady and let Margaretha’s tea and cookies make life seem a little better. Her shoulders slumped, tea and cookies winning out. After all, I can have wine later.
Stepping inside, she felt the stress of the day ebb as she was ushered to the sofa, the tea set already on the coffee table along with the plate of cookies. Sinking into the soft cushions, she breathed in the scent of Margaretha’s soft perfume blending delightfully with the apple-spiced tea. “I love the smell of your place.” As soon as the words left her mouth, she scrunched her nose and said, “I suppose that sounded really weird, didn’t it?”