Page 54 - Labelle Gramercy, On the Case

Thrown for a Loss

He’d seen enough movies and TV shows about politicians on trial to
add, insolently, “I don’t remember.”
“Did you hear anything before the buzzer sounded?”
He grinned, an ugly expression for him, exposing a dentist’s
nightmare. “You mean the money on the floor? Yeah, we heard it.”
The lieutenant then asked a strange question. “How much time
was there between that and the buzzer?”
He blinked. “You mean exactly? How the hell would I know?”
“Just answer as best you can.”
“All right! Half a second! Half a minute!” He stood up, driven by
nervousness or a need to act out his anger. “I’m not a timekeeper for
the goddamned cops!”
“Sit down.”
“No! The hell with—”
One moment he was towering over her, right fist balled up and
ready to lash out. The next he landed with a thud back on the bench,
right back where he had been sitting. I blinked. How had she done
that? Somehow, in a blur of motion, she had put him off balance
with one of her legs and simultaneously grabbed his right fist with
her left hand, pushing it past her head as he twisted with his own
momentum. Then her right hand caught his left shoulder and pushed
him down. I couldn’t see exactly what happened because I was so
close, but Curt’s buddies took it all in, you’d better believe it! No
question now who was boss, as the boy winced and shifted on what
had to be a very sore backside.
“Just a few more questions.”
He struggled with his composure, determined not to react to what
was obvious: a woman old enough to be his mother had knocked
him down from a seated position. I don’t recall any techniques of
restraint including that maneuver. She must be a student of some
weird kind of martial arts.
“Now, think back to that moment when the buzzer sounded.
Were you already moving toward the area where the coins dropped?”
“Yeah.”
“Who was with you?”
“I don’t know. Oh, yeah, I know Luke was there next to me,
because when he started running for the money he was holding a

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