Officer Shot looked up from his book just in time to see Cat walk down the side of the house. I gotcha now, girly.
Cat knocked on the back door. Widow Johnson came to the door. “Cat! My land girl, what’a doing?”
“I brought you some meat.”
“You shouldn’t have. You’re gonna get yourself in trouble.”
“I’ll be all right.”
Cat set the backpack down and started putting the meat on the table. Widow Johnson got a knife and freezer bags. “The boys are sure gonna be happy, but you’re taking a big chance coming this early, especially with that game warden after you the way he is.”
“Ah, don’t worry, hard to outsmart me.”
The back door opened. Officer Shot came busting into the kitchen. “Hold it right there! I finally caught you, girly!”
“Oh yeah, where’s your search warrant?”
“Don’t need one, probable cause.”
“For what?”
“Illegal deer meat, I knew you were no good.”
“I didn’t do anything illegal.”
“Yeah, right, get your hands behind your back.” Shot put handcuffs on Cat.
Widow Johnson walked toward Cat. “Why you picking on this girl?”
“Shut up and get back, or I will charge you too.”
Cat looked at Widow Johnson. “Don’t worry, I’ll be all right.”
“Shut up, girly.”
As Shot walked Cat out of the house, she turned to Widow Johnson and winked. Widow Johnson smiled to herself, wondering what Cat was up to. Shot put Cat in his truck, fastened her seat belt, and drove off.
*****
Judge Bean sat down to eat a steak and fried potatoes. “Finally, I get to relax and eat a decent home-cooked meal.” After taking his first bite, he said, “Not bad if I say so myself.”
The phone rang.
“Now what?” He answered the phone, “Hello.”
“You let that girl go!” summoned the voice on the other end.
“What are you talking about?”
“Cat! That hotshot arrested Cat. Now you let her go!” continued the voice.
“I don’t know what you are talking about. I just got home…trying to eat my supper.”
“You get to town and release her.”
“Calm down. I’m on my way.”
Judge Bean put his supper in the oven. “Never fails.” As he was getting his boots on, the phone rang again. “Hello.”
“What you mean arresting Cat?” bellowed the caller.
“I didn’t arrest her. I’m heading to town now.”
Judge Bean hung up the phone, and it immediately started ringing again. “I’ll let voice mail get it.” He grabbed his coat and picked up his cell phone. It already had five text messages and six missed calls.
“Oh, this is going to be a long night!”
*****
A small crowd was forming around the jail when Shot and Cat showed up. He took her inside and locked her in the cell. The crowd booed Shot as he retrieved the backpack from his truck.
The crowd had grown by the time Judge Bean got to town. As he got out of his car, he heard, “Let Cat go.”
He walked into the office. Officer Shot was sitting at Judge Bean’s desk with the backpack.
“First thing, get out of my chair.”
Officer Shot got up. “I told you that girl was no good.”
“Okay, tell me what happened.”
“I was at the store when I heard one of the widow’s boys ask when Cat was going to bring them some more deer meat, so I staked out her house. Pretty soon Cat shows up with this backpack. I went inside the house, and they were cutting up the meat to put it in the freezer. That’s when I arrested her.”
“You just can’t leave her alone, can ya?”
“She was breaking the law.”
“All right, sit while I go back and talk to Cat.”
“She’ll lie to you.”
Judge Bean went back to talk to Cat, wondering how she could’ve let Shot catch her. “What’d you do? I told you to be careful.”
“All I did was take some beef that Mike had bought to Widow Johnson’s place.”
“You… Mike did what?”
“Widow Johnson told me she was out of meat, so I told Mike. He went out and bought some beef. I put it in my backpack and took it to her. Then Officer Shot shows up, busts through the door, and starts yelling that I had done something illegal.”
“Did you tell him that it was beef?”
“No, he didn’t give me a chance. He just kept yelling about how he finally caught me.”
“If I had to guess, I’d say this was all Mike’s idea.”
Cat didn’t say anything. Judge Bean walked back to the front.
Judge Bean opened the door and looked at the crowd. This could get ugly. So this is how Matt Dillon felt. He walked out of the jail.
“Everybody, calm down.”
A voice from the crowd, “As soon as you let Cat go.”
“Give me a minute.”
The crowd had grown even larger than when he had entered the jail. Mike was standing by Cat’s parents. Betty turned to Dave.
“What are we going to do? I knew she would get into more trouble, now she’s in jail.”
Mike turned around. “Don’t worry. She’ll be out in no time.”
Judge Bean spotted Mike. “Mike, get your ass in here now!”
Mike turned to Dave. “Might as well come with me, y’all don’t want to miss the show.”
Mike, Dave, and Betty went inside. Judge Bean shut the door.
“Take a seat.”
As Betty sat down, “What’s this about?”
“That’s what we’re gonna find out. Officer Shot, why did you bring Cat in?”
“I caught her with illegal deer meat at the widow’s place. The evidence is on your desk.”
“I see.”
“It’s all right there. I told you she was up to no good.”
“So how did you catch her?”
“I staked out the widow’s place.”
Betty stood up. “Don’t you have anything better to do than picking on girls and widows?”
Judge Bean pointed to the chair. “Calm down, Betty, take a seat. We’ll get this sorted out.”
Officer Shot continued, “I saw Cat with a backpack go into the widow’s house. I waited for a bit, then I went inside.”
“So you just walked in with no search warrant.”