Unsteady.
Poor coordination.
Admitted she knew she was too impaired to continue driving.
0.000 breath alcohol.
Denied drugs.
Medical employee with possible access.
Denise’s face changed at the final phrase.
“Possible access to what?”
“Medication.”
“Did you find medication?”
“No.”
“Odor?”
“No.”
“Observed driving?”
“No.”
“Traffic violation?”
“No.”
“Caller observe driving?”
“I haven’t spoken directly with him.”
Denise looked toward Maya’s car.
“Engine status when you arrived?”
“Off.”
“Keys?”
“Cup holder.”
Denise looked back.
“How long had she been parked?”
“I don’t know.”
Maya said:
“About forty minutes.”
Tyler looked toward her.
Denise asked:
“You set an alarm?”
“Yes.”
“Show me.”
Tyler immediately said:
“Sergeant—”
Denise looked at him.
“I’m gathering facts.”
Maya walked toward the car slowly.
Tyler stayed close.
She retrieved her phone.
Alarm:
5:20 a.m.
Current time:
5:34.
Denise looked.
“When did you park?”
“Somewhere around 4:40.”
“Can we verify?”
Maya pointed toward the grocery entrance.
“There are cameras.”
Denise looked toward Tyler.
“Did we ask?”
“No.”
“Did we call the complainant back?”
“No.”
Tyler’s face tightened.
Denise nodded.
“Okay.”
Then she noticed the handcuffs in his hand.
“You were cuffing her?”
“I was beginning the arrest.”
“Based on what I just heard?”
“Yes.”
Denise looked at him for several seconds.
“Put those away.”
Tyler’s face flushed.
“Sergeant, she failed—”
“Put them away.”
He did.
Maya looked down.
Relief should have come.
Instead she started shaking.
Not from cold.
Her body had finally understood how close the situation came to changing shape.
Denise saw.
“Ms. Thompson.”
“Can you sit?”
Maya laughed weakly.
“I’ve been trying to do that for an hour.”
Denise almost smiled.
“Passenger seat.”
“Not driver’s.”
Maya sat sideways in the open passenger doorway.
Denise asked Tyler to get the caller information.
Then she called dispatch herself.
The store employee returned the call.
His statement was simple.
He had walked past the parked car at approximately 5:05.
Saw a woman asleep.
Knocked once.