"Yes."
Thornton turned to Lawson. "You believe that?"
Lawson shook his head, grinning. Greer leaned against the cruiser with his arms crossed, chewing gum.
Thornton held the registration up to the sunlight, squinting. "This looks off to me."
"It's not off. It's from the Lexus dealership in—"
"Did I ask you where it's from?" Thornton stepped closer. Close enough that Nicole could smell the cigarette on his breath. "I said it looks off. That means it looks off. You understand that, sweetheart? Or do I need to speak slower?"
Nicole's jaw tightened. "I understand."
"Good girl."
Audrey set her water bottle down on the roof of the car. Slow. Calm. Her voice came out flat. "Sergeant, you've seen the registration. You've seen her license. Is there something else you need?"
Thornton turned to Audrey like he just noticed her. He looked her up and down. Fitted black tee, jeans, sneakers. Then he smiled, the kind of smile that isn't a smile. "What about you? You got ID?"
"In my bag, in the car."
"Go get it."
Audrey reached into the car and pulled out her wallet, handed him her driver's license.
Thornton held it between two fingers. "Audrey Shaw. Same last name, same face." He looked back and forth between them. "Twins."
"Yes."
"Huh." Thornton flicked the license with his thumb. "Two black girls, same face, same car. You know what that usually means around here?"
Audrey didn't answer. She knew exactly what he wanted her to say. Thornton didn't wait.
"It usually means one of you stole it and the other one's along for the ride."
He tossed both IDs onto the ground. The license skidded under the car. The registration landed in a small puddle of oil. Nicole flinched.
"You can't just..."
"Pick them up." Nicole stared at him. "I said pick them up."
Nicole bent down. On her knees on the gas station concrete, reaching under the car for her own license. Her red dress dragged on the ground.
Thornton looked down at her and then over at Lawson. Lawson snorted. "See? That's where they belong, right there."
Nicole froze. On her knees, hands still under the car. She didn't look up, couldn't. Audrey's fingers curled into fists at her sides. Every muscle in her body said move. Her training said wait.
Thornton crouched down to Nicole's eye level. "Let me tell you how this works, honey. I run this town. I run this road. And when I see two girls who look like you driving something they shouldn't be driving, I stop and I ask questions. That's my job. You got a problem with that?"
Lawson leaned against the Lexus, scrolling his phone like this was a lunch break. Greer picked at his nails with a pocketknife, not even pretending to care.
A truck pulled into the station. An older white man got out, saw the scene—two black women standing with their hands visible, three officers surrounding them, IDs on the ground. He looked at Thornton. Thornton gave him a nod, casual, like everything was under control. The man went inside, bought his cigarettes, came back out, drove away. Nobody asked what was happening. Nobody needed to. Two black women, three white cops, a small town in Georgia. The scene explained itself, or at least everyone decided it did.
Nicole pulled the license out from under the car, oil on her fingers, oil on her dress. She stood up slowly.
"No, sir."
"No, sir what?"
"No, sir, I don't have a problem."
"Smart girl." Thornton stood up and turned to Audrey. "What about you? You got a problem?"
Audrey looked at him, straight in the eyes, the way she'd looked at every corrupt officer she'd ever sat across from in an interrogation room, the way she looked at men who thought their badge made them untouchable.
"No problem, Sergeant."
"That's what I thought." Thornton turned back toward the cruiser, then stopped, turned around like he just remembered something. "Actually, Lawson, run these plates. Something about this car doesn't sit right with me."
"Sarge, I already ran—"
"Run them again."
[clears throat] Lawson got on the radio. Audrey could hear the dispatch operator's voice crackling through. She knew the plates were clean. Thornton knew, too. This wasn't about the plates. This was about time. This was about making them stand there in the heat on display for as long as he felt like it.
Greer spit his gum on the ground 2 inches from Nicole's shoe. Didn't say sorry. Didn't even look at her.
3 minutes passed. 5. The sun was directly overhead. No shade at pump number 2. Sweat ran down Nicole's neck into the collar of her red dress. Audrey's black tee stuck to her back. Thornton leaned against his cruiser watching them like they were entertainment.
"Plates are clean, Sarge." Lawson's voice came from inside the car.
Thornton didn't move. He took a long drag of his cigarette. Blew the smoke in their direction.
"Clean, huh?" He looked at Audrey, then at Nicole, then at the Lexus. "Then maybe the car is not stolen, but that doesn't mean they're not hiding something else." He dropped his cigarette and crushed it under his boot. "Lawson, Greer, pin them on the hood."