Unforeseen Circumstance

Red and blue lights come flashing up behind me. I glance down at the speedometer and notice I’m not speeding. I continue to pull over to the right hand shoulder anyhow expecting him to pass by but instead he pulls up behind me. I sit there dumbfounded, wondering why I’ve been pulled over. A tail light must be out or something and he’s just being a good civilian. Perhaps, just letting me know, giving me a warning.

I look in my side mirror and notice the driver’s side door of the police car open and the male cop stands behind it, crouching down a little with what looks to be a gun drawn sitting on top the door.

“Get out of the car with your hands above your head.” He yells. I sit there startled and a little frightened. This is completely insane! He must have me mistaken for someone else. He yells his demands again as I ignored them the first time around and remain sitting in my car, frozen.

I exit my car, scared and shaking. Hands above my head. I am ordered to place my hands on the roof of my car and not to move. I do as instructed.

The male cop makes his way towards me. I notice he’s a small, pout little guy, a few inches shorter than me. He keys up his mic and says something into it which I can’t make out.

“Hey, little lady.” He says as he returns his gun to his holster seeing I’m not a threat. He begins to give me a pat down. “Where’d you get the car from?”

“I just bought it off the lot, about half hour ago. What seems to be the problem, officer?” Honestly, I just purchased the car about a half hour ago. It’s a used BMW Roadster but they aren’t uncommon around here. It’s not like I’m tearing up the streets in a Lamborghini Huracán. “The car has been reported stolen.”

“Ummm… there must be a mix up of some sort. I can show you the papers, I still have them in the car.”

He motions for me to grab the papers so I do as instructed and reach in, grab them and hand them to him to review.

“Thank you. I’ll be with you in a moment.” He says as he takes them from me and returns to his patrol car. I pace back and forth kicking a small pebble as I wait for his return. For the life of me I can’t figure out what the problem could possibly be.

He returns and advises me the car has been reported stolen and belongs to drug lord Pedro Pérez; someone they have been trying to capture for over a year now. The station has been in contact with the car lot and they have units now on the way to his last know whereabouts.

I stand there with my mouth gapped wide open. How could this have happened and of course it’d happen to me.

“Ummm… I don’t know what to say. I obviously have not stolen it, as you can clearly see I just purchased it. So, what does that mean for me?”

“I’m afraid, we’re going to have the car towed and have it investigated. If all comes back clean, you get your car back. It may take a few days however. Do you happen to have other modes of transportation until then?”

I was so tired of taking the bus, hence why I bought a car. “Well, I could take the bus I suppose.”

“Perfect. Would you mind popping the trunk for a minute so I can take a look? They have been known to hide bodies in the trunks of their cars, you know, their mules.”

I reach in the car and pop the truck. The officer opens it up, gasps and speaks into his mic. “Yup, there’s some here. Lots.” He pulls a little black book out of his front shirt pocket and scribbles something in it before returning it to its place.

Lots? Lots of what, dead bodies? I don’t even want to look, but I bring myself to do so anyhow. As I’m nearing the back of my car to peer inside the trunk, I hear sirens coming up fast towards us and what sounds like gunshots. What now?

An army green Hummer comes flying by, with a couple of cruisers following in pursuit behind it. I dive behind the opposite side of my car to protect myself from getting run over or hit by possible gunfire. The patrol officer whom pulled me over also dives in besides me. Once they pass he stands up, brushes himself off and shuts my trunk. He hurriedly tells me to go straight home and go nowhere else and wait for further instruction; he has to help his fellow unit with the pursuit.

Still having no idea what’s in the trunk, I do as I’m told and get back in my car as the officer peels out onto the road behind me. Once home, I nervously shut off the ignition and ponder whether I should check the trunk, in wonderment of what I might see.

I hit the button and decide to get out and look. Duffle bags. That’s all I see is a bunch of duffle bags, too small for a body to fit in. No… there’s no way it could be what I think it is. I grab a glove from my glove compartment, careful not to leave fingerprints anywhere, and upon further inspection I unzip one of the bags and there’s stacks of money inside. I zip the bag back up, slam the trunk shut. Fuck! I head into the house and wait further instruction like I was told to do.

Nightfall arrives and there’s a light tapping at the front door. The officer that pulled me over earlier this morning, stands there drenched from the rain, water pouring off the brim of his hat.

“Miss Perdue, here are the papers to your car back and I just have to gather the materials out of your trunk and the car is yours to keep.” He waits on the front step, hands in his pockets while I throw my jacket on and grab my car keys.

I hit the button on the remote to pop the trunk. I begin to follow behind him as another male officer pops out of a white, unmarked van I just now noticed parked across the beginning of my driveway and startles me. He opens the back doors and makes his way over to the truck of my car along with the officer whom pulled me over and they begin to remove all the bags from my trunk, two at a time.

I decide to sit on my wet, concrete front steps in the pouring rain and wait for them to finish. I see through the raindrops that one of the officers closes the truck of my car, while another closes up the back of the van. I notice the officer I’ve been dealing with all day make his way towards me, with what looks to be a duffle bag in his hand.

“Miss Perdue?” I lift the top of my hood up away from my head where his view was being blocked, water pouring down the back of me. “I’d like to reward you with $20,000 in the capture of Mr. Pérez. Sorry, for all your inconvenience today and I’d like to thank you for your patience.” I stand up and I grab the bag with one hand as he shakes the other. “Good evening.” He then turns away, gets in the van and they drive off.

I walk into my house, shell shocked from the events of the day. I sit on the couch and place the bag of cash on the coffee table with a thud in front me, pondering what to do with it.

The following day, I walked into the car lot and paid my car off in cash, with $5,000 for me left to spare.