"Just let me do the talking," Juno sighed as she fished her badge out. This was going to get her at the very least an unfun bawlout. Possibly, depending on how bad the mood was downtown, a little suspension. She hadn't really done anything wrong, but the story she had to give was a little flimsy.
The air was thick with the sound of horns. Two intersections up, a car had veered to avoid the barreling Cadillac and hit another one going the other way. From what she could see, the crash wasn't bad, but it had traffic tied up. Assuming she could turn the car back on after Malcolm's little Catastrophe Man act, she still wasn't going anywhere for a little while.
And neither was the other police car that had been in pursuit. They pulled up behind Juno and got out. She held the badge up to the window so they could see it, then rolled down her window.
Officer Emmanuel, "Manny" to his friends, Francis stooped over a bit and looked into the car. He took in Juno's passengers, then focused on her as she put her badge away.
"So...what the hell's this about?" he asked, after considering and discarding a few other methods of inquiry. "We've got shots fired...high speed chases...right in the middle of a public school zone."
Juno rubbed her forehead. It wasn't a nervous habit in this case, it was controlling the urge to punch him for being a twit. "I know what we've got," she replied tersely. "I was checking out a house, following up on a report the occupant was missing. There were a couple of tough customers in there. They ran into that Caddy, sprayed gunfire to keep me down, and drove off. I have no idea who they are, or what they were doing there."
Officer Francis frowned. "And...you're off duty?"
"Yeah. It wasn't official business, I'm doing it for a friend. Hasn't been long enough to make a missing persons case yet."
He glanced over the others in the car again. He seemed particularly preoccupied with Logan. "And these are...?"
Juno kept her face straight, even as she grimaced inwardly. Yeah, if Logan didn't scream 'I'm the Muscle' with his face, then she was Tinkerbell. "Also friends. They're helping me out."
Manny didn't say anything, and he didn't have to. Juno knew exactly how it looked. So you were checking out a supposedly empty house for a 'friend,' minding your own business when two guys shot at you and dived into a car to make a getaway? Why'd you bring two tough-looking guys with you to check an empty house? What did you think was going to be there? Why didn't you get us involved if you thought there was going to be trouble? And who's the girl on the motorcycle? Another friend?
"Look," she said more quietly, "it'll all be in the report. Short form: I had no reason to think anything like this would happen. I figured it was an angry boyfriend or something. If I'd had even...an inkling that guns and black cars were involved, I'd have taken it straight to the front desk."
Manny nodded after a second, though he still had his 'cop face' on, so he didn't let it slip whether he believed her or not. He surveyed the jammed up intersection ahead and shook his head.
"I hope this was for a good friend," he remarked. He didn't add, because this is going to cost you. It was clearly implied.