Perfect Partners

She had gotten used to hearing sirens regularly in Seattle.
    Letty gnawed on her lower lip for a moment, thinking hard. She decided she’d better go fish him out of the Anchor and bring him back to the motel before he ruined the corporate image. After all, she had her duty as president of the company.
    Who the hell was she trying to kid? Letty asked herself grimly as she pulled on slacks and a sweater and slid her feet into her loafers. She was not going off to pull Joel out of some tavern because of the Thornquist Gear corporate image. She was going to find him and bring him back before he got himself into serious trouble. She was worried about him.
    Letty slung her purse over her shoulder and went out the door. Joel had said something about the Anchor being only a block away. She hurried down the steps of the silent motel and strode briskly along the sidewalk.
    The light fog cast a menacing gloom over downtown Echo Cove. Letty hitched her purse more firmly onto her shoulder and broke into a trot. This was not downtown Seattle, but the realization that she was out alone at night in a strange place had the overall effect of raising her anxiety level.
    She spotted a neon anchor in the distance a short time later. Relief flooded through her. She began rehearsing exactly what she would say to Joel. She sincerely hoped he was not too smashed to be reasonable.
    Letty noticed the flashing lights on top of the police cruiser as she crossed the deserted street. The vehicle with the logo of the Echo Cove police department painted on the door stood directly in front of the entrance to the tavern.
    Alarm shot through her. With a gathering sense of dismay she rushed toward the door.
    It slammed open when she was only a yard away. Joel came through first. He had his hands behind his back. Letty realized with horror that he was handcuffed. He was closely followed by a man in a police uniform. The officer’s hand was wrapped around Joel’s forearm. He was steering Joel in the general direction of the cruiser.
    Letty’s mouth fell open in shock. “
Joel
.”
    Joel glanced at her. He looked thoroughly disgusted. His gaze met hers and then he raised his eyes toward heaven. “Somehow I knew you’d turn up at just the right moment, boss.”
    Letty stepped into the path of the officer, forcing him to halt. She drew herself up the way she was accustomed to doing back at the reference desk when an especially demanding faculty member tried to bulldoze a member of her staff.
    “Just one moment, if you please, Officer. I demand to know what is going on here. This man happens to belong to me.”
    Joel and the officer stared at her as if she had gone crazy.
    “What was that, ma’am?” the officer said carefully.
    “You heard me. He works for me. I am his employer.”
    The officer nodded politely as comprehension dawned. “Got it. Well, you may own him, but I’m taking him down to the station on account of he just caused one hell of a disturbance. You want to bail him out, you’re welcome to come get him. The station’s two blocks over and one block down, on Holt Street.”
    “Bail him out?” Letty squeaked. “I’ve never bailed anyone out of jail in my life.”
    “Don’t feel obliged to break a perfect track record by doing it for me,” Joel muttered as the officer pushed him into the back seat of the cruiser. “Go on back to the motel.”
    Letty ignored him. “Officer, please, I’m new at this kind of thing. What’s the procedure here? Doesn’t somebody have to press charges or something?”
    “Yep.” The officer, whose name tag read Echler, looked bored. “That’ll be Stan. He called in the complaint.”
    “Who’s Stan?”
    “Owns the Anchor.” Echler slammed the rear door of the cruiser, locking Joel inside. He started around the front of the patrol car.
    Letty rapped on the rear window. “Joel? Joel? I’ll be right down to get you out of jail. Don’t say or do anything stupid. Do you hear me?”
    Joel did not bother to respond to that. He leaned back and focused on the mesh screen that separated him from the front seat of the patrol car.
    Letty realized with a start that he was probably horribly embarrassed. “As well he should be,” she muttered beneath her breath as Officer Echler started the car and drove off. She would have a few things to say to Joel when she got him out of jail.
    But that would have to wait. There were other things that needed doing at the moment.
    Letty swung around and eyed