"Is that too tight?" I asked.
Sandra tried to move her wrists and was satisfied that she still had circulation, "No, no, that's fine."
"Alright then, let's go, we've got a lot of miles to cover and I'd like to get on the road." I firmly griped her upper arm and escorted her to my Ford Bronco outside. She hesitated at the door of her tiny apartment and held the cuffs up, "the neighbors." I took a jean jacket she had hanging on a coat tree and draped it over her cuffed wrists.
"Thanks" she said, "at least you got heart."
"And a lot of muscle too," I holstered my Colt .45 A1 in the holster I have at the small of my back and let my shirt dangle over it. When you're taking in a Bail Jumper it pays to respect the neighborhood there are in, who knows what trouble might be lurking in the neighboring residences.
The harsh Nevada sunlight bounced off the desert patina and burned itself into my retina before I got my sunglasses on. I still saw a large yellow dot in front of me by the time I got the truck and placed Sandra inside. As a precaution, I took a second pair of hand cuffs and looped it through the passenger door handle, just in case she got any ideas. It was just a precaution, she was wanted on a possession beef back in Los Angeles and we were on the north side of Reno.
By the time I got myself behind the wheel and the engine started, that big yellow dot had dissipated and I began to mentality map out my route back to the county she had skipped from. I figured that if the weather held, we could take 395 down the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada's and get to Van Nuys, and my money, in about nine or ten hours. The weather seemed a little cool, but there were no clouds in the sky and no winter storms were expected in the Sierra's so we had a good chance.
Driving down Pyramid Highway to interstate 80, I took a closer look at my warrant. She was in her mid forties and looked as if she could pass for thirty, easily. She was thin, with long legs and ample breast. She was wearing a pair of faded jeans and a sweater that fit her like a second skin. There was no bra under that sweater, I could tell, I could see the nipples poke little mounds in an otherwise smooth surface. It crossed my mind about investigating that a little further, but, having a job to do, I put that thought aside.
We pulled out onto the interstate and the land of never ending casinos and headed west to the 395 interchange. She began to talk, which was alright by me, it would keep me alert for the next five hundred miles. She was concerned about what the system had in store for her and what I thought about what would happen to her. We discussed this at length as we made the cross over onto 395 heading south.
By the time we crossed over the California Border and headed into Bridgeport the wind had picked up and it looked like one of those quickie storms were brewing. The radio said that snow was possible in the higher elevations and may get up to a foot before morning. By the time we passed the Bodie turnoff it had begun to snow. I was getting a little worried now. Hopefully, the snow would not get serious and force us to stop. The outside temperature was around twenty five and my car heater was working overtime. As fate would have it, by the time we got to Lake Owens, the snow had closed the highway down to one lane in either direction and you couldn't see twenty feet in front of you. After stopping at several motels in the area, I found a prosperous night manager who let me rent his trailer in the back for fifty bucks a night. Making our way in the snow to the trailer was an event. We were both cold and tired and just a bit edgy. We slipped and skidded, fell, helped each other off the ground only to fall back down again. Everything was icy and slick and fresh powdered snow was sitting on top of it.
Inside the trailer, it was surprisingly warm. Apparently, the night manager had the heater going and the place was actually pleasant, for a trailer. I cuffed Sandra to the door of the tiny bathroom as she used it and found the fixings to make a couple of cups of instant coffee. I also discovered that there was a TV hooked up and I was delighted to find that all two of the local channels were in full operating condition. One of the stations interrupted it's re-run of Bonanza to tell the viewers that the sudden storm might be here for at least two days. The California Highway Patrol had officially closed 395 between Lee Vining and the Mammoth turn off.
I re-cuffed Sandra to the table in the kitchen area when she had finished peeing and told her to make herself comfortable, we were going to be there a while.
"Bummer", she said, obviously not in any hurry to get to a jail cell.
"Yeah, I bet. You hungry," I asked?
"Starved," and she occupied herself with the troubles of little Joe on the TV.
"I'll go get us some burgers," and got my meager coat and opened the door of the trailer, "Oh, and don't go anywhere," I slammed the door of the trailer before I could get a response.
We ate the burgers and watched TV sitting next to each other on that tiny little bench seat in the kitchen. The snow was not letting up outside and both of us were thankful for the propane heater warming us considerably. Somewhere around two thirty in the morning I woke to the static hiss of a station that has signed off for the night and found Saundra comfortably nesting on me. She was breathing evenly in a deep sleep with her head on my shoulder for a pillow, one wrist still handcuffed to the center pole of the table. I noticed her scent now and it was pleasant. She felt good nestled on my body and I did not want to disturb that in any sense. I wanted to put my arms around her and just hold her and caress her, but she was my charge and I was bringing her in. It does not pay to get emotionally involved with a bail jumper. So I woke her up.
"What", she said testily, irritated that her sleep was interrupted. "Time to go to sleep," I said as I unlocked the hand cuffs from the table.
"I was sleeping," she was lethargic and not too willing to move, "and I was having a nice dream too."
"Until I fucked it all up for you," I nudged her off the tiny bench and shut the TV off, "Come on lets go, it's bed time for you."
The bed in the bedroom was a king sized bed and took up the entire space. Looking around, I couldn't find anyplace to cuff her too with the sole exception of the vent hatch above the bed. Which would mean having her sleep sitting up all night, this would not do. But, one had to make do with what one had. So I cuffed her to the vent using both pairs of hand cuffs that I had and that gave her enough room to move around, but not lie down.
"Get ready for bed," I told her and walked into the kitchen.
"Hey, your not gonna leave me like this are you," she called out after me?
"Just get ready for bed, I'll figure something out."
"You be sure to let me know what that is, when you get to it."
"You'll be the first to know," I assured her.
I popped a can of soda and watched the snow falling outside. It was becoming clear to me that we were going to be stuck here for a couple of days or so. We were going to have to come to some kind of agreement between each other or things would get nasty soon. I was going to have to make nice and develop some sort of trust with her, as far as I could without letter her get out of my sight. In the bedroom, I heard her shoes drop to the floor and I thought that was going well. I could hear the rustle of material and I figured she was getting herself undressed, and that was a good thing. I considered sleeping in the dinning area, because the bench around the table could be made into a makeshift bed, but, I did not trust her to be by alone for hours at a time. She skipped once to avoid jail, she would do it again. The only other option was to use the same bed she was. That way, I would be sure to have her where I wanted her. I looked around for something to help hide the key and found a couple of those elastic hair bands women use to tie their hair back and thought that would work OK.
When I entered the bedroom I found her with her pants down and trying to kick them off her ankles. She had light purple panties on and her sweater was still on. She had a flustered look on her face and was struggling with her pants. I grabbed one end of them and gave them a yank and they came off without a hitch.
"Thanks," she said and looked around and sort of tugged at the hem of her sweater as she tried to figure out how to get it past the shackled hand. I sat on the edge of the bed and took off my boots and pants.
"Who, wait a minute big fella, you may be taking me in but you sure as hell ain't gonna fuck me." There was a hard edge to her voice and she sounded as if she could back up her implied threat.
"Don't you worry," I said, "your virginity is safe with me." And I took off my shirt and peeled back the covers on the bed.
"Wait a minute bucko," she was getting loud and scared, "This ain't right, you can't do this."
"Relax," I told her, "either you hang like that all night long or, I chain you to my wrist and you lie down. What would you rather have?"
She was considering hanging all night long, I could tell. She was processing a thousand different ways to avoid this, but in the end she said, "OK, But I swear to God, If you touch me, you'll never piss straight again. Got it?"
"I got it," I said wearily. I undid the cuffs and she rubbed her wrist.
"Now," I said, "if you want to sleep in your sweater, be my guest, if not, remove it now and I'll cuff you and well get some sleep."