Five
Clarity threw herself in the back of the police car, her thoughts in complete disarray. She pushed on the back button to open a window but Packwood had blocked all of them to ensure his prisoners didn´t fly out of his car unexpectedly. Lanai came in beside her, shivering from the cold breeze, followed by Cynthia and Taimi. They drove without saying a word through Malibu Canyon Road and Las Virgenes Road to the Malibu police station in Agoura Road, between Agoura Hills and Calabasas. Clarity was thinking about what to say in the deposition. She glanced at her watch. It was nearly midnight. Packwood opened the door and they all stepped into the police station, which was empty, less for a balding deputy called Trevory keeping duty at night.
Nobody was going to miss them, since they all lived in different apartments, thought Clarity. She gave a vigorous massage on Lanai´s shoulders and arms to keep her warm.
“You´re going to stay here in our very own prison for a few days. What can you say in your defense?” asked Packwood.
“We´re innocent,” said Cynthia, lifting her head up high.
“We didn´t harm anybody,” said Taimi.
“We´re tired,” said Lanai. Clarity stepped forward and pointed at Packwood.
“You can write each and every word I´m going to say officer. You know, I didn´t think that naturism was that important as early as this morning, but I´ve noticed it´s very important to some people, who consider the right to live and walk unclothed in public as part of their most essential individual liberties. Well, this is us now, we´re going to win this fight and instaure naturism in Malibu. In essence, your arrest has only helped us become fierce naturism advocates. In fact, it is our destiny as of this very moment to bring clothing optional freedom to Malibu.”
“It is?” asked Lanai.
“That won´t happen,” said Packwood, writing every word carefully on a word processor, “it just won´t happen, the Law will prevail as usual.”
Clarity felt her cell phone vibrate just as Cynthia gave another similar speech to Packwood. She brought the phone screen closer to her face. It was a message from the Reputable Dent and Run auto body shop. Her car was ready and they were requesting a place to deliver it. A wild idea entered her mind. She sent a text message with the address of the police station and requested that the body shop send the invoice to her house to postpone payment for replacing a few cables in the engine. She let Cynthia finish her speech and continued with a second deposition to make some time. Half an hour later, she saw the headlights of a tow truck park near the police station. She sent a text message to the other girls to alert them they were about to leave.
“Officer, I´ve left some stuff in the car, could I please go pick it up?”
“What stuff Lady?”
“Intimate wear, Sir, you know girl clothing gear I didn´t have time to put back on from all the haste in the pool.”
“Tregory, go with her to the police car.”
“I need to go with her,” said Cynthia, “I left some stuff as well, a small purse.”
“Me too,” said Taimi, “just to ensure it´s not my purse.”
“M…me too,” said Lanai, “g…girls always go together.”
Clarity led the way to the small police parking lot. She waved at the mechanic driving the tow truck and recognized her pink chevette being lowered into the ground free from the towing crane. She told the deputy her intimate stuff was in her car which had just been delivered. She sensed the question from the deputy.
“If it´s in your car over there, how did it get there?”
“I stopped by my car before hopping onto Officer Packwood´s car at the office.” She saw the deputy nod, reassured he believed the explanation enough to let her move closer to the car.
Clarity led the girls to the other side of the tow truck and opened the door for them to check the back of the car, after she received the keys from the mechanic. She started to talk about the Monday night football game with the mechanic and the deputy joined in, carrying a lively rebuttle as to why the National Football League first draft was being paid too much. She stepped away from them and took the driving seat of her chevette. In a bold move, she turned the car key, started the engine, drove backwards a few feet, and sped away from the station in the middle of the night. Looking in her rear view mirror, she saw the deputy yell at them a set of unintelligible words.
“I need your assistance girls, where do we go, they´ll be on our tail soon.”
“I´m not sure it was a good idea to drive away,” said Lanai, “we´re running away from the Law.”
“We´ll show Packwood that working naked is not legal.”
“You weren´t kidding were you?” continued Lanai.
“Skip the one o one highway and Malibu Road Canyon, let´s take Topanga Canyon instead,” said Cynthia.
“I know where to go, we can drive to the Recreation Area, just South of Pepperdine, there´s a large tree and they just chopped many shrubs, we can hide the car under them and sleep in the car until tomorrow.”
“Excellent suggestion, Taimi,” said Clarity, swerving the car to follow a curve on the road, “we need a good night sleep to face this minor hitch on our way to Vegas.”