It's somehow... both.

"Were you wearing that shirt when you met her?" Officer Lopez asked as I grabbed up the piece of garish fabric.

"Yes." I said with what I hoped was a winning smile.

"Ok, so what was your pick up line? It had to have been incredible if you were dressed like that. That asshole would never TELL me what he did." She pursed her lips thoughtfully.

"I didn't go looking for her, just... we ended up helping each other out. I'm actually kinda nervous to hand her the hundred and twenty bucks I owe her for the Uber because of how it's gonna look to you."

"Yeah, Mrs. Corsini doesn't have any priors so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt there." The officer shrugged.

"I appreciate that... uhm... Officer uh, Lopez." I wasn't sure how to address her at the moment. It seemed like the conversation had gotten informal, but she was still standing there in the door of the van watching us.

"It's Maria," She smiled. "And that's the First time I've been called that without correcting somebody in a while, so thanks."

"I'm kinda lost..." I shrugged. Although I was now dressed, I still felt like I was under inspection, although the nature of that appraisal had changed somewhat.

"Everybody still calls me Garcia." She settled onto the edge of the van floor, her feet still on the ground. "You get divorced, and nobody bothers updating their files."

"Fuck, tell me about it. My Aunt Kat had de same problem." Nikki broke in with a smile, telling the story in an animated fashion. "So, For like two years after she kept getting robocalls. She still gets em like every couple weeks and tells us all about it. She has dis thing where she figures that she can tell what her ex is up to by what dey try to sell her."

"The family still talks to her? There's a shock." Maria commented dryly. "Mine won't give me the time of day when I come down for dinner."

A passing car slowed, and several older faces looked out as the large domestic car pulled past Maria's black and white vehicle. They rubbernecked a bit to long for my taste and Maria immediately stood, taking on a professional stance.

"If you two aren't done, you don't want to continue here. Next person that shows up might be up for a promotion and looking to bust on ****, prostitution, and local marijuana statutes. " She consulted her phone again, making a quick note.

"Uhm, we do have a place, we can go. Just about a half hour drive."

"So... You've got the van, just need someplace without cameras." She pointed towards a small security camera that panned over the structure. She consulted her phone again. "Motels don't check in for a couple hours, so you're out of luck there."

I was blown away by the sudden change in behavior, when I noticed another car driving by. Shit. Had to keep up appearances, right. Couldn't let on that she was being a decent human being while potential citizen review board members watched.

"However, this isn't the best place to be having this talk, I'm blocking the lot. Go out the lot, turn left, go around the mall till you come to a small chained access road, and I'll follow you there." Maria commented crisply, giving the directions precisely and officially as another car rolled past, this one with the windows down. "To give you YOUR CITATION..." She said louder, clearly for the person driving past.