I.D. by Vicki Grant

had to be disciplined, act natural. The woman took her red suitcase and left.
    â€œNext!” the guy said. “Yes, that would be you, sir. May I see your baggage claim?”
    I handed it to him. He looked at it. “
    Well, you got here just in the nick of time.” He keyed the number of my claim into the computer.
    â€œHmm,” he said. “I wonder why this is taking so long.” I felt like puking again.He stared at the screen for a while, typed a few more things in.
    â€œI’m going to need to see your ID, Mr. Ashbury.”
    I took out my driver’s license. The guy looked at it, looked at me and nodded.
    â€œYup. That’s you all right.”
    I had to relax. I couldn’t take this roller coaster anymore. The guy knew it was me. I was okay. It was just a duffel bag.
    The guy said, “Wait right there. I’ll be back in one sec.”
    It wasn’t one sec. The guy was gone for like five minutes. He came out carrying a small brown duffel bag. It looked heavy. I hoped I could take it on the plane.
    â€œIs this yours?” he said.
    â€œIt looks like mine,” I said. It had a little lock on the zipper. I was pretty sure the key would open it.
    He handed me the bag. I said, “Thanks,” and turned around to leave.
    The cop I’d seen on the escalator was right in front of me. He was pointing his gun at my head.
    He didn’t need to say anything. I was pretty sure I knew what had happened. I’d been waiting for it all along. Ashbury must have reported his cards missing. The bank must have got my picture from that ATM. The cabdriver and the lady at the ticket counter must have called me in too. I figured they all knew I wasn’t Andrew Ashbury. I bet even the waitress knew it. I was just some kid from the crap side of town trying to act like the big man. They must have all been laughing their asses off.
    But I was wrong.

Chapter Seventeen
    The cop went, “Andrew Kirk Ashbury. You are under arrest for two counts of murder, forcible confinement, procurement of drugs for the purpose of trafficking, and possession of a firearm. You have the right to counsel. If you cannot afford counsel, it will be...”
    I didn’t understand him. He called me Andrew Kirk Ashbury. It didn’t makesense. Two other cops had me cuffed and on my knees before it sank in.
    I tried to tell them that I was Christopher Earl Bent. That I just found the wallet on the street. That they had the wrong guy. That I didn’t know anything about murder or drugs or firearms.
    But they just said, “Yeah, sure,” and threw me in the back of their cruiser.
    I looked out the back window. I could still see the airport.
    I couldn’t help it. I smiled. I’d almost made it.

Vicki Grant is the author of another Orca Soundings novel,
Dead-End Job
, and the recently released
Pigboy
, an Orca Currents novel. Her comic legal thriller,
Quid Pro Quo
, won the Arthur Ellis Award for Best Juvenile Crime Fiction and was shortlisted for the Edgar Allan Poe Award. Vicki lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
    Titles in the
Orca Soundings series
    Bang
    Norah McClintock
    Battle of the Bands
    K.L. Denman
    Blue Moon
    Marilyn Halvorson
    Breathless
    Pam Withers
    Bull Rider
    Marilyn Halvorson
    Charmed
    Carrie Mac
    Chill
    Colin Frizzell
    Crush
    Carrie Mac
    Dead-End Job
    Vicki Grant
    Death Wind
    William Bell
    Exit Point
    Laura Langston
    Exposure
    Patricia Murdoch
    Fastback Beach
    Shirlee Smith Matheson
    Grind
    Eric Walters
    The Hemingway Tradition
    Kristin Butcher
    Hit Squad
    James Heneghan
    Home Invasion
    Monique Polak
    I.D.
    Vicki Grant
    Juice
    Eric Walters
    Kicked Out
    Beth Goobie
    My Time as Caz Hazard
    Tanya Lloyd Kyi
    No More Pranks
    Monique Polak
    No Problem
    Dayle Campbell Gaetz
    One More Step
    Sheree Fitch
    Overdrive
    Eric Walters
    Refuge Cove
    Lesley Choyce
    Saving Grace
    Darlene Ryan
    Snitch
    Norah McClintock
    Something Girl
    Beth Goobie
    Sticks and Stones
    Beth Goobie
    Stuffed
    Eric