Maya smirked and Riley glared at her. Maya immediately apologized to Cassie and asked: "What do you mean when you say you are Riley and my Hostess? Cassie smiled wide: "I will do whatever you want me to do for the rest of the night!" Riley's wide eyes looked at Maya.
Maya asked Cassie to assist Riley in putting her clothes on. When Riley was dressed, Maya asked Cassie to pour three flutes of champagne and bring them to her. Cassie filled the flutes and brought them to Maya. Maya handed one flute to Riley and handed one flute to Cassie while asking her to sit with them. Cassie was surprised, but she sat down with them. Maya explained that she and Riley had a great time at The Albany, but she and Riley were tired and needed to return to their hotel.
Maya chuckled as Cassie nodded in understanding. Riley quickly took Cassie's hand: "You have been very helpful tonight and we sincerely appreciate it. And we promise we will return from time to time, especially since we are now VIPs for the next year!"
Cassie nodded at Riley's statement, finished her flute, and said she would go and tell Chris to bring their TownCar to the back entrance. Cassie returned to the VIP Room, escorted Maya and Riley to the back entrance, and opened the passenger door for them. Both Maya and Riley kissed her as they entered the TownCar.
Riley told Chris that they wanted to return to the hotel. Chris checked that they both had their seatbelts attached, then drove them back to the hotel. Maya held Riley during the ride back to their hotel. When they arrived at their room, they decided to take a shower together. They dried each other and put on their bedclothes. They kissed, got into their usual Spoon position, and fell asleep.
They slept soundly, and when they awoke in the late morning, they called Room Service for brunch and ate while dressed in their Satin Silk Kimonos, and house heels. They decided that they were done with their Road Trip and prepared to leave. They were going to take Interstate 87 back to Poughkeepsie, then Interstate 84 and Interstate 95 back to the Minkus Mansion in New York City. It was only a 90-minute drive to Poughkeepsie NY.
Riley drove their Minkus International Jeep to a Rest Stop just outside of West Camp, NY and Maya started to drive to Poughkeepsie, NY. Poughkeepsie NY was only 30 minutes away. Less than ten miles from the Rest Stop, Maya slowed down and pulled to the side shoulder. Riley asked her why she was stopping, and Maya told Riley to look behind them. Riley saw a Dutchess County Sheriff's Department vehicle, with its blue and red lights flashing.
Maya told Riley to stay claim and get the registration and insurance out of the glove box. Riley took a deep breath and did what Maya asked her to do. By that time, a large Sheriff's Deputy was at Maya's open window. The Deputy looked into the car, seeing Maya with both hands on the steering wheel and Riley holding the documents.
They were both very surprised to hear the Deputy's very southern accent. Definitely not a New York accent. Maya looked at Riley for a brief moment, then back to the Deputy as he said: "Well lookie here, we got two mighty fine young girls here." Both Maya and Riley bristled hearing that, but they tried very hard not to say anything.
Maya turned to him: "Is there a problem Deputy?" The Deputy smiled: "You were going mighty fast. I clocked you at 80 miles an hour. Again, both Maya and Riley bristled hearing that, knowing that Maya was actually driving 65 miles per hour, which was 5 miles per hour under the posted speed limit. But they still stayed calm.
The Deputy asked for the vehicle documents which Riley handed to Maya, who handed them to the Deputy. Without another word, the Deputy took the documents, turned, and walked back to his vehicle. The moment he turned, Maya put her hands down from the steering wheel and took Riley's left hand into her right hand. And they both squeezed hard but didn't speak.
They waited 15 minutes before the Deputy returned to the open window: "This here Jeep is reported stolen from Minkus International. Y'all are in a heap of trouble. I just may have to arrest y'all and strip search you to be sure you ain't got no concealed weapons. Now, slowly get out of the Jeep and move to the passenger side and stand there. Again, both of them tried to remain calm and did what the Deputy told them to do.
Once they were standing on the passenger side, the Deputy went back to his vehicle and made them stand in the hot sun for another 15 minutes. Riley asked Maya whether the Deputy was serious about doing a strip search. Maya wrapped her arms around Riley. You know Honey, I would never let anything bad happen to you. Riley continued to hold Maya's hand.
Maya maintained situational awareness around the area as she opened her driver's side door, looking along the freeway north, then south. What she saw was two New York State Police cars about 100 yards to the north, then another two New York State Police cars about 100 yards to the south, sitting across the lanes, preventing all traffic from coming near this scene.
She didn't tell Riley about the State Police vehicles in case Riley would blurt out that information and tip off the Deputy. But Maya did wonder why the State Police had not come to the scene and taken charge since the freeway was their responsibility. Then Maya realized that the State Police officers were waiting for something.
When the Deputy returned to them, they all heard the sound of a helicopter moving toward them. Looking up, all three of them saw not one, but two helicopters getting closer. Within a minute they were able to read the names of the helicopters as they landed, one on each side of the freeway.
The helicopter that landed closest to the scene had the wording of Dutchess County Sheriff's Department on it. As soon as it landed, four uniformed Sheriff Officers got out. The first one out was the Sheriff himself. Next was a female who wore Captain collar bars, and the last two were Deputies who had Sergeant Chevrons on their jackets. They walked briskly to the Deputy.
The other helicopter landed behind the Deputy's vehicle. As soon as it landed, a Minkus International Security Jeep, identical to the one Maya and Riley were driving, pulled up next to the Sheriff's vehicle and they saw Chris, who had taken them to The Albany last night. She got out of the Jeep and joined the Chief of the Minkus International Security at the Minkus International AI facility, and the Vice President of the Minkus International AI Facility who were walking to Maya and Riley.
Chris was the first person to get to Maya and Riley, asking them whether they were all right. She hugged each of them and stood with them as the two men reached them. She introduced the Chief of Security, and the Vice President, whom Maya and Riley had met already. He asked them to briefly tell them what happened. As Maya started to tell them, the Sheriff and Captain came over to them. The Chief of Security greeted them both and introduced them to Maya and Riley. Everyone listened to Maya's report of what happened.
When Maya finished, the Sheriff told them that the Deputy had told him that the Deputy had stopped them in a routine traffic stop because they were speeding. Hearing that, the Chief of Security explained that all Minkus International vehicles had hidden audio and visual recording devices and suggested the Sheriff hear and watch those recordings. Chris had started to retrieve the recordings and handed the audio recording to the Sheriff Captain and the visual recording to the Sheriff. The recordings were self-playing devices.
As soon as the two recordings were finished, the Sheriff and Captain thanked them all and walked back to the Deputy who was with the two Sergeants. The Minkus International group continued to stand on the passenger side of the Jeep and listened and watched the Sheriff play the two recordings for the Deputy. They saw the Deputy turn white. Then they heard the Sheriff tell the Deputy to hand his weapon, utility belt, badge, and ID Card to the Sergeants.
The Sheriff returned to the passenger side and made a formal apology to all of the Minkus International people, ending with letting them know his now-former Deputy would be returned to the Sheriff's office and dismissed. Unless any of the Minkus International wanted to have him arrested for any Charges they wanted to bring against him.
Everyone looked at Maya and Riley. Riley said that as long as the Deputy was no longer employed by the Sheriff's Office, they were satisfied and wanted to continue their drive to New York City, NY. The Sheriff apologized again as everyone watched the Sergeants place the former Deputy into the back of the Sheriff's vehicle and drive off. The Sheriff and Captain returned to their helicopter and flew off too.
The Vice President asked if there was anything he could provide them, and that he would personally make the Minkus International Incident Report, which would include the recordings, as soon as he returned to the AI Facility. He and the Chief of Security walked back toward the helicopter as Maya and Riley kissed Chris as a Thank You.
Chris opened the door for Maya, then walked Riley back to the driver's side and opened her door. Then she got in her Jeep and drove off. As Riley started their Jeep, they saw all four State Police vehicles go by too.