654 SYH. She sighed. "What the hell is this?"

"The plate," he said, the self-satisfied smirk on his ignorant face.

"Goddamn it." she said. "Mark, you are the most worthless cop ever. Just WRITE THE NUMBERS DOWN. Don't actually TAKE THE PLATES OFF OF THE CAR. That defeats the WHOLE POINT OF LICENSE PLATES."

His smile slipped a little. "Oh," he said, apologetically.

"I really can't understand how you can be so incompetent," she said. "If you were close enough to the vehicle for long enough to REMOVE THE PLATES, why the hell didn't you make an arrest?"

"Well, I was going to," he said. "I saw the perp in the backseat, asleep."

"Then WHY DIDN'T YOU ARREST HIM?"

"The doors were locked," he complained. "I didn't have the keys."

She buried her head in her hands.