Georgia thought about calling the cops, then reconsidered. There was nothing they could do now except file a report, and she didn’t want to spend hours repeating the same thing to a beat cop or surly detective who’d been rousted out of bed. Instead she called AAA and waited for them in a twenty-four-hour coffee shop—she was too flustered, and it was too damn cold to change the tire herself—when her cell chirped. It was probably the mechanic who’d been tapped for the job. They were always late. Without checking the incoming number, she picked up.
“Davis.”
“Saclarides.”
She was momentarily distracted. “Oh, hi.”
“I won’t keep you. I just wanted to say what a good time I had tonight.”
She wanted to smile, but it didn’t come. “Me too.” Her voice broke.
“Hey,” Jimmy said. “Is everything okay? You sound…strange.”
She blew out a breath. “Someone just shot out my rear tire.”
“What?”
“It sounded like a shotgun.”
“Where are you?”
“On Dempster. East of Lincoln. The car’s on the shoulder. I’m in a coffee shop.”
“I’m on my way.”
* * *
An hour later, she was on her way home, Jimmy following in his Accord. He’d insisted on changing the tire himself. She canceled AAA and when she got home, she started a pot of coffee. She joined Jimmy in the living room.
“Thanks again for changing the tire.”
He waved it off. “You didn’t call the cops.” It was a statement.
She explained why.
He shrugged. “Does that mean you have his plate and you’re going rogue?”
She shook her head. “No plate. No ID. All I know is that it was a dark-colored SUV.” She stopped.
He looked over. “What?”
“I told you about the drive-by in Evanston, right? The Russian or Eastern European guy who got popped?”
He nodded.
“The shooter was in a dark SUV.”
The coffeepot dinged. Jimmy rose and headed toward the kitchen.
“I’ll get it,” she said.
“Sit. Just tell me where the cups are. And sugar.”
She did.
He returned a minute later with two steaming mugs. “Someone who takes potshots at your tires is not good. You need to report this.”
“Yeah, but here’s the thing. They were directly across from me in the next lane. They had a clear shot at my head, but they shot out the tire instead. Why?”
“You tell me.”
She shrugged. “No clue.”
“Georgia, for a smart PI, you’re not acting like one.”
“You think it has to do with Savannah?”
“Do things like this happen to you on a regular basis?”
“The drive-by in Evanston happened before I heard about Savannah. And there’s no reason to think the two events are connected. For all I know, this was just some asshole with a gun on a power trip.”
Jimmy shot her a look. “Tell me something. If this happened to one of your clients, what would you tell them?”
“That someone was trying to warn them. Or send them a message. That next time they might not be so lucky. That they needed to protect—”
“Hell, Georgia,” Jimmy cut in. “This was no warning. You don’t shoot out a tire in the middle of the night with snow on the ground and not expect the driver to lose control and get hurt. Or worse. Maybe you should stop what you’re doing. Reassess. Go to Plan B.”
“I can’t. I have a sister I didn’t know I had. She’s in Chicago and she needs me. I have to find her.”
“Not if you’re going to have your head blown off in the process.”
She wanted to tell him the rest, to pour it all out. That she was alone in this world. And that the mere suggestion she had a sibling had triggered a flicker of hope that maybe she wasn’t as alone as she’d thought. That maybe there was someone she could call family. That the chance to end the curse of being nobody’s child was so seductive that she couldn’t abandon it. But she kept her mouth shut.
Jimmy leaned toward her, elbows on his knees. “Plus, there’s the fact that I’ve just started to know you, and I want to know you better. A lot better.”
A tiny smile lifted the corners of her mouth. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For caring.” She put her coffee cup down, reached out, and stroked his cheek.
He went very still, as if anything he did or said would break the spell.
She dropped her hand. “You know something?” she said softly. “I don’t want to be alone tonight.”
He broke into a smile. “Neither do I.”