“I heard him,” she said. “Why is Dice at the hospital? Did something happen?”
“He knows someone who was brought into the ER today,” I told her. “Have you been able to get the car’s license plate number?”
“No. We tried, but the rain is making it hard to see. Then there was a bright flash of lightning, so we moved away from the window.”
“That was smart,” I said as another call light went off. “Crap. I’ve got to go check on a patient. I’ll call you back as soon as I can.”
I hurried to check on my patient and walked into chaos.
When I was finally able to leave the room, I called Ariel as soon as I stepped into the hall. “Is everything okay?” I asked as soon as she answered.
“Yes. Dice is here. He saw the car and got the tag number. We haven’t seen it again since he’s been here.”
“That’s good. Are you sure you’re okay with them being in the house? That wasn’t part of the original plan.”
“It’s fine, Mom. Jake is helping me with my homework, and I think we might order a pizza,” she said.
“Okay. Well, call me if anything else happens.”
“I will,” she promised.
The rest of my shift was just as busy as it had been, and I was barely able to keep up. Macy was discharged right before shift change. Thankfully, her injuries were mostly superficial, though they would take some time to heal.
When I pulled into my driveway, my thoughts were on Ariel. I was in such a hurry to get inside and see that she was okay for myself that I didn’t notice the second motorcycle parked on the other side of Dice’s truck. I walked into my kitchen to find Dice and Ink sitting at the table talking while Jake and Ariel were in the living room.
“I remember Daphne saying something about this,” I said.
“Hey, Mom,” Ariel called from her spot on the couch. “There’s pizza in the fridge.”
“Thanks,” I said and looked at the two men in the kitchen. “Is everything okay?” I felt like I’d asked that question too many times in one day.
“Everything’s fine,” Dice said. “I saw the car when I turned onto your street and followed it. After one lap around the neighborhood, it left, and we haven’t seen it since.”
“Ariel said you got a tag number.”
Dice grimaced and looked at Ink. “The tag belongs to an unmarked police car assigned to Detective Coleman,” Ink said.
“I knew something was off about him,” I blurted. “He’s supposed to come talk to us tomorrow. Why in the hell was he repeatedly driving by my house today?”
Ink leaned forward and rested his forearms on the table, giving me a sly grin. “We’ll see what he says when I ask him tomorrow.”
“Do you think that’s a good idea?” I asked. Pissing off a detective wasn’t something I wanted to do, especially if said detective wasn’t on the up and up.
“I think he needs to know that you and Ariel are observant and aware of what goes on around you.”
“I guess we’ll see what he has to say tomorrow. Anyway, thank you both for coming over and making sure my girl was okay.”
“You’re welcome,” Dice said and got to his feet. “I’m going to head out and check on Macy.”
“She left the hospital right before I got off work,” I told him.
“Thanks. I was planning on going back to the hospital,” he said, stopping at the entryway to the living room. “Jake, you ready to head out?”
Jake walked into the kitchen and extended his hand to me. “Hello, Ms. Calloway. I’m Jake Marks.”
“Hi Jake,” I said, shaking his hand. “Thank you for watching over things this afternoon.”
“No problem. I was happy to help,” he said with a smile. Ariel wasn’t kidding. He was a nice-looking young man, and he had manners to boot.
