“What…?” Makai asked, instantly on alert.
“Happens occasionally. Usually a car accident somewhere or some such,” Mr. Miller said, then read his expression and frowned.
Makai practically ran back out to get his cell off the dash. He pressed call for Emil.
“Makai, what’s wrong?” Emil sounded worried, and Makai let out a huge huff.
“Oh gods,” he breathed. “Just that pretty much all patrol cars just peeled out of town.”
“Oh, well we’re leaving from Lotte’s in a bit, so we’re not even on the road yet, but I’ll keep an eye out,” Emil promised.
“Okay, good. Please drive carefully.”
They said bye, and he basically slumped against the side of his truck.
“Emil okay?” The Millers looked at him worriedly.
“Yeah, he’s taking Joey to Target today, so I got spooked.”
“When you care about someone, you always worry.” Mrs. Miller gestured at him to come with them. “I have coffee and cupcakes.”
Makai smiled. “I won’t say no to that.”
HE HADa nice time with the Millers and decided to take an early lunch and go to the diner. He drove his truck back around the Millers’ building and navigated through the mostly empty parking lot. He was about to drive across the road to the diner’s parking space, when he glanced at his rearview mirror and saw Frank Matthews drag his wife out of the post office.
He let the truck idle and waited to see what would happen. Matthews all but threw his wife into the vehicle and slammed the door closed. Then he stalked to the driver’s side and opened the door.
Makai couldn’t hear what he was saying, but the man seemed fixated on his wife, yelling at her as he climbed in. Makai was glad he’d driven a bit to the side of the lot when he decided to wait to see what the Matthewses would do, when Frank reversed his car from the lot and dashed past Makai in a mad rush.
Makai had just enough time to see the man’s face. Everything went cold inside his chest and stomach. He’d seen that expression before in prison. It was the look of a man who was about to kill someone.
Hands shaking, he put the truck in drive and started to follow Frank’s car. He wasn’t sure where the Matthewses lived, but apparently in a small house a few miles outside of town. He followed them for a couple of miles, then pressed the speed dial number he’d programmed for the Sheriff’s Station instead of calling 911.
“Acker Sheriff’s Station, how can I help?” Erin answered.
“Erin, it’s Makai. Look, do you have anyone available right now?”
“What? No, I’m alone at the station, answering calls. The others all had to drive north. A tanker truck with hazardous material inside collided with an SUV and fell over somehow. Why? What’s wrong?”
“I… this is gut instinct, but I think Frank is really gonna hurt his wife,” Makai said, even though he wanted to doubt his words, he couldn’t.
“Wait, wait, explain this to me?” Erin sounded worried.
Makai told her what he’d seen. “The look in his eyes, Erin. I’ve seen it in prison while someone was about to shank a guy. Seriously. It sounds… I know it sounds all prison movie or something, but it’s not. I saw it twice, and the guys were both going to try and kill someone.”
“Wait, are you in your car, Makai?”
“Yes, I’m following them,” Makai confessed.
Erin’s cussing would’ve impressed him if he’d not been so terrified for Frank’s wife. “Makai, no. You can’t go there.”
“What do you suggest I do, Erin? Turn back around, risk that he’ll kill her this time?”
“For fuck’s sake, I’m not supposed to leave my desk. There has to be someone here at all times, Makai. What—Look, I’ll call the sheriff, tell him what’s going on. You arenot allowedto take any unnecessary risks, Makai Stone. Emil will kill you if you get hurt again, do you understand?”
Makai knew all that. He did. But he couldn’t just sit by the sidelines and wait for someone to get hurt.
“Okay, I gotta go,” he said shortly and ended the call just as Frank turned to head toward a small house off in the distance.
