Page 24

“That’s okay.” She gives me a tight-lipped smile.

I lower the radio. “I had an interesting afternoon.”

She turns her body my way and stares at me. “Did you find anything?”

“Yes and no. When I’m not driving, I’ll tell you more.” I take the main road out of town. The prickly fingers of a headache poke at my temples. I know where I want to go now. “Are you hungry? I haven’t eaten all day. I need to grab something.”

“I could eat.”

I reach into the middle console and pull out a menu. “This place is pretty good. We can get something to go and then talk.”

She looks through the menu. “Want me to call ahead and place an order?”

My stomach grumbles. “Yes, please. Get me the bacon burger special with all the fixings and fries.”

As I drive to the burger place, I listen as she makes the call. She gets herself a veggie burger.

She hangs up. “It’ll be fifteen minutes.”

I glance at her and back at the road. “You don’t eat meat?”

“No.” A head shake accompanies her reply.

I slow down for a red light. “Vegetarian or vegan?”

“Vegetarian. I love cheese too much to be a vegan.”

I smile and take a quick look at her. She’s settled into the seat, her shoulders relaxed, her hands playing with the strap of her purse. If the small talk makes her more comfortable, I can do small talk. “What’s the next stop on your vacation?”

Her head tilts to the side. “Not sure. Keep going north. Vermont, maybe. I want to stop by Riggins.”

My head snaps to her. “Riggins?”

“Yeah, I did my undergrad at Riggins University. Have a couple of friends who still live there.”

We come to a red light. “I went to Riggings.”

She searches my face. “Really? My grandmother would have a lot to say about this. Us going to the same university. And meeting again, like this.”

“Well, not meeting again. I was there a few years before you, I’m sure.”

Her head tilts, and she looks at me with curiosity. “Yeah, I misspoke.”

If I believed in fate, destiny, or anything like that, I might think this is some kind of sign. “You’re going to visit your friends, then?”

“Maybe.” She moves her hand in a graceful wave. “I don’t enjoy making plans when I’m on vacation. I just go with the flow, land where the wind takes me.”

The light turns green, and I drive again. “I don’t know you, but you don’t strike me as a go-with-the-flow type.” She seems far too competent and I can’t imagine someone so accomplished being fickle about how they live their life.

She laughs. The sound is husky and melodic. “You’re right and wrong. You’re correct in that you don’t know me, but intuition has guided my entire life. If that’s not living on a whim, I don’t know what is.”

We pull into the parking lot. “Hard to imagine. My life’s one of order, structure, and laws.” The one time I strayed, there were horrible consequences.

“Even before you were a cop?”

I park. “I come from a military family, and we can track our ancestors’ military service back to the Civil War.” I reveal more than I intended, but I think her questions are more curiosity than an intrusion.

“That’s cool. I’ve done some work with Civil War artifacts. Which branch did you serve with?”