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“Let’s go, Ross.”

Roni was laughing with a fellow detective about a fumble in the endzone by their archrivals New England Patriots when her partner, Detective Demetrius “Dean” Dixon hurried to her desk. “Where are we going?” she asked as she grabbed her leather jacket and began hurrying behind him. “Another homicide?”

“Car accident.”

That made no sense to Roni. “A car accident? Why would we be going to a traffic case?”

But when they got out of the precinct, Dean turned to her. “It’s a car accident involving your friend.”

Roni had so many friends she didn’t know where to begin. “My friend?”

“Braxton McCrae, Roni,” Dean said.

And as soon as he said that name, her heart dropped. And she ran so fast that she got behind the wheel of their unmarked car and was driving off before Dean, who had to hop in on the passenger seat, could close his door.

After being given the location, Roni drove to the scene so fast that she hardly remembered turning a corner. All she could think about was Brax. She kept asking Dean if Brax was okay, but Dean didn’t know any more than she did. Just that it was called in and when he heard the name, he immediately knew Roni would want in on it.

It did occur to Roni how her brand new partner would know anything at all about her relationship with Brax. But when they arrived on the scene, and she saw the mangled SUV and the pieces of the limo that she could see from the street had traveled down the embankment and disappeared over the cliff. But where was Brax???

“Over there,” Dean said when he spotted Braxton McCrae standing next to one of the many ambulances on the scene. A police officer was also standing beside him questioning him. Roni’s heart soared when she saw that he was still alive, and she and Dean ran to him.

“Are you alright?” she was saying before she even got to him.

Brax was so happy to see her, and she was so relieved to see him that as soon as they met they embraced vigorously. It was as if their usual protocol was out the window. They didn’t care anymore. “I’m okay,” he said to her. “I’m fine. Please don’t worry.”

“What about Tim?” she asked as she pulled back.

But Brax kept his arms around her waist. “Tim’s in bad shape. He bailed on us.”

“What do you mean he bailed?”

“That SUV was coming straight for us. He panicked and jumped out.”

“He jumped out?” Even Dean was surprised.

“And left you in the limo?” asked Roni, surprised too.

“He was scared, Roni, so yes, he left me and Margo inside.”

“Margo was in that limo too? Where is she?”

“She was hysterical. They took her in an ambulance too. They’ll probably keep her overnight for observation, but she was physically okay.”

But Roni looked even more distressed than she had. “I can’t get over what Tim did. He could have killed you by his action alone.”

“It was each man for himself.”

“Bullshit! He works for you. He’s your driver. It’s his job to protect you, not bail on you.”

“I know that too. He’ll be dealt with.”

“Dealt with my ass. He’ll be fired. He could have killed you.”

Brax exhaled. “I agree, okay? I agree.”

“We still want you to go to the hospital to run tests, Mr. McCrae,” the paramedic said.

“Didn’t I tell you I wasn’t going to any hospital?”

“Oh yes you are,” said Roni.

“Oh no I’m not,” said Brax. He looked at the officer. “Is there anything else?”

“No sir, I have your statement.”

“Then I’m going to catch my plane,” Brax said and began heading away from the ambulance and the paramedic.

Roni and Dean hurried behind him. Roni caught up with him. “You need to get checked out, Brax. You could have internal injuries.”

“I told you I’m not going to any hospitals.” He continued walking. They didn’t know where he was going until he made it to their unmarked vehicle. “This your car?” he asked Roni.

“Yes.”

Brax began getting in the passenger seat. “Take me to the airport.”

“Sir, that’s against protocol,” he started to say, but Roni stopped him.

“No worries,” she said, giving Dean that look. “I’ll take him where he needs to go. You stick around and get more intel.”

Dean nodded. He didn’t like it, but such was how it went working with a diva like Roni Ross. “Okay,” he said, Roni got in behind the wheel, and she and Brax rode away.

But Brax found out quickly that she wasn’t taking him to any airport. “That’s my turn,” he said.

“You’re going to the hospital.”

“Don’t start with me about that, Veronica. Now I mean it. I’m fine.”

“You don’t know that until they run tests.”

“I do know it, now turn this car around!”

But Roni ignored him.

“I’ll jump out if you don’t turn this car around.”

“Then jump. Tim did it. See what that got him. Talk about hospitals. You’ll be laid up for days.”

Brax knew she had him over a barrel.

Roni looked over at him. “Now settle down and do as you’re told.”

Brax gave her a look. “Check you out.” But then he smiled. “Yes, mother.”

“The first time in history that the son is way, way older than the mother.”

Brax gave her a sidelong look. “I could do without that way, way part. Older was good enough,” he added, and Roni laughed again. She was just happy to have him in one piece.

But the wait at the hospital was so long that Dean was able to get all the info that was available and catch a ride to the hospital himself.

“How is he?” he asked as he made his way into the best suite in the hospital that Brax was placed into.

“They just took him to take another test. They’re still running tests. Found out anything?”

Dean sat down beside her. “The driver of the SUV was an elderly gentleman who, according to his daughter, had dementia and had no business driving at all.”

“Wow. I take it he was the fatality?”

Dean nodded. “Died on impact.” Then Dean added. “I got the CCTV. I knew you would want to see it.”

Roni wasn’t so sure if she could handle it, but she steeled herself and nodded.

Dean pulled out his phone, pulled up the video he uploaded, and fast-forwarded it to the actual crash.

They leaned against each other looking at the video. They saw Tim bail, which only angered Roni all over again. But when the two vehicles crashed into each other, Roni flinched so much so that her sudden movement caused Dean to nearly drop his phone. But it was just that devastating. And the way the limo was spinning and then speeding down that embankment until it was out of sight, and Brax was in that car, was pure terror to watch.

“It was worse than I thought it was,” Roni said, her heart hammering.

“Me too,” Dean agreed.

“But . . .”

Dean looked at her. “But what?”

“It didn’t . . . It looked . . . Rewind it, not to the crash, but further back if you have it.”

“I have it,” Dean said. “This isn’t one camera view. It’s video from three cameras strung together. I got it from the cops who compiled it.”

Dean rewound the tape until it was showing the SUV driving toward what would ultimately be the crash scene, and Roni realized what was bothering her. “That’s what I don’t get,” she said.

But Dean wasn’t seeing anything. “What are you talking about? He’s just driving.”

“But that’s the point. He’s staying in his lane. He’s driving like any normal driver on the road. But as soon as the limo come into view, that’s when he crosses the line and head for that limo. As if that limo was his target all along.”

Dean looked at her. “Why would some elderly man target Braxton McCrae’s limousine?”

“And one with dementia no less. I don’t know. But you see what I mean?”

Dean couldn’t deny it. “Actually I do,” he said.

“We need to run a background on this elderly man.”

“And his daughter.”

“Right,” agreed Roni. “And get his medical records so that we can see for ourselves if her story checks out. A man with dementia shouldn’t be able to target limos.”

“I already saw the records.”

“You did?Why?”

“I’m a detective. I wanted to see if her story checks out.”

Roni smiled. “You’re a good cop, you know that?”

“You ain’t so bad yourself,” Dean said. They were still shoulder to shoulder. They stared into each other’s eyes.

But it was Roni who sat erect and stopped leaning against him. “How did you manage to get the records without a warrant?”

“Off the record,” said Dean. “I have a friend who has access.”

“Did the daughter’s story check out? Was he ever diagnosed with dementia?”

Dean shook his head. “No. Nowhere in his considerable records was dementia ever mentioned. And he wasn’t elderly either. He was fifty-nine.”

“So the daughter lied?”

Dean nodded. “Yes. But,” he said.

“But what?”

“He didn’t have dementia, but he had a very aggressive brain tumor that gave him only weeks to live.”

“Ah,” said Roni.

“Which would explain why he was driving normally,” said Dean.

Roni was following along. “He might have wanted to commit suicide than suffer through the agony of death. And then suddenly, he sees this limousine driving on the opposite side of the road and he decides if he’s going to commit suicide, this would be the car I do it with. Why should he care about some rich guy going down with him?”

Dean nodded. “Right.”

Roni had a pensive look on her face. “I guess that’s the answer then.”

But Dean was beginning to learn his partner. “Your look says maybe rather than I’m certain .”

But then the nurse came into the room pushing Brax in a wheelchair. Brax promptly got out of that contraption, as he called it. “They force you to get in that contraption like I’m some fucking invalid. Hospitals and doctors. I hate this place.”

“What did the tests say, Grumpy Old Man?”

“All negative. No brain bleed. No internal organs injured. Nothing, Miss Bossy.”

Roni smiled. “Good, Mister Get On My Last Damn Nerve.”

Brax smiled too. “Get me out of this hospital,” he said and began to undress.

The nurse grabbed the wheelchair and along with Dean they hurried out of the room as soon as it appeared that Brax wasn’t waiting around for them to leave. He was undressing already. Dean closed the door behind them.

But Roni was still concerned. As he removed his hospital gown and began to put back on his clothes, she decided to voice her concern. “I don’t know, Brax, but maybe you should consider keeping a bodyguard with you.”

“Why? Because of what some old man did? They told me who was driving that SUV and his dementia.”

“Only he wasn’t elderly. He was only fifty-nine. And he didn’t have dementia.”

Brax looked at her. “So it was wrong information. But so what? How does that translate into me needing a bodyguard?”

“He had a brain tumor. The doctors gave him only weeks to live.”

Brax thought about that. “So now it’s a suicide situation?”

Roni nodded. “That’s what Dean and I think, yeah.”

Brax hesitated. He knew how good-looking her new partner was. “You and Dean think that, do you?”

“Don’t change the subject.”

“Nothing to change,” Brax said as he put his wallet and phone in his pockets. “I’m not getting a bodyguard. End of subject.”

Then he moved up to Roni. He could see she was still distressed. He placed his hands on both sides of her face. “Stop worrying so much. I’m fine,” he said. He kissed her on the forehead. “But I’m getting out of here,” he added and then began leaving. “I’ve got a plane to catch.”

Roni was exhausted, relieved, and exasperated all rolled into one, which was the story of her life with Brax, as she followed behind him.