Jane seethed, but Mia shrugged. “Anyhow, is Gus okay?”
“Of course. She’s watching TV…” Jane’s voice slowed to a halt as a police cruiser turned into the driveway and parked behind Mia’s car. “Oooh! What have you done?”
Jackson nearly snorted. Jane had always been a vicious gossip.
Mia smiled, although he was pretty sure her teeth were clenched. “Nothing. There was an accident earlier today. They’re meeting us here to get the report.”
Technically, that could be true, since he believed all three instances were related.
Jane’s mouth screwed up. “I’m sorry I missed the excitement.” She pivoted on her heel and stalked to her vehicle, her entire body vibrating with offense.
“Do you think she’ll be back tomorrow?” Jackson murmured. He’d figured out that she was here to care for Gus. But even though the elderly woman was her great-aunt too, she seemed pretty steamed. The Jane he’d known would have had no problem ditching a relative if she’d felt like it.
“She’ll be here. No doubt very late in protest. But she’s pretty deep in debt, so I don’t see her turning down money.”
For a moment, Mia’s countenance darkened. Something about the topic of needing money bothered her. He told himself he didn’t want to know. The less he knew, the better. He didn’t want to become any more involved in her life than he was. She’d broken his heart once, and he already knew from his reaction to her that he wasn’t immune to it happening a second time. Which annoyed him no end.
Officer Mark Ortiz sauntered up to them. His dark hair was very close-cut, a military-style fade, his tanned face serious. “Hey, Jackson. Got here as soon as I could. Vickie said there was a hit-and-run. Did you get a look at the driver? Or the car?”
Mia brushed her hair behind her ear. “I saw his face, but it wasn’t clear. The sun was in my eyes. I could see that he wore dark sunglasses, and I could see his smile. Oh, and he was in a blue sedan.”
“Smile?” Jackson startled.
“Yes.” She chewed her lip. “I’m pretty sure he was aiming for me and it wasn’t an accident.”
“Mark. I think we have to consider that between what happened with Mia a few minutes ago, the young woman who resembled Mia in a hit-and-run earlier today, and the woman in the hospital who also looks like Mia, something’s going on.”
“Did you get the plate number, Jackson?”
“I did.” He rattled off the number. “The same car was involved in an incident earlier in the day.”
“I’ll see if Captain Balluff is willing to assign a patrol to do drive-bys here.” Mark took a few more notes, then hopped in his car with an instruction to call if there was anything suspicious happening, no matter what time of night.
They both watched him disappear.
“I wonder…” Mia started.
Jackson swiveled to face her. “What?”
A flush stained her cheeks. “It’s probably nothing.”
“‘Probably nothing’ means you still think it’s something. Tell me.”
She huffed a breath. “Fine. I was a counselor at a summer camp. In fact, Dylan was there.”
He’d forgotten that Cynthia had signed him up. “Go on.”
“It was run by this foundation. I went to the school earlier this week because I hadn’t been paid yet. They’d never heard of the foundation, which was odd, but it wasn’t like it was through the school. So I tried to contact the foundation, but I keep getting no response.”
This was raising all sorts of red flags. “I’m wondering if that was on the up and up. Especially with all the drugs entering the schools.”
An image of the young girl who’d died from the new drug flashed in front of his eyes.
Mia crossed her arms. “I hate the thought that drugs were being passed around in front of my eyes.”
“Look, are you okay if I leave? I want to see if Dylan has shown up yet. I’m starting to worry about him.”
“I’m good. I have a gun in the nightstand beside my bed.”
