To his surprise, she didn’t argue. They returned to his truck.
“What did you call to tell me? I was so caught up in my own problems, I never thought to ask why you were calling.”
“That’s okay.” He shot her a look. “We were on a call this morning. Reggie’s mom was shot?—”
“Elaine!” She bolted upright in her seat, then grunted when her seatbelt locked in place. She took a moment to rebuckle, then shifted so she was half facing him. “What happened? Was it a robbery?”
“Unfortunately, the police don’t think so.” He waited at the stop sign for the car ahead of him to move. When he realized it was a teenager texting, he put his truck in Park and left it running.
He got out and walked over to the car. When he knocked on the car window, the kid startled, then paled.
Jackson was still wearing his uniform.
The boy rolled his window down. “Yes, sir?”
“I see that you’re texting while driving.”
“I’m stopped.” Sweat beaded his forehead.
“You’re at a stop sign. Which means that you should be stopped for a few seconds. Put down the phone and pay attention.”
“You going to give me a ticket?”
“I’m not a cop. I’m a paramedic who has pulled three dead teenagers and a critically injured pregnant woman from crashes in the past six months because someone was texting while they were driving.”
A semi rumbled through the stop sign running perpendicular, blaring its horn.
“That’s what you might have run into if you had started driving without your full attention. He’s been patiently waiting his turn and got tired of waiting. What if you’d decided to go at the same time?”
The teen dropped his phone into the backpack resting on the passenger seat.
“Good choice,” Jackson said, nodding. “If you get another text, you can pull over or wait until you get somewhere. No text or social media post is worth dying for or becoming a murderer.”
He used the word deliberately.
The boy mouthed the word back. “Yes, sir.”
Jackson returned to the truck and climbed inside.
“What was that?”
“I was putting some fear into a kid texting and driving.”
Mia smiled at him. “You might have saved his life or someone else’s. He needed to know there are consequences to his decisions.”
“It can be a painful discovery.” He thought of what he’d learned this very day.
“So, tell me about Elaine.”
“Right. I think she’ll be fine. But the thing is, I think they found drugs in Reggie’s room. The same ones that killed that girl earlier this week.”
“My student, Crystal.”
He’d forgotten she knew her. “Yes, Crystal. I hate to think it, but I believe Reggie was dealing.”
She sucked in a breath next to him. “How awful. Did Dylan know, do you think?”
“That’s the million-dollar question. I’m beginning to think the Reeses haven’t kept as close an eye on my brother as I thought.”
