“Then we’re good.” Jolene hopped off the back of the ambulance and winced.
Sam caught her around the waist. “You sure you’re okay?”
“Trent here already checked out my ankle. I just twisted it.” She grimaced.
“Then you shouldn’t be jumping around on it.” Sam refused to release his hold on her, even though her body coiled away from his. “Do you need to talk to the cops?”
“They already got my statement—one car accident and no damage to public property.”
“In that case...” He swept her up in his arms and carried her to his truck while she chattered in his ear.
“This is ridiculous, Sam. I don’t need to be carried. Put me down, please.”
He swung open the door of his truck and placed her inside. He hovered over her, hanging on the frame of the vehicle as the last of the storm spit out its final raindrops on the back of his neck.
“Let someone else take charge for a change.” He leveled a finger at her. “You, sit.”
He stomped off to find the cops investigating the scene of the accident and grabbed the first one. “Do you need Jolene anymore?”
The officer asked, “Is she leaving in the ambulance?”
“She doesn’t want to go to the hospital. The EMTs cleared her, and I’m going to take her home. What happened out here?”
“Pretty much what she told us. She was driving in the rain, going downhill so her speed probably picked up. Her brakes failed, she applied her parking brake and the car spun out and landed upright in the wash. She was lucky. She called in the accident herself.”
“That’s good to hear. Her car being towed to the yard?”
“Yeah, they’ll contact her, but it’s probably totaled.”
“Thanks.” Sam pivoted away, took a few steps and called over his shoulder. “Brakes failed, huh?”
“That’s what it sounds like.”
Sam’s boots crunched the soggy gravel as he returned to the truck. He climbed in and gripped the steering wheel with both hands. “Your brakes failed?”
“I stepped on the brake when I started going down the incline. Instead of slowing down, my car sort of whooshed forward. I didn’t want to stomp on the brake pedal in the rain, so I eased my foot down and when it hit the floor, I knew I was in trouble.”
A pain throbbed against his temple. “Were the brakes feeling squishy before? Squeaking?”
She tucked her hands beneath her thighs, and she hunched her shoulders as if warding off a shiver. “A little squishy, but I thought that was the rain.”
“Your car’s going to be towed to the police yard. It’s totaled.”
“The officers told me that. The tow truck driver gave me his info in case I need him for insurance purposes.” She tapped a damp business card on the console. “What are you implying? About the brakes, I mean?”
He started the truck’s engine and backed away from the patrol car before pulling onto the rain-slicked highway. “Brakes don’t usually up and fail. You know it’s coming. The pads go first, and you have that squishy, gummy feeling when you step on the brake. Brakes usually tell you they’re failing by squeaking.”
“So, if my brakes didn’t gradually go bad on their own, you’re thinking someone made them go bad all at once?” Her knees started bouncing, and he placed a hand on one of them.
“Your car was sitting at Granny Viv’s place while Wade was just there. Doesn’t he know something about cars?”
“He has a few classic cars he tinkers with.” She tilted her head. “I don’t think my cousin would try to kill me. Besides, I saw him leave Gran’s.”
“He could’ve come back or had someone else do it. You didn’t die. He couldn’t know the brakes would go out in that spot by the wash, or that your car would spin out.”
“If he wasn’t trying to kill me, you think he was trying to warn me?”
That prospect didn’t seem to bring her any comfort, as she laced her fingers together and twisted them.
“Maybe scare you off from interfering in casino business. He seems to know you were the one who planted the bones at the construction site. He knows you got your hands on that map and used it to throw a a into his opening ceremony.” Sam shoved a wet lock of hair from his forehead. “Wade Nighthawk is a man on a mission—and I don’t think he’s going to allow you or anyone else to stand in his way.”
“If he knows I left the bones there, he has to know they’re not going to come back as some ancient Yaqui.”
“He also knows you, Jolene. He knows you’re not going to give up. Maybe that accident was a little push to convince you to back off and leave it alone.”
“Why doesn’t he just tell me to my face?”
“Didn’t he try that already?”
“Yes.”
“He’s never going to admit that he’s behind any of this. He has a public persona to uphold, but make no mistake. If he had someone tamper with your brakes, he’s fired a warning shot.”
She gathered her hair in a ponytail and twisted it, squeezing out the water from the wash. “He should know better than that. I’m a Nighthawk.”
AS JOLENE LET Sam into her place, an ecstatic Chip circled their legs, his wet tail thumping out his welcome against the wall.
She patted his head. “He’s been outside. I must’ve left the dog door open.”
“Don’t worry about Chip.” He plucked at the sleeve of her blouse. “You’re soaked to the bone. I don’t care how warm it is. It’s not a good idea to walk around in wet clothes.”
“You should talk. I let you dry your clothes here and you got them all wet again.” As she straightened up from petting Chip, a pain stabbed the back of her neck and she grabbed it, squeezing her eyes closed.
“Whiplash?” He cupped her elbow and led her to the couch. “That’s why you go to the hospital when you’re in an accident like that one.”
“It’s fine. I just feel a
