“I’m so sorry, dear. Aunt Lauren forgot this time. It won’t happen again. I promise.”
Mark aimed narrowed eyes at his aunt. “Double-dip promise, with a cherry and whip cream on top?”
“Double-dip promise, with a cherry and whipped cream on top.”
David was charmed, but not so much that he forgot what had to come next.
“Don’t you think you’d better call his parents?” he asked. “The investigating officer will be here soon, and he’ll want to ask you a million questions. The boy, too. The police will need parental permission to question him.”
The smile the banter had brought to Lauren’s face vanished. “Oh, dear. We don’t need the police. I’m fine, and so is Mark. Nothing happened here.”
“What do you mean, nothing happened here? That idiot ran right at you—and hit you! Then he pulled a hit-and-run. In my book that’s two for one. Crimes, that is.”
Alarm again filled her face. “Oh, no. Really. I’m sure the driver just skidded on the wet pavement. It gets slippery when it starts to snow like this.”
David snorted. “Look, lady—Lauren?” When she nodded, he continued. “The guy started out behind me. The minute you stepped into the crosswalk—on a green light for me, mind you—he hit the gas good and swerved around me. He was heading for you, and there’s no other way to call it. This was no accident.”
“You must be mistaken,” she argued in a shaky voice. “It couldn’t have happened that way. I’m sure it was the snow and…”
She stopped.
Shook her head.
Tightened her hold on Mark.
“Please,” she whispered. “Send them…all of them—” she gave a little wave “—away. I’m fine. Nothing happened here….”
Despite her urgent denials, David heard no conviction behind Lauren’s words. Something wasn’t right. Why was she so determined to avoid the paramedics and the police?
What had really happened before his eyes?
“Look, lady. I know what I saw. And I investigate crime for a living. My powers of observation are pretty sharp. So why don’t you stop all this nothing-happened nonsense, and tell me what’s coming down?”
“Nothing—”
“I’m a witness to your stepping into traffic with a child. I can press charges for child endangerment.”
“No…” Her voice broke on a sob. “Please. I’m all Mark has left. His mother died three years ago, and it’s only been three weeks since we buried my brother.”
David gave a brief nod. “I’m sorry to hear that.” He took a deep breath and withdrew his ID. “But that doesn’t change what I saw. I’m with the FBI. Please tell me what just happened here, why you’re so determined to avoid an investigation.”
Another sob ripped through her. Fear left her features drawn, pale, eerie-looking in the weak glow of the streetlight on the opposite corner across the street. Unless he was much mistaken, her shivers intensified.
She began to shake her head.
He glared.
Mark reached up to pat her cheek. “You ’kay, Aunt Lauren?”
She tried to smile at the boy, but failed. “Fine, Marky. I’m fine.”
“Lady—”
“My name’s Lauren, Lauren DiStefano.”
“Okay, Lauren DiStefano. I’m David Latham. Now why don’t you tell me what you think happened here? What you really think happened here.”
She took a deep breath, forced a…maybe she meant it as a smile, but from his point of view, it looked more like a grimace. She met his gaze.
“My brother’s—” She shut her eyes, shook herself, then squared her shoulders. When she looked at him again, some corner of David’s mind took note of her clear green eyes.
But it was her words that took him by surprise.
With a heavy dose of audible determination, she said, “My brother’s ghost just tried to kill me.”
TWO
David rolled his eyes. “Let me get this straight. Nothing really happened here, you say. It was just a driver who slid on wet pavement. And that driver was…your brother’s ghost?”
Lauren bit her lower lip. Then she squared her shoulders and nodded. “Yes. That’s what I said.”
But she didn’t meet his gaze.
The ambulance shrieked up and came to a complete stop a few inches from David’s feet. Two squad cars careered around the corner behind the siren-blaring, light-flashing, foot-threatening white-and-yellow menace. He scrambled upright, if for no other reason than to protect his feet.
But it was good. Reinforcements just when he needed them. He didn’t know what to make of his accident victim.
Two officers approached. David nodded at them. “Glad to see you guys.”
Officer Radford, as per his name tag, returned the nod. “Can you tell me what happened? The dispatcher wasn’t long on details.”
David withdrew his ID and turned it over to the two cops. “I was on my way down the street when a gray Lexus swerved around me and aimed straight at the woman and child. It hit and ran, and although she says she’s fine, I think she might have a concussion or something. At the very least, she must’ve rattled her head.”
The EMT who’d come up behind Officer Sherman, Radford’s partner, waved her own partner toward Lauren then said, “Why her head? Did you see evidence of trauma?”
“No, but she’s talking crazy.”
With a puzzled look for him, the medic turned to Lauren.
Radford took out a notepad. “What do you mean, talking crazy?”
David snorted. “I feel stupid just telling you what she said. She tried to tell me her brother’s ghost was behind the wheel. And that’s after she insisted again and again that the driver had only skidded on the damp road.”
Radford didn’t look up from his scribbles, but his right eyebrow rose. “So we’re talking criminal ghosts, are we?”
David ran a hand through his hair. He’d known better than to agree to come after Gram. Now he was making a fool of himself thanks to a pretty blonde who might have rocks in her head.
“That’s what she said.”
“Did you get a good look at the driver?”
“It happened so fast, I didn’t even get a good look at the license
