Page 2 of Jina

“He tried to run me over.” She couldn’t help feeling disgusted with her poor performance. “I should have fired first and asked questions later.”

“No, you did the right thing,” Cole assured her. “Firing at the wrong perp would have required a ton of paperwork.”

She couldn’t hold back a bark of laughter, because he was right. If she had been wrong about the driver, she would have been stuck in a local police station for the rest of the night. “Yeah, well, I must be losing it because I didn’t get the license plate either.”

“I don’t think there was one, or it was covered in some way.” He raked a gaze over her. “You’re not hit?”

“No. And I don’t think my Jeep was struck either.” She turned to head back through the trees to the gym parking lot. It seemed to be taking the local police a while to respond. “Guess it’s a good thing the guy is a lousy shot.”

“Yeah.” Cole fell into step beside her. “Any idea about who wants to hurt you?”

She shot him a sidelong glance. “As a cop, I make a lot of enemies. But no one specific comes to mind.”

“You work out of the Seventh Precinct in Milwaukee, right?” Cole asked.

She narrowed her gaze. “And you know that how?”

“Mike mentioned it,” Cole said with a shrug. “I’m a detective with the Peabody Police Department.”

“I figured you were a cop.” She didn’t like hearing he’d asked around about her. But she wasn’t a scared teenager trying to get rid of a creepy stalker or college student fighting off a rapist anymore. She could handle herself in a way she hadn’t been able to before.

When they reached the gym building, the wail of sirens indicated the cops were finally on the way. Since she couldn’t leave, she pulled out her phone and used the flashlight app to scan for shell casings. Cole did the same thing, spreading out from where she was working.

“Found one,” she said, crouching down to look at it more closely. “Probably a .38.”

“Good eye. And here’s the second one.” Cole gestured to the casing just three feet away. “Same caliber. Looks like he was moving back when he fired the second time.”

“Or he moved closer after missing the first shot.” She glanced at him. “Either way, he was pretty far off the mark.”

“That’s a blessing,” Cole said with a nod. “I’m glad no one was hurt.” Then he straightened as two uniformed Brookland police officers came toward them. He stepped forward to introduce himself. “I’m Peabody Detective Cole Roberts, and this is Officer Jina . . .” He arched a brow. She was glad Mike hadn’t given out her last name.

“Officer Jina Wheeler with MPD.” Gesturing toward the ground, she added, “We found two shell casings from the location from where the perp fired at me.”

“Maybe you should start at the beginning,” the older of the two men said. “Who was shooting at you?”

“I have no idea. Maybe a disgruntled perp I put away at some point.” She went on to give her statement as succinctly as possible. To his credit, Cole didn’t interrupt. After she’d finished, he added his version of the incident.

“This guy shot at you twice, then tried to run you over?” the younger officer asked.

“Yep. I wish I could give you a plate number, but all I know for sure is that the vehicle was a dark-colored SUV. Not a Jeep, the front grill was different, but maybe a Honda or a Hyundai?” She glanced at Cole for his input.

He nodded. “Pretty sure it was a Honda. The license plate was either missing or covered.”

The cops asked several more questions before letting them go. Jina headed toward her Jeep, then abruptly stopped as Cole joined her.

“Did you need something?” The statement came out more accusatory than she’d intended.

“No. I was just walking you to your car,” he answered evenly.

“I’m a cop, Cole.” She scowled. “I don’t need a babysitter.”

“Wasn’t volunteering for that role. Just making sure there are no other surprises lurking nearby.”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “Thanks for the assist, but I have it from here.”

He held her gaze for a long moment. The fact that she remembered his eyes were a dark chocolate brown annoyed her. “Suit yourself.”

It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him she always did suit herself rather than catering to the whims of others, but he chose that moment to turn to head back to the other side of the parking lot.

---