Page 72 of His Greatest Treasure

“I like you, Ollie. You’re nice.”

A harsh wave of emotion clogs my throat. “I like you too, Nova.”

24

AVERY

Oliver’s backuparrives while I’m finishing up my statement for the police. The tall, red-headed woman storms toward me and the officer, chin to the sky and hands tucked into the pockets of her navy blue pants. I meet her deep green stare head-on, feeling her out.

The officer speaking to me—Richards, he said his name was—lifts a brow at Rebecca’s sudden appearance and flips his notepad closed. There were only a handful of notes, considering I wasn’t here to witness the hit, but he made sure to write them all down anyway.

“There was no second fire engine called,” he says, eyeing the firefighter.

Right. Second, because the first was here for all of three minutes before disappearing. All their presence did was remind me of Oliver and, in turn, had me feeling all the more guilty for not telling him the truth about what happened.

“No need to make a call. I’m here.” Rebecca stares down the officer for a beat, putting on a show of dominance before turning her attention to me. “Avery, I assume? I’m Rebecca Hart.”

I nod. “Oliver mentioned you.”

“Oliver Bateman? What’s station 3’s business in this collision?” the officer asks, eyes flicking between Rebecca and me.

The former shrugs a shoulder and turns to face my car as it gets hooked onto the back of a tow truck. The whine of metal makes me flinch.

“Family involvement.”

“Bateman family?” Richards asks.

I flush at the question, nipping at the inside of my cheek. Rebecca answers for me.

“You could say that.”

The officer relaxes. “Everything’s been done by the book. Information swapped for insurance claims, statements taken. Ms. Miller’s car was hit on the driver’s side head-on from there—” He shifts to point at the end of the street across from the shop. “Driver of a Ram-1500 blew through a stop sign and has been issued a ticket accordingly. He’s been taken to the hospital for a suspected concussion and whiplash. Station 8 was here and put out a small engine fire beneath the Ram’s hood. They cleared out fast afterward.”

“And you have no injuries?” Rebecca asks me, doing her own silent inspection.

“No. I was inside when it happened.”

“Okay. So, she’s done here, then?”

The officer tucks his notepad into a pocket of his vest and does another sweep of the scene. “Yeah, you can take her.”

“There’s glass all over the street,” I blurt out. “I need to get it taken care of.”

“The officers will get it cleaned up,” Rebecca says pointedly. Extending an arm to me, she hooks it through mine and starts leading me toward a small blue car parked up the street.

I glance over my shoulder and shout, “Thank you, Officer!”

He salutes me and goes back to the other officer he arrived with earlier. Rebecca snorts and unlocks her car with a fob. I locked the shop up once the officers arrived, and it bothersme that I never got a chance to finish up what I was doing before all this.

“They’ll contact you if they need anything else. I suggest you reach out to the insurance company ASAP. Is the tow taking your car to a shop?”

“There’s no point, but yeah. For now. It’s totalled.”

“Keep it there until you’ve gotten an answer from your insurance. Which shop is it?”

“Uh, some small place on Third Avenue. I wrote the name in my phone.”

“Send it to Oliver, and he’ll make sure it’s kept without charge.”

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