Page 353 of Cold Case, Warm Hearts

She wanted to get this done and get home. “Does the grocery store have cameras?”

He glanced at the closest light pole. Hesitated. Frowned.

Addie stood. “I’ll go ask inside.” All the frozen stuff in her trunk would be toast, even if it was freezing out here. But maybe they’d replace it. She couldn’t leave right now.

Addie didn’t get up from the trunk. That thought about leaving stumped her.

Shecouldgo home now. This wasn’t her case, or her jurisdiction—yet. She didn’t need to get her hands dirty on her last day off. Working a hit-and-run that wasprobablyrandom but might not be.

“Does stuff like this happen in this part of town, or often?” Frustration or not, did she want to get in the middle of the police doing their job?

The young officer pulled out a logbook. “How about you just tell me what happened?”

Lights.

She’d frozen there as the past resurged like a dragon woken from sleep. “White car. I didn’t see a license plate on the back as it sped away. There might’ve been one on the front. Maybe the security picked it up—we can check.”

He looked up from his notepad and blinked those eyes. “Because there’s a reason you’re authorized to do that?”

Addie decided then that his looks disarmed criminals and witnesses alike. He was either irritated by that or used it to his advantage regularly. She showed him both of her hands, palms out, then reached her back pocket. She turned slightly and showed him the fabric of her pants. She used two fingers to pull out her wallet.

“You’re a cop.”

“FBI Special Agent Addie Franklin.”

“The new agent that starts tomorrow.” He nodded slowly.

Addie studied him, looking for some indication of how the local police viewed her impending arrival. She wasn’t some unfamiliar face—whether that proved to be good or bad. “I grew up in Benson. My family lives here.”

He nodded. “Everyone knows Russ Franklin.”

Addie looked at his name badge and stuck out her hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Officer Hummet.”

“You too, Special Agent Franklin.”

“Addie is fine if we’re not both on the job.”

“Sounds good.”

Either he didn’t know about her history or was professional enough not to mention it. Addie could appreciate both, whichever it was.

She set off. “Let’s go check with the store about cameras.”

Hummet used his radio to call in that he was headed inside the store. “Had a call here a few weeks ago. They have a system. It’s glitchy, so I guess we’ll find out if they dumped the money to fix it or upgrade.”

“Guess we will.” Addie hobbled over the entry mat. Tried not to let on that her hip hurt quite as much as it did.

“Want some ibuprofen while we’re in here?”

Addie glanced over her shoulder and pouted just for show. “Fine.”

Hummet grinned. “Broke my arm last summer. Took me two weeks to admit it was bad. I tried to take down a huge guy running a construction racket. Nearly cried like a baby.”

Addie smiled back.

“Thankfully it didn’t need surgery because it’d started to heal wrong by the time the sergeant ordered me to the doctor.”

“That’s good.”

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