….The rain had turned downtown into a maze of smeared headlights and silver reflections when my phone rang at 11:47 p.m.
Daniel.
I almost ignored it.
We had been best friends for ten years, which meant I knew that a call from him this late usually involved one of three things: a broken car, a bad decision, or a favor he had already decided I was going to do.
“Alex, I need you.”
“Of course you do.”
“My mom’s stranded downtown. Her car won’t start.”
I sat up straighter.
“Karen?”
“Yeah. She had dinner at that Italian place on Madison. I’m stuck at work, and Dad isn’t answering. Can you get her?”
There was something strange in his voice when he mentioned his father, but I let it go.
“Send me the address.”
Twenty minutes later, I pulled up beneath the restaurant awning.
And then I saw her.
