“No. I got it at a scrap yard.”

“Oh, right. That’s a step up. My bad.”

The men were nice to Dog, giving him pats as he wagged around. And the good news was that limp of his seemed a little better today, but Jim was still taking him to a vet on Monday. He’d already left messages at three different places and whoever could get them in first won.

Eddie glanced up from doing the pet and coo thing to shake his head at the bike. “Think you need more than one person on this.”

Jim rubbed his chin. “Nah, I’m good.”

All three of them, Adrian, Eddie, and Dog, looked over at him with identical expressions of doubt…

Jim slowly dropped his hand, his nape tightening sure as if a cold palm had settled on it.

None of them cast a shadow. As they stood backlit by the brilliant sunlight, in the midst of the spindly dark trails thrown by the bare branches of the trees around the garage, it was as if they had been Photo-shopped in—in the landscape, but not of it.

“Do you know…an English guy named Nigel?” As soon as the words left Jim’s mouth, he knew the answer.

Adrian smiled a little. “Do we look like people who’d hang out with a Brit?”

Jim frowned. “How did you know where I lived?”

“Chuck told us.”

“He tell you it was my birthday Thursday night?” Jim slowly got to his feet. “He tell you that, too? Because I didn’t, and you knew yesterday when you asked if I’d had myself a birthday present.”

“Did I.” Adrian’s big shoulders shrugged. “Lucky guess on my part. And you never did answer that question of mine, did you.”

As the two of them went nose-to-nose, Adrian shook his head with a curious sadness. “You did her. You had her. At the club.”

“You sound disappointed in me,” Jim drawled. “Hard to believe, considering you were the one who pointed her out to me in the first place.”

Eddie stepped in between them. “Relax, boys. We’re all on the same team here.”

“Team?” Jim stared at the other guy. “Didn’t know we were on a team.”

Adrian laughed tightly, the piercings at his eyebrow and lower lip catching the light. “We aren’t, but Eddie’s a peacekeeper by nature. He’ll say anything to chill people out, won’t you.”

Eddie just fell into silence and stayed right where he was. Like he was prepared to physically break things up if it came to that.

Jim leveled his stare on Adrian. “Englishman. Nigel. Hangs out with three other pantywaists and a dog the size of a donkey. You know them, don’t you.”

“Already answered the question.”

“Where’s your shadow? You’re standing in sunlight and throwing a whole lot of nothing.”

Adrian pointed to the ground. “Is this a trick question?”