She leaned down as the other guy’s eyes opened slowly. At first, they locked on Marie-Terese, then on Jim.

“Wakey-wakey,” Jim murmured as he checked to see whether those pupils responded to the light in the same way. When they did, he was only marginally relieved. “How about we get you to a doc.”

Vin grunted, and as he struggled to sit up, Marie-Terese tried to get him to stay put. “There’s nothing wrong with me,” the guy said gruffly, “and no, I don’t have a concussion.”

Jim frowned, thinking that even hardheaded assholes tended to take notice when they back-flatted it out in public, but Vin wasn’t surprised—or worried. He was…resigned.

He’d had experience with this before, hadn’t he.

As the guy started to look around, Jim glanced over at Adrian and Eddie and nodded his head at the road, giving them a signal to head off. The pair took the hint, backing their bikes up and palming a wave before leaving.

“Shit…” Vin said as he rubbed his face. “That wasn’t fun.”

“Yeah, I think that’s self-evident.” Jim glanced over at the dark-haired woman and wondered why the two had met up. If Vin wanted to keep things quiet about having any connection with those dead bodies, hooking up with her was not the brightest idea—even if it was just for coffee.

“I don’t know what happened,” she said. “We just had breakfast—”

“You only had coffee,” Vin muttered, indicating that his short-term memory was working. Assuming she hadn’t had French toast, too.

The woman lifted her hand as if she wanted to soothe him, but then dropped her arm. “He ate and we talked and we came out here and—”

“I’m okay now.” Vin pushed himself up off the ground and steadied himself on the Camry’s hood. “Just fine.”

Jim grabbed the guy’s elbow. “We’re going to the doc now.”

“The hell we are.” Vin pulled his arm back. “I’m going home.”

Well, shit. Given the hard angle of the guy’s jaw, the only shot Jim had at helping was playing chauffeur and taking him back to the Commodore.

“I’ll drive you across town, then.”

Vin opened his mouth to argue, but the woman put her hand on his shoulder. “What if that happens again while you’re behind the wheel?”

As their eyes made contact and held, the sun broke through the dappling clouds and a shaft of liquid warmth shot down from the sky and bathed them in a glow.

Jim frowned, and glanced up at the heavens, half expecting to see a live-action Michelangelo moment, with the hand of God pointing at the two. But no, just clouds and sky and sun…and a flock of Canadian geese honking their way south.