Eric propped his elbow on the Audi’s undamaged roof, the morning sun glinting off the lenses of his aviators. “There’s this new Italian place I like on Clark. How about it?”

He was a nice guy, and she needed to be honest. “I can’t date you, Eric.”

“Whoa...”

“I’m an idiot, okay? Instead of being attracted to a solid, gorgeous guy like you, I got myself involved with a—a—” A solid, gorgeous guy like Cooper Graham... “...with someone else. It’s over, but I need some space. As I said, I’m an idiot.”

He squinted against the morning sun. “Cooper Graham. I knew it.”

She swallowed. “Do you seriously think he’d be interested in me?”

“Why not?”

This didn’t seem the time to talk about men being attracted to her merely because she was one of the guys. “I’ll fix you up with someone.”

That was one too many blows to his ego. “I don’t need anybody fixing me up.”

“Not even with Jennifer MacLeish? Chicago’s favorite meteorologist?”

“You know her?”

“Yep.” She’d have to persuade Jen, but they just might hit it off. “We can still help each other out now and then, though. Don’t you agree?”

“How do you mean?”

She hoped she’d read his ambitious nature correctly. “I’m an ordinary citizen. I can legally go places a police officer can’t, and that might be useful to you someday.”

He was listening. “Maybe.”

“And I’d like to be able to call on you occasionally. This accident, for example... I’m concerned about Coop.”

Eric wasn’t all good looks. He also had a brain. “You think whoever did this was after Coop?”

“I’m keeping an open mind.” Not so very open.

“Intriguing.” He stuck his thumb in his belt. “About this date with Jennifer MacLeish...”

***

The former air duct cleaning employee she was supposed to be investigating lived with his girlfriend and baby in her parents’ home. Piper followed the family to Brown’s Chicken, but as they went inside, she started worrying about Coop. He should be at the gym now, right on schedule. A schedule anyone with half a brain could figure out. Her anxiety got the best of her, and she hurried back to her car.

His Tesla was in the gym lot. She took a broken-down baby stroller somebody had put out at the curb from her trunk and pushed it, wobbly wheel and all, across the street. When Coop finally came out, she watched his reflection in a music store window. The stroller had done the trick, and he didn’t spare her a look.

She trailed him to Heath’s house, not caring if he spotted her. Once he was safely inside, she returned to her South Side stakeout and found the family in a hardscrabble neighborhood park.