I reached forward and clinked cups with her. “A Chinese friend of mine sends it now and again. In return I send wild ginseng from up in the mountains.”

“That’s where you grew up, isn’t it? The Appalachians? You don’t have a pronounced mountain accent, but I can hear the inflections in your voice.”

“You’ve pegged me,” I said. “I first saw the light of day on the back side of Lookout Mountain, in a little place called Rising Fawn, Georgia, up near the borders of Alabama and Tennessee. But I’ve been gone from there for quite a while.” I gave her a look. “And by the sound of your voice, I’d say that you come from somewhere just inland from the coast down here. Someplace like Statesboro or Glennville.”

She gave me a laugh. “Pretty close,” she said. “Claxton.”

“Fruitcake capital of the world,” I responded.

“Both the eating kind and the two-legged kind,” she said with a throaty chuckle. “It’s a good place to be from—far from.”

“I take it you’ve renounced the family fortune and turned down the trust fund that came along with it,” I returned.

“Now that is rich,” she said with an ironic lilt in her voice. “The only thing my ancestors ever left behind was debt and poverty. So as soon as I graduated from high school, it was the big city for me. I packed up my little car, came to Savannah, and never looked back.”

“Haven’t always been a cop, have you?” I asked.

“Always. Got a job as a night dispatcher and worked my way through Savannah State with a degree in criminal science. Police work, it’s what I’ve always wanted to do. I guess I’ve been lucky.”

“Family?” I asked.

“Now who’s the detective here, Tanner? You or me?” she replied with a furrowed brow.

“I prefer to think of this as a pleasant conversation, Patricia,” I said in a friendly tone, “not a grilling. It’s just that I’m always intrigued when I meet someone who left home in search of greener pastures. Most people never do, especially if they come from a small town. They stay where they were born, where they know and are known by all, and never budge.” I gave her a look and a smile. “It takes courage to set out on your own and follow a dream—and I admire that in a person.”

Patricia took another sip before replying. “Kennesaw, I was just playing with you, I don’t mind the question—yeah, my mother still lives there, along with an older sister and brother. They all live on the same street where they’ve always been. Mom is becoming increasingly frail, and it’s good that she has family close by. I get down there as often as I can.”