“No. You said you didn’t want to talk about him. I never agreed to not talk about him. What’s the douchebag’s name, by the way?”

“Why do you want to know?”

“So I can check for priors against him when I get back to the station.”

“You won’t find anything,” she said. “Allen is a model citizen.”

“What’s his last name?”

“Hicks.”

“And what does Allen Hicks do for a living?”

“He’s in commercial insurance,” Colleen said.

“What about you? Do you work?”

“Nothing too exciting. I’m a dental hygienist.”

He nodded. “You want another drink?”

She glanced at the neon Schlitz clock on the wall. “It’s pretty late. Won’t your wife wonder where you are?”

“I’ll tell her I had a domestic call, right before I was about to get off shift, and I had to deal with it. All of which is true.”

“Why not?” she said, looking around. “For old times’ sake.”

19

“Ms. Howington?”

“Yes,” the older woman said impatiently. “Whatever you’re selling, I can’t afford.”

It was Thursday afternoon. The office was empty. Everyone else was on lunch break, but she kept her voice low anyway to avoid being overheard. “This is Drue Campbell. From Campbell, Coxe and Kramner?”

Yvonne Howington gave an exasperated sigh. “Honey, I don’t wanna be rude, but I got nothing to say to you people.”

“I’m so sorry about everything that’s happened to you, Ms. Howington, and that’s why I’m calling. I was wondering if I could come talk to you.”

“What for?”

The question took Drue by surprise. She’d just assumed that Jazmin Mayes’s mother would welcome her assistance.

“I want to help,” Drue said. “I think the way your case was settled is wrong. And I thought maybe, well, if I could help you prove that Jazmin wasn’t working that night, my father could renegotiate with the insurance company.”

“I ain’t got time for this,” the woman said. “And what good will it do anyway?”

“It might not do any good at all,” Drue heard herself say. “But I’d like to try, if you’d just let me come out and talk to you.”

“I don’t know,” Yvonne said. “Every time I get myself all worked up over this thing, I just get slapped in the face. I’m home from work right now, because Aliyah’s been sick.”

“I could come after I get off work,” Drue said eagerly. “Would six o’clock be all right?”

“Be fine,” Yvonne said.

The Lyft driver gave Drue a dubious look over her shoulder. “Hon? You sure this is where you wanted me to take you?”