We were silent for the rest of the trip, which I was grateful for. When she pulled up in front of the house, I thanked her and got out of the car. I made sure to leave her a tip in the app; I figured there was certainly bad karma for not treating other drivers well. Not to mention the driver who’d helped me get home the other night. I owed all the DAC drivers all the tips for that.

I felt a chill rush over me as I walked up to my front door. When I opened it, I heard Shelby shuffle. I turned on a light and walked over to her. She stirred for a moment and then looked at me before lying back down.

I walked into the bedroom, the pull of the red wine making me tired but not sleepy. I lay back on the bed, fully clothed, spread out in the center of it, since I had it all to myself. I lay there for a few minutes, hoping the wine would lull me to sleep, but it didn’t. I rolled over, stretching out, my hands sliding under my own pillow and Keith’s—

I froze when my fingers hit something that felt like a small postcard. I pulled it out and sighed deeply when I saw what it was.

A scratch-off ticket.

One that I hadn’t bought.

In any other case, it wouldn’t be a big deal, but the single ticket told me that even though Keith said he was fine with accepting money from the Art Bowl, he was still looking for another way out. He’d been so upset when he saw that I was buying the scratch-offs, and here he was, sliding back into his old habits.

I’d have to watch out to make sure it didn’t get any worse.

I put the ticket back and then rolled onto my back. My mind still raced, my thoughts jumping from Detective Puhl’s face on the news to Hooks’s face as he stared at me in my car.

I just wanted sleep. I needed rest so that I could get rid of the fog that seemed to be in front of my mind and wouldn’t go away. Tomorrow would be a brand-new day; I would go to the diner and try Emma again and hope that she answered. I hadn’t decided if I’d tell her about Hooks climbing into my car; that would require a lot of explaining.