He swung past Sugar Maple Kitchen for cinnamon rolls, then drove to Ken Vance’s Feed Supply Company. He parked half a block down and made himself comfortable.

He’d waited days for this.

He could easily wait a few more hours.

That afternoon, Luke rested a wrist on his steering wheel, gaze trained on the feed store as Detective Romano and another officer entered.

Minutes later, Ken ran out the back entrance and climbed into his Jaguar convertible. He tried to start it. No luck. Again and again he tried.

The engine wouldn’t turn over.

The policemen flowed out the back, surrounded Ken, and arrested him.

“Gotcha,” Luke whispered.

Justice had caught up with Luke because of the bad decisions he’d made. Now he’d ensured that it caught up with Ken, too, and retribution tasted very, very sweet.

Once Ken had been secured in the back of the squad car, Romano strode over to Luke’s truck.

Luke rolled down the driver’s side window.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Dempsey.”

“Good afternoon, Detective.”

“What a coincidence to find you here.”

“Wild coincidence,” Luke agreed.

“Someone left us a tip this morning saying they’d seen Ken unloading gold at a property owned by relatives of Ken’s daughter. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”

“Nope.”

“It took some doing to get into the underground bunker. But we managed it. And what do you know?”

“You found the gold.”

“We did.”

“Glad to hear it.”

Romano shielded his eyes from the sun and looked toward the Jaguar. “Ken Vance’s car wouldn’t start just now.”

“Oh? That was unlucky for him.”

“You’re pretty knowledgeable about car engines, are you not?”

“I am.”

“Probably enough to disable one.”

“Yep.”

“Huh.”

Luke shrugged. “You can’t count on cars that weren’t manufactured here in the USA.”

Romano smiled. “You have firsthand experience with the inner workings of a chop shop, correct?”

“Yes.”

“And, from what I hear, hacker-level computer skills.”

“I have strong computer skills, but they’re not hacker skills. They’re law-abiding skills.”

Romano took a step back. “You know, we could use a consultant like you.”

Luke cocked an eyebrow in disbelief.

“We’d only call you in from time to time. To give us your viewpoint.”

Life was strange. He’d once used his knowledge of cars, criminals, and computers to commit crimes. Now he was being invited to use the same knowledge to solve crimes. “I might be willing to help out. As you said, from time to time.”

“Excellent.” Romano extended his hand and Luke shook it. “I’ll be in touch.”

Across town, Finley received a text from Luke saying he was on his way. She hurried to the foyer of the rehab center in time to watch his truck arrive out front.