Raintree. Linda Winstead Jones

vehicles to the shoulder.

      There were several witnesses to what had happened. No one knew whether road rage had caused the shooting or if the whole thing had been a conflict between rival gangs, but everyone had an opinion and a slightly different version of events. The one thing they all agreed on was that the people in the white Dodge had been shooting at the Nissan, and the people in the Nissan had been shooting back.

      “Did anyone get the plate number of either vehicle?” a patrolman asked.

      Dante immediately looked at Lorna. “Numbers?”

      She thought of the white Dodge and three numbers came into sharp focus. “The Dodge is 873.” Nevada plates were three digits followed by three letters.

      “Did you get the letters?” the patrolman asked, pen at the ready.

      Lorna shook her head. “I just remember the numbers.”

      “This will narrow the search considerably. What about the Nissan?”

      “Hmm…612.”

      He jotted that down, too, then turned away as he got on the radio.

      Dante’s cell phone rang. He fished it from the front pocket of his jeans and checked the caller ID. “It’s Gideon,” he said, flipping the phone open. “What’s up?” He listened a moment, then said, “Royally screwed.”

      A brief pause. “I remember.”

      They talked for less than a minute when Lorna heard him say, “A glimpse of the future,” which made her wonder what was going on. He had just laughed at something his brother said when she suddenly shivered, wrapping her arms around herself even though the temperature was rapidly climbing toward the nineties. That awful, bone-aching chill had seized her as suddenly as if she’d been dropped into a pool of ice water.

      Dante’s gaze sharpened, and he abruptly ended the call, tucking the phone back into his pocket.

      “What’s wrong?” he asked, keeping his tone low as he pulled her to the side.

      She fought waves of dizziness, brought on by the intense cold. “I think the depraved serial killer must have followed us,” she said.