the parking lot of the Wachobe P&C. Someone is shooting at me.”
“Ma’am, are you in your car?”
“No, I’m on the ground between a car and the cart corral.” An awful thought hit me. “But Danny … my boy … is in my car on the other side of the parking lot.”
“All right, ma’am. An officer is on his way. Stay low to the ground and seek cover until he gives you the all clear.”
“But my boy—”
“Stay where you are, ma’am. The officer is coming. I’ll stay on the line with you.”
I eased my head up to peek over the hood of the Acura I’d taken cover behind, trying to spot Danny. Another shot whizzed past me and cracked the windshield of the truck behind me as I dropped back to the pavement.
“Ma’am, are you taking cover?”
“Yes, yes! Where’s the officer? Can you call my husband Ray Parker? He’s a sheriff deputy.”
“I’ll contact him now. Stay down, ma’am.”
I heard a car turn over. It sounded familiar. The driver accelerated and squealed out of a parking space.
Another shot connected with the back end of the Acura. Was the shooter trying to hit the gas tank?
I dug in my heels and crab-walked closer to the truck behind me. If the Acura blew, the truck and I would go with it, not to mention the cart corral.
A car flew past the rear of the Acura, spun around the end of the line of parked cars and slammed to a stop in the lane behind me. “Get in, Jolene, get in!”
I scrambled to my knees and crawled to the Lexus. Danny opened the rear passenger door. I dove into the back seat. He hit the gas. We peeled out of the parking lot. He made a hard right onto the road which threw me to the floor. I heard the police siren coming from behind us as Danny raced down the road.
The siren faded.
“Pull over, Danny. Pull over. We’re safe now.”
He jerked to a stop by the side of the road. I climbed over the console and into the passenger seat. Then I grabbed him and hugged him tight. “Thank you.”
He wiggled his way out of my grasp. “I didn’t see the guy, but I heard the shots.”
“And you came to save me.”
He blushed and refused to meet my eyes. “Yeah.”
I looked down at my hands. The cell phone was still clutched in one hand, my purse in the other. “But I have the car keys.”
He nodded.
“Danny, did you hotwire this car?”
He didn’t respond, but his eyes shifted about as though looking for escape.
“You know how to hotwire cars?”
A tentative nod told me he did.
“What else do you know how to do, Danny?”
He bit his lip and considered for a moment before replying. “I can jimmy a car door and pick a lock.”
“Did your dad teach you all that?”
His eyes grew proud. “A man has to have some skills.”
I grinned. “Is that what your father says?”
“Yeah.”
“Next time you see him, you tell him I’m not sure what he was thinking when he taught you all that, but I’m sure glad he did.”
Danny beamed with pride. “Okay, I’ll tell him.”
“Ma’am? MA’AM?”
I glanced at my cell phone in surprise. The 911 operator was still with us, just as she promised.
I raised the phone to my ear. “Yes?”
“The Wachobe police chief and your husband are now on the scene. They want you to meet them there. It’s all clear.”
“Did they make an arrest?”
“No, ma’am. The suspect appears to have fled.”
“Okay, thank you.” I ended the call and flipped my phone shut. “We have to go back.”
Danny’s hands slid under the wheel column.
I pulled the car keys from my purse. “I think you better let me drive.”
____
Danny and I stood in the sun making our statements to the police chief and Ray while a team from the sheriff’s office dug the bullets out of the cars, picked up the others, and plotted trajectories. Whoever it was must have been following me. I hadn’t notice a tail, but then, I hadn’t looked either. He could have been the worst tail in the world, and I never would have known he was there. They concluded the shooter had been in the trees in front of my Lexus. Unable to get a clear shot with my trunk open, he’d taken a shot as soon as I stopped in front of the cart corral.
Lucky for me, his aim was off.
Danny didn’t want to talk when we got in the Lexus to drive home,