Next of Kin

“Do you feel it, too?” he asked.

“What?”

He should have dropped it then, but something inside him wouldn’t let him. “That it wasn’t just a coincidence we were both on the scene of that collision today.”

“You think we were meant to help those people?”

“Yes.” And also that they were meant to meet each other. But he could tell from the way she’d begun to back away from him again that it was too soon for him to say something nearly that serious.

“Well, I’m not sure that it was fate or anything. But I’m glad we were able to be of some use.” She folded the pizza box and stuffed it into the garbage.

“Are you going to visit the baby again?” he asked.

“Yes. Definitely. I wonder if they’ve found her family yet. Do you know why it’s taking so long?”

“Her mother didn’t have any ID on her,” he explained. “Not a purse, not a wallet, not even a driver’s license in her pocket.”

She frowned. “That’s strange.”

“Tell me about it.”

“Were there any registration papers in the glove compartment?”

“Yeah. According to them, the car belongs to a Myra Bedford in Los Angeles.”

“But you don’t think the woman driving the car was Myra?”

“We know she wasn’t. About an hour after the accident, Myra Bedford reported her vehicle stolen.”

Now Jackie was really looking confused. He didn’t blame her. The situation was bizarre to say the least.

“Myra Bedford was visiting her daughter in Courage Bay. She went shopping in the Super Value Mall with her three-month-old grandson yesterday afternoon, and when she came out of the mall, she found her Taurus wagon missing.”