Page 74 of The Birthday List (Maysen Jar 1)

This one would probably send her arms over her head and rock her back a foot or two.

Kind of like how the killer took the recoil in the liquor store shooting.

What the fuck? My mind started to race. How had I not thought of this? How had any of us not thought of this? What if Jamie’s killer was a woman?

I ran a hand over my face as things dawned in a new light. Simmons hadn’t royally fucked up this murder case. He’d just looked at it from the most obvious angle. He’d been searching for a man.

We’d all been searching for a man.

“Cole?”

I blinked and focused back on Poppy. “Sorry. I was just thinking of something.” I took the gun from her hands and put it away.

“Is everything okay?” she asked, her eyebrows furrowed.

I smiled and lied. “Yeah. It’s great. Do you want to hang out with me while I work on the truck before dinner, or do you want to go inside and chat with Mom?”

“I’m good right here.”

She was. She was perfect right here.

And she’d be even better if I could find Jamie’s killer.

“I’m melting.” Molly fanned her face.

“Me too. I just hope the cab has air conditioning.”

It was three days after I’d gotten my tattoo and admitted my feelings to Cole, and Molly and I were standing outside the restaurant. Sweat beaded on my temples as we stared down the street, hoping to see a sedan with its taxi light on.

“Oooh!” Molly stood on her tiptoes and looked down the street. “Here it comes. Okay, I’m going.”

With a huge smile, she jogged around her SUV, getting in and pulling onto the street the second the cab turned into the parking lot.

Okay, Jamie. Here goes.

I took a deep breath, then hustled into the backseat of the cab, throwing open the door and diving inside.

“Follow that car!” I shouted to the driver, pointing toward Molly’s Explorer.

“What?” The cabbie looked over his shoulder.

“Follow that car!” I wagged my finger and gave him my get going, buddy eyes.

“Look, lady—”

“Just go! Please!”

He frowned but hit the gas, jerking the cab into traffic and zooming up on Molly.

“She could at least go a little faster,” I muttered.

“What was that?” the driver asked into the rearview mirror.

“Nothing. Just please, follow that car.”

And he did. He followed Molly around the block and right back to the parking lot of the restaurant.

“Thank you, sir.”