The Survivor by DiAnn Mills Page A

probably strung out. Got scared and took off when we headed for the ditch.”
    “Your Jag tends to attract attention.”
    “I should have stuck with my Prius. Vanity took over once the arrests were made last summer.”
    He remembered the day she’d sold the Prius. They’d celebrated with dinner at Ruth’s Chris. “Did you get his license plate number?”
    “Only V8. I gave it to the officer who arrived on the scene. Vicki thought she took a pic of the truck with her cell phone. But it’s not there. I guess she was too nervous.”
    He brushed a kiss across the tip of Rose’s nose, and the baby smiled. Melted him like butter. “Did you get a look at the driver?”
    “Nope. Tinted glass. I thought about trying to stop him before he got away, but I had Rose and Vicki to worry about.”
    “What would you have done? Chased after the guy with your handgun?”
    Kariss rolled her eyes. “Very funny. I was actually planning to shoot out a tire or aim for his gas tank.”
    “Don’t worry, they’ll find him. Although I’d like the chance.” He forced himself to look into Kariss’s brown eyes and realized he couldn’t breathe. Facing bad guys was so much easier. “I’d appreciate a call in a few days on how your sister’s doing.”
    “Sure.” She winced. “I smell awful from the deployed air bag.”
    “I thought it was the ER.”
    “I’d take you out if you weren’t holding my niece.”
    “Then I’m safe.”
    “Sorry Dad called you.”
    “No problem.” He was glad Fred did. Tigo wanted to be there.
    A nurse met them in the hall. “Your baby’s beautiful,” she said. “She has her mama’s hair and eyes.” She smiled at Tigo. “I bet you’re one proud daddy.”
    “We’re not her parents.” Kariss brushed her finger across Rose’s cheek. “She’s my sister’s baby. Thanks anyway. We think she’s beautiful too.”
    Tigo wanted to think they had a future if they could just work through the damage. That they could someday earn that compliment. But he’d have to take the first step.

CHAPTER 16
    5:00 P.M. FRIDAY
    S o now your wife claims you were at home the morning of the car bombing?” Tigo watched Roger Collins, who had three eyebrow piercings, two piercings on his upper lip, and a safety pin through his ear. Very easy to stereotype him. “New information. Had she forgotten you were there?”
    Roger Collins had been brought in before Tigo and Ryan returned from Curt and Ian’s high school. Tigo was in a sour mood, regretting the waste of time talking to the basketball team, and Collins wasn’t helping his attitude.
    Ryan glanced up from his iPad, no doubt reading Collins for signs of deceit. Although the interview was being recorded, the two agents always compared their personal notes with the footage. The FBI interview room was quiet except for the low hum of the heating system.
    Collins rubbed his nose. “I was at home with my wife and daughter. Since I lost my job, where else could I go? I was sitting on the patio talking to a friend most of the morning. You know, commiserating.”
    “A little cold to be on the patio. It was pouring rain that morning.”
    “It’s covered. And the weather fit my attitude.”
    “Especially if you were planting a bomb in Jonathan Yeat’s car,” Tigo said.
    “No way. I went to prison once. I’m not going back again.”
    “But you threatened him.”
    “Wouldn’t you if you didn’t know how you were going to feed your family?”
    Tigo picked up a piece of paper. “I wouldn’t resort to murder. Says here you’d like to see him dead.”
    Collins pressed his fingers into the top of the table, his knuckles white. “I didn’t kill anyone.”
    “How good are you at building bombs?”
    “Not good enough.”
    Tigo glanced at Ryan. “What did you tell me about this man’s record?”
    “Did time for armed robbery. Pistol-whipped a male clerk behind the counter of a convenience store.”
    “Hmm.” Tigo tapped his pen on the table. “Did you