Detective Justin Hatcher pushed through the glass doors of the Raleigh, North Carolina diner and stepped into the predawn gloom. He tightened the lid on his thermos and walked around his new black Dodge to check the tires one more time.

   “Wait! Please wait!” The female voice came from somewhere behind him. He placed one booted foot in the truck and set his thermos on the passenger seat.

   “Give me a break,” she persisted. “Can you just hang on a minute?”

   He stepped back out of the truck. “Can I help you with something?”

   She thumped her chest as though it would slow her panting. “Are you heading west?”

   He hung his arm over the door as she attempted to drag an overstuffed duffle bag around in front of her.

   “Please,” she begged. “Are you heading west? I’ve just missed my bus and I need to get to Oklahoma City.”

   A strand of red gold hair fell across her tear-dampened face.

   “Wait a minute...don’t you work in the diner?”

   “I did. My last shift just ended.” She took a deep breath. “Are you going west or not?”

   He had no business taking on a passenger. Not even a cute redhead. Not even until a bus station in the next major city. “Get in.”

   She jumped in the cab and secured his thermos between her feet. She turned to him and smiled. Really smiled. Smiled in such a way that it rivaled the first sun of the morning now creeping into the eastern sky. “Thanks for the ride.”

   With one click of the seatbelt, Detective Justin Hatcher knew he was in for the most complicated ride of his life - and he didn’t even know her name.