“Are you all right?”
Hazel pulled her hand from the man’s, heart flying and struggling to catch her breath. A car had just tried to mow them down! The sound of the Mercedes mirror being torn off kept echoing in her mind.
She reached for a crying Evie. The heroic man handed her daughter over and Hazel held her tightly. “It’s okay, baby. We’re all right.” She looked at the man as she answered his question.
Hazel checked up the street and saw no sign of the driver. Then she turned back to her hero. “Thank you.”
He took out his phone and called 911.
Her adrenaline began to abate as Evie’s crying softened. Smoothing the few tendrils of brunette hair that had fallen free from the two ponytails sticking out from the sides of Evie’s head, she wiped her daughter’s cheeks.
Looking over the child’s shoulder, she saw the man as more than her rescuer. His reddish-blond hair was slightly wavy and he had strong facial features. He wore dark slacks with black leather loafers that had thick soles, and between the lapels of his black jacket she could see he had on a white shirt with the first two buttons undone. He finished telling the operator where they were and disconnected. Towering above her, he was probably six-three and had an athletic build.
“I’m Callum Colton,” the handsome man said.
“Hazel Hart, and this is Evie, short for Evelyn.”
Evie turned her head, still pouting, and looked at Callum.
“Hi, Evie. Are you okay?” Callum asked.
Evie nodded.
“That’s an awfully cute stuffed monster you have there,” he said.
“Her name is Cookie,” Evie said, brightening.
He chuckled and glanced at Hazel, who became transfixed by his smile. “That’s appropriate.”
Well, whether he was a kid person or not, his tactics worked. Ever since Ed ran out on her after hearing she was pregnant, Hazel always wondered whether or not a man who caught her eyes liked children.
“I think Evie saw something,” Hazel said. “She said a man hit another one over the head with a rock and put him into the trunk.”
The faint sound of sirens joined the gentle hum of distant town movements. Hazel put Evie down and held her hand, needing to have contact with her. Having nearly been run down by a car had rattled them both. To think Evie could have been hurt, or worse...
“Did you see him, too?” Callum asked.
She shook her head. “He was in the car already when I saw him. I didn’t get a good look at him. I did get the plate number, though.”
“That’s great.” Then he asked Evie, “Can you describe the man?”
The little girl nodded. “Mm-hmm. He looked really mad.”
“Mad?” Hazel asked, prompting her to elaborate.
Evie crowded her tiny eyebrows over eyes that were greener than her mother’s. “Yeah.” Evie nodded. “He looked like the man at the mall, Mommy.”
Hazel met her daughter’s round, innocent eyes, heart melting as usual at Evie’s adorableness and also searching for the memory. Then she recalled a homeless man they had encountered at the edge of the parking lot. He had been dressed in heavy clothing and had a beard, a dark beard.
“Was the man you saw as hairy as the man in the parking lot earlier?” Hazel asked.
“No, he was not skinny. And no hair on his face.”
The homeless man had been slim and had a beard. “The man she saw was average in height and weight,” Hazel said.
The sirens were now a blaring howl and seconds later, fire trucks, police cars and ambulances converged upon them.
“I hope this doesn’t take long.” Hazel had to prepare meals for tomorrow’s deliveries.
“You witnessed a crime,” Callum said. “The man got away. What if he comes after you again? We need to catch this guy.”
Hazel hadn’t considered that. Police approached and, filled with intensifying apprehension, she had to turn away from Callum’s unmistakable concern. Her meals could wait. She could get up early tomorrow and prepare them.
A woman in a tan blazer approached, her strides graceful, auburn hair flowing.
“Kerry,” Callum greeted her. “Good to see you again.”
“Callum, what are you doing here?” Kerry’s blue eyes were direct and exuded confidence.
“My office is across the street. I saw a man in a car and thought it was suspicious.”
He had? Hazel looked across the street at the one-story strip mall. One of the spaces must be where Callum worked.
“This is Hazel and Evie Hart,” Callum said. “This is Detective Kerry Wilder. She’s also my brother Rafe’s fiancée.”
Hazel shook the pretty woman’s hand.
“Evie here saw the man when he got out of the car,” Callum said.
“You did?” Kerry asked in a lighthearted tone, crouching before the girl. “What did you see?”
Evie huddled closer to Hazel’s leg, bringing Cookie up to her face. She got bashful sometimes.
“She saw the driver of the car hit another man on the head and put him in the trunk,” Hazel answered for her daughter.
Kerry straightened and began writing on a small notepad.
The detective with Kerry went to take photos of Hazel’s broken mirror while Hazel described the man who had almost run them down. Then she gave the detective his plate number.
“All right. We’re going to talk to neighbors and tenants of the commercial building to see if there are any other witnesses,” Kerry said. “Why don’t you stop by the station later so we can have a sketch artist draw the man you saw?”
Hazel nodded.
“Callum, you should come, too. You can probably help with the description.”
Callum nodded once.
Detective Wilder put away her notepad. “Meanwhile, we’ll have officers on the lookout for this car.”
And whatever he had done with the man in his trunk. Hazel warded off a shiver. If he could hurt someone like that, what would he do to Evie?
“You should be careful until we locate him. Are you or your husband armed?”
“I’m not married,” Hazel said, then saw Callum glance at her at that revelation.
“Maybe you should stay somewhere else,” Kerry said. Then to Callum, “I don’t think they should be alone tonight.”
Callum looked a little startled by the suggestion, or that Kerry had directed the declaration at him, as though he should be the one to take care of them for the night.
“Do you have any family you can stay with?” Kerry asked Hazel.
They were all far away except her brother, but he was a two hour drive from here. She shook her head.
“Friends?”
All out of state. She didn’t know anyone well enough here to impose on them like that. Again, she shook her head. “All my close friends are in Colorado and I haven’t had time to make any here.” She looked down at Evie, who consumed every spare moment she wasn’t working.
“That man could have gotten your plate number the same as you got his. He might