Haskell opened another bag.
Inside were birthday decorations Danielle had asked Terrence to buy.
Paper plates.
Napkins.
Candles.
A package of gold balloons.
Haskell tossed them onto the ground.
One package rolled toward the road.
Terrence finally spoke.
"Could you keep those away from traffic?"
Haskell turned.
"What?"
"They're for my mother's birthday."
Haskell stared at him.
Then at the decorations.
Then back at him.
"Should've thought about that before you got yourself stopped."
Terrence's jaw tightened.
But his voice remained calm.
"I didn't get myself stopped."
For a moment, the roadside became strangely quiet.
Haskell stepped closer.
"You want to repeat that?"
Terrence met his eyes.
"I said I didn't get myself stopped."
Haskell smiled.
But there was no humor in it.
Then he walked toward the passenger side.
And opened the door.
CHAPTER 4 — THE CAKE
The white bakery box was impossible to miss.
Haskell pulled it from the passenger-side floor.
"What's this?"
Terrence looked at him.
"You already asked me that."
"Answer again."
"My mother's birthday cake."
Haskell placed it on the hood.
He opened the box.
White frosting.
Strawberries.
Gold lettering.
HAPPY 68TH BIRTHDAY, MOM.
For perhaps the first time that afternoon, Officer Mills looked uncomfortable.
"Looks like a cake," he said quietly.
Haskell ignored him.
He lifted the cardboard insert.
Checked underneath it.
Then pressed along the sides of the box.
Terrence watched.
"There's nothing inside except cake."
Haskell looked at him.
"People hide things everywhere."
He removed the cake from the box.
It tilted.
One side collapsed.
The frosting smeared across the cardboard.
Terrence took one step forward.
Mills immediately raised a hand.
"Sir, stay where you are."
Terrence stopped.
"That's my mother's cake."
Haskell continued examining the box.
Then, while setting the damaged cake down, his hand slipped.
The cake hit the pavement.
The top folded against the asphalt.
White frosting spread across the shoulder.
The words HAPPY 68TH disappeared beneath broken icing.
For the first time, Terrence's expression truly changed.
His mother had been having a difficult year.
Since his father died, birthdays had become complicated for Evelyn.
Terrence remembered her telling him three days earlier: