9

Jack and Kelly drove to Hamden for her parents’ weekly Sunday dinner. They were in Jack’s Jaguar and she couldn’t help but appreciate the buttery softness of the leather as she melted down into the seat.

“Are you close to your family, Kelly?” Jack asked as he turned off of the highway at the sign for Hamden.

“Uh huh. I don’t make it for dinner every Sunday but I try to get there two or three times a month. My mom is a great cook so it’s not a hardship,” she said, with a small smile at Jack.

Jack made a left turn onto a tree-lined residential street. “Tell me again how many of you there are?” Kelly had told Jack about her brothers and sisters before and she suspected that in his line of work, he remembered names and details with very little effort. Kelly had a feeling that he wanted to keep her talking to calm her nerves and she was thankful to him.

“There are four of us. My sister Jessica who’s two years older than I am, and our older brothers Liam and David. My sister and my mom and