05 Skeleton Canyon by J A Jance

Author:J A Jance [Jance, J A]
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

The rain hit long before Angie made it to the road. Within seconds she was soaked to the skin. Her hair was plastered down around her face. The downpour was startlingly cold. Looking like this, I’ll never catch a ride, she thought despairingly as she ducked through the strands of barbed wire that stood between her and the narrow ribbon of pavement. Angie was enough of a hitchhiking veteran to know that most drivers wouldn’t stop for someone who was soaking wet. Why would they want to put some muddy bedraggled wreck into a perfectly clean and dry car?

Still, what choice did she have? Treading carefully, she picked her way across the rain-slick blacktop and positioned herself on the far side of the road. Through the pouring, slanting raindrops, no vehicles were visible as far as she could see in either direction. It looked as though it was going to be a long damned wait.

She stood in the rain for what seemed like a very long time. Peering blindly off to the east, she didn’t even hear the car bearing down on her from the west until it was almost upon her. When she did hear it, she turned just in time to see a VW bug flash by. It looked like Marianne Maculyea’s car. Sea foam green was the right color, but…

A few feet beyond where Angie stood the VW’s brake lights flashed on. Skidding dangerously back and forth across the center line, the car came to a stop and then the backup lights came on.

Angie ran forward, meeting the vehicle just as Marianne rolled down the window. “What are you doing here?” Angie asked.

“What do you think? That I’m out for a Sunday ride?” Marianne asked. “I’m looking for you. I came as soon as I could get loose from coffee hour. Climb in. You’re soaking wet.”

Summoning as much dignity as she could, Angie walked around to the far side of the car and got inside. “I knew they were looking for me,” she said. “I heard the sirens, but I didn’t want them to find me.”

“Why not? It’s pouring rain.”

Angie’s eyes filled with tears. “Because Dennis Hacker made fun of me,” she said. “I told him who and what I was and he laughed.”

Reverend Marianne Maculyea put the VW into a sharp U-turn and then shifted back up to speed. “Maybe you’d better start at the beginning,” she said kindly. “Tell me about Dennis Hacker. I don’t know who this guy thinks he is, but he sounds like a creep in need of having his lights punched out.”

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