Night tides by Alex Prentiss

Author:Alex Prentiss [Alex Prentiss]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Roman
ISBN: 9780553592979
Published: 2010-07-15T04:00:00+00:00

RACHEL MOVED AS silently as possible behind Patty, using the pools of shadow as she’d done earlier. Patty seemed oblivious to her presence, whistling and practically skipping up the sidewalk. She turned left, went down two blocks, crossed the street again, and headed up a slight hill toward the big houses that overlooked Lake Mendota. These were old structures now sliced into small apartments, the outsides covered with networks of wooden stairs.

A couple of cars passed but no other pedestrians. Rachel’s exhausted calves burned with the effort of following the girl uphill. She slipped on a discarded beer can, and the noise of metal scraping on concrete tore through the relative silence.

Patty stopped and turned. Rachel dove into the shadows beside a car parked on the street, hoping this one didn’t have a proximity alarm. Her breathing sounded like an industrial compressor in her ears, and she felt her pulse thump in her temples.

Patty stayed very still for a long moment, silhouetted beneath a streetlight. Then she resumed her trek.

Rachel crouched against the car. This was nuts. She’d done all she could, and that was that. She’d barely have time for a shower and nap by the time she got home, and she was too old to keep staying up all night this way.

Then, just as she was about to abandon Patty, the lights of another vehicle swept the empty street. She dropped back against the car as a Ford pickup rolled slowly past.

Rachel’s throat constricted. She somehow knew, with utter certainty, that this was the truck she’d seen outside her diner and that it meant Patty harm. She tried to see the license plate, but the spot on the bumper was empty. She realized too late that the plate was displayed in the cab’s back window.

The girl had reached the top of the hill and turned along the lakefront road. The truck was almost at the corner as well. Except for Rachel, there seemed to be no one around.

Rachel knew this was the moment. She had to do something; she couldn’t just let Patty be snatched off the street. She looked around for any inspiration and found it in a red Wisconsin W bumper sticker slapped haphazardly on the car hiding her.

She stood and ran up the hill, deliberately letting her feet slap the sidewalk to make as much noise as possible. “Whooo-EE!” she yelled as if drunk. “Go Badgers! YEAH!”

Patty turned toward her, then walked on more quickly. The truck stopped, turned in the opposite direction, and drove rapidly away. Rachel reached the corner in time to see Patty rush up the steps to one of the apartment houses. The door slam echoed in the night.

Rachel put her hands on her knees and bent over, stretching her hamstrings and gasping. Okay, there: princess saved, dragon thwarted. That should make the spirits happy. Now all she had to do was run three miles back to her apartment and grab what little sleep she could before it was time to open the diner again.

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