Pretty Little Girl by Don Canaan & Shawn Graves

Author:Don Canaan & Shawn Graves
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Alzheimer's. Woman sleuth, female detective, pedophilia, Fresno, California, missing father
Publisher: Don Canaan
Published: 2017-02-18T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 15

Laura stepped out of her air conditioned car into the heat of the Mojave Desert. She filled the car with gas, visited the bathroom, and stopped in the mini-mart to buy a soda and snacks for the road. She was half-way there, which meant it would be dark, or close to it, when she arrived. That was perfect.

She loved road trips, especially long ones. She loved the feeling of freedom from the everyday minutiae of life. What did it matter if it was time to change the battery in the smoke alarm? Who cared if that annoying sound the air conditioner was making meant it was about to go out and need either expensive repairs or a more expensive replacement? None of that mattered out here, hundreds of miles from home, with the road stretching out forever ahead and behind. What’s for dinner tonight? Corn dogs, chips, and a soda...eaten while driving.

She called the hotel to book a room for the next two nights. The desk clerk told her that all rooms were booked for the weekend and suggested Laura try another hotel. But she wanted that hotel. She asked for the clerk’s supervisor and patiently, but insistently, made her way up the chain of command. Finally, a manager conceded that they did have one room, but it was one of the most expensive. Laura booked it immediately, reading the credit card numbers over the phone.

She would need to go shopping again. The clothes she bought in Cayucos and San Luis Obispo were casual. She needed a dress to go out in...a dress that would make her feel beautiful, sexy, and alive. Something she could dance in. Twirl in.

She thought again of all those dresses her father had bought for her over the years. All the times she tried them on for him. All the times she twirled in her new dresses. His laughter, the way he enjoyed buying for her and watching her enjoyment. It only seemed appropriate. Nothing made him happier than buying things for her.

The first time she went on an actual date with a boy, Teddy Jessup, it was to a school dance. He did not have his driver’s license yet, so her father rented a limo for them. Teddy was impressed, her friends were jealous, and she had felt like a princess.

She had, however, felt less princess-like on the way home. Teddy was excited by the privacy panel between them and the driver, but his wet kisses and groping fingers had left her cold and disgusted. It would be another year before she gave in to a different boy’s advances. This time it was the captain of the football team and she had been so drunk on rum and Coke that she wasn’t entirely certain the next day if it had been real or a dream. Until she felt the soreness between her legs.

Laura pushed the memories aside and started her car, turned both the air conditioning and CD player on high, and pulled away from the gas station.

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