Drifted by Jeff Carson

Author:Jeff Carson [Carson, Jeff]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cross Atlantic Publishing
Published: 2018-05-15T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

Patterson looked out the passenger window at the passing forest. A meadow opened up down a slope, revealing bright-green aspens shimmering in the front winds of the approaching storm.

“I’ve seen this guy’s house a million times.” Rachette slowed the SUV and leaned toward the windshield.

They were driving on the county road that led to Rachette’s house. Here in the sticks, outside the northeastern edge of Rocky Points, houses were few and far between, separated by dense woods.

“So strange how it’s such a small valley, yet so big. One day you think you know everyone and everyone knows what color crap you had that morning, and the next you’re meeting people you’ve never met who’ve lived here for years.”

Patterson pictured herself as an open window, Rachette’s words passing through her like the breeze outside.

“My point is, I’ve driven past here thousands of times. I’ve looked at his house. He’s lived here for years.” Rachette slowed in front of a drive cut into the trees. “This is it, right?”

She checked her phone GPS. “Yep.”

“I knew it.”

Rachette had been talking incessantly for a half-hour, meaning he thought there might be some upcoming action. At times like these, she liked to sit with her breath, to shut up and think. Times like these, she knew she had the wrong partner.

“Looks like his vehicle’s here.”

Her phone vibrated, and she checked the screen. “Wolf’s calling. Hello?”

“Hey, what’s going on?” His voice sounded far away, which happened with half the calls she ever made on her cell in the mountains of Colorado.

“We’re up at Alamy’s.”

“You’re inside already?”

“No. Just got here. Just pulling up to his house now.”

The SUV angled up and revved as they traveled up a steep incline.

“I’ll meet you there,” Wolf said. The line went dead.

“What’s happening?”

“Wolf’s going to meet us here.”

They crested a rise and the land flattened out.

“Damn, that driveway must be hell in winter.” Rachette parked next to Alamy’s red Ford Explorer and looked past Patterson out the window. “But the views are worth it. Look at that.”

She glanced at the valley beside her. The sun was piercing the clouds, setting the carpet of trees alight. Behind it a curtain of white preceded the dark tunnel of a storm. A fork of lightning licked the ground.

“Weather’s rolling in,” Rachette said. “It’s not even noon yet.”

She opened the door and stepped outside.

Behind them, Wilson’s SUV bounced up the incline, then scraped to a stop.

The one-story house was a no-nonsense rectangle design with a sloping tar roof and clean-looking brown paint. The trees had been cut back for an acre or so on either side of the structure, giving the property a light and airy feel.

Wilson’s doors popped shut and he and Yates stepped up next to them. Together, the three men had a lot of muscle mass, and she felt safer for it. She’d rolled up to a lot of properties in her time, and she had a bad feeling about this one.

“Too quiet,” Wilson said, voicing her thoughts.

Thunder rumbled in the distance.

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