Page 118 of Reading Between the Lines
“No. He knows where we’re going. What street do I want? All the crossroads look the same out here.”
Tallus checked Google Maps on his phone. “It’s just called 4thLine. It’s your next right. According to this, the cemetery is five kilometers down on the right after we turn. There’s a long drive to get in, I think. It’s not on the roadside but in the forest a bit.”
The left side of the county road we were on showed a vast span of flat farmland for as far as the eye could see. The odd house and barn stood out in the distance. No crops this time of year. A thick forest encroached on the right. It crept to a ditch alongside the road and contained the conservation area we needed to circle.
“Your turn is coming. Five hundred meters.”
I slowed, checked my rearview—still no sign of a police cruiser—and took the dirt road on my right. It wasn’t as hardpacked as the one we’d been traveling. The gravel crunched loosely under the tires, and the Jeep bumped along its uneven surface. I slowed to sixty kilometers an hour, cursing small-town cops and shitty roads.
How hard was it to follow a vehicle thatwantedto be followed? If we didn’t arrive with backup, we’d be facing Abercrombie alone, and I wasn’t sure what kind of mood he’d be in if he was interrupted.
Tallus pointed out the windshield. “Do you see that? Are those flashing lights from a cruiser?”
I squinted into the distance. He was right. Had Constable Ding Dong gone a different way? “Was there a shortcut to the cemetery?”
“Maybe.” Tallus lowered his gaze to his phone. “I suppose if we’d taken—”
A car appeared in my peripheral vision too late for me to react. It darted from a hidden service road and collided with the driver’s side of the Jeep with a crunch of metal. The impact tore the steering wheel from my one-handed grip, and the side airbag exploded next to my head, smacking me in the side of the face.
The Jeep spun out of control on the loose gravel. Seconds later, it tipped on its side as we slammed into the ditch on the opposite side of the road. The engine died with a whine.
Rattled, my mind focused on one thing and one thing only.
“Tallus?” I swam in a white powdery pillow, shoving it out of my way so I could see.
“I’m okay.”
Pinned in place and stuck in a slowly deflating airbag, it took a second to get oriented. We landed passenger side down, and my restraint was the only thing keeping me from falling toward Tallus. He scrambled out of his seatbelt and helped get the airbag out of my face.
“Where the fuck did that car come from?” I growled.
“I don’t know. Here, let me help you with your buckle.”
“Careful, I’ll—”
He disengaged it, and I crashed into him, unable to hold myself in place. I winced and cursed as my already battered body took another beating.
“Oh god, you’re heavy.”
Fighting to move with one casted arm, I managed to pull myself off Tallus and brace myself as I glanced around at our predicament. The driver’s side door had taken the impact, and the deep crumple suggested it likely wouldn’t open. Tallus’s doorlay on the ground. We would need to crawl into the back and exit through the rear.
“Diem. Look.” Tallus pointed out the cracked windshield at the vehicle that hit us. A white SUV. Its single occupant emerged from the driver’s side door. “It’s Loyal.”
“What?”
The kid stared with a sly smirk, phone pressed to his ear. I had a sinking feeling he wasn’t calling the cops.
Ignoring my aggravated wounds, I wiggled until my feet were angled toward the windshield, and I kicked once, twice, three times. First, the glass crazed then came out in a crumpled piece.
“Help me get out. Don’t cut yourself.”
Tallus climbed from the Jeep and balanced awkwardly in the ditch as he offered me his hand. My body was a fresh bruise, but my anger was a simmering inferno. One canceled the other.
By the time I landed on my feet and we crawled out of the ditch, Constable Hercules and his flashing lights and blaring sirens skidded to a halt, kicking up dirt. The fucking idiot had driven right past the cemetery to deal with the car accident.
Loyal’s attitude shifted from cocky to that of a scared and innocent teen.
Hercules exited his cruiser, and Loyal blurted, “It was all my fault. I was distracted by my phone. I didn’t see them. I’m so sorry. Are you okay, mister?”
