“Where are we going?” Alison asked.
“Just out of town a little way. We’ll have a picnic, all right? Just like old times. Except no fooling around.”
“What’ll it be?” asked the bartender.
“I called earlier about Alison Sanders,” Jake said.
“Right. She wasn’t here.”
“Do you know her?”
“Not the name. Maybe if I saw her…”
Shaking his head, Jake started to turn away.
“You said Alison Sanders?”
Jake faced a slim young man who was seated on the bar stool beside him, nursing a martini. He looked rather old to be a student. “Do you know her?”
“I met her a few nights ago. Are you a friend?”
Jake showed the man his badge. “I’m also a friend. I need to find her fast. She said she was coming over here today.”
“Well, she was here. Around one thirty or a quarter till two. I was just arriving. In fact, I’d come here in hopes of seeing her.” He shrugged. “She was with someone else. I just caught a glimpse of her getting into his car.”
“Did you see who she was with?”
“I wasn’t looking at the driver.”
“Did you tear your eyes away from Alison long enough to notice the car?” Jake asked, not bothering to hide his annoyance.
“A dark blue four-door. I’m not good with cars. I do know that it wasn’t a compact. It had a rather squarish shape along the lines of a Mercedes. It wasn’t a Mercedes, of course.”
“License number?”
“I didn’t notice. Nothing suspicious was going on, why would I look at the license plate?”
“Did you see the car leave?” Jake asked.
“It was still sitting at the curb when I came in here.”
“This was about one forty-five?”
“Give or take.”
Jake checked his watch. Ten after two.
Rushing out of Wally’s, he squinted against the sudden glare of daylight and ran to the street. He looked both ways. No blue car.
He leaned sideways against a tree trunk.
Twenty fucking minutes.
If he’d just been quicker.
Groaning, he rammed his elbow hard against the trunk.
Evan slowed the car. As he started to turn, Alison glimpsed a sign on the other side of the narrow road.
The Oakwood Inn.
He’s taking me to the Oakwood.
Alison felt herself sinking, going down and down, dropping into an abyss.
It’s happening, she thought. Oh dear Jesus, it’s happening. It is the thing that wants me.
I took care of Roland. I can take care of Evan.
Jesus, I’m going to die.
Maybe Evan just picked this place by accident, just took the first side road that looked interesting.
“Look at that,” he said, “a restaurant.”
Alison nodded.
“Looks like we’re the only ones here.”
“It’s closed,” Alison said. Her voice came out a whisper. “It’s where those people were killed.”
“Really?” He sounded surprised. “Well then, I guess nobody will mind if we use the parking lot.” He steered toward the front of the restaurant.
Alison lifted the bags of food off her lap. Leaning forward, she set them on the floor between her legs.
Evan stopped the car no more than a yard from the porch stairs. “So this is where it happened,” he said. “I wonder if we could get inside. It’d be kind of fascinating, wouldn’t it? Explore the scene of the crime?”
“Maybe after we eat.” She faced him. She stared into his intense, bloodshot eyes.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“I’ve been so rotten to you, Evan. All my dumb nonsense. Not wanting you to…It all seems so stupid and petty, now. I mean, I was almost killed last night. That sort of thing, it makes a person…it made me take a long look at what’s important and what isn’t. All that really matters is caring for another person. Loving another person. So why have I been putting us both through all this…this shit? Will you forgive me?” She put a hand on his shoulder.
“You’re kidding,” he said, and let out a tiny, nervous laugh. “This part of the test or something?”
“Forget all that. There’s no test. I want it to be like it was between us.”
“Really? Really?”
She eased him closer. Clear of the steering wheel, Evan turned to her. She kissed his mouth. She put her arms around his back.
The bulge beneath his shirt felt huge.
Her whimper of despair must have sounded passionate to Evan. He clasped a hand over her breast and squeezed. His other hand moved up her thigh. She opened her legs. Shuddering as he stroked her, she muttered, “I’ve missed you so much, missed the feel of you.” She caressed his shorts. His penis felt hard and big. He squirmed as she fondled it. His breathing was ragged. “I’ll get the blanket, darling. Is it in the trunk?”
He nodded.
Alison pulled the key from the ignition. “Bring the food,” she said. “We’ll eat afterward.”
“You’re something else,” he said.
“I was such an idiot. I never should’ve screwed things up between us. But that’s over.” She climbed from the car.
She stepped behind the trunk.
Through the rear window, she saw Evan lean over to pick up the food bags.
She whirled and flung the car keys with all her strength toward the weeds at the side of the lot.
Then she sprinted over the hot pavement, heading for the road out.
It was like last night, running from Roland, but this time there was no police car nearby as a goal. Alison could only hope to stay ahead of Evan, to reach Latham Road. Maybe, there, someone in a passing car would stop and help her.
She wasn’t even out of the parking lot, yet.
She pumped her arms. She flung her legs out. Her bare feet slapped the pavement. She knew she was moving fast. She could feel her hair flying behind her, her shirttails flapping.
She could hear Evan’s shoes pounding behind her.
He had chased her before, always in fun, always catching her easily. But she had never run from him like this. She felt as if she had never run so fast in her life.
Now she heard not only his shoes but his huffing breath.
He’s gaining on me!
Tucking her chin down, she pistoned her arms and tried to hurl out her legs even faster than before.
She made it past the parking lot entrance, onto the road that led to Latham.
Evan was tight on her back.
“Leave me alone!” she yelled.
He smashed her between the shoulder blades.
Alison plunged forward in a crazed dance of flinging arms and wild legs. Then she was off her feet. She slammed the pavement, hit it with palms and knees. It knocked away her arms and legs. It punched out her breath. She skidded to a stop. She couldn’t get air and her skin burned, but she started to scurry up again.
Evan kicked an arm out from under her. She landed hard on her side. Evan grabbed the numb arm and pulled.
He lifted her. He swung her over his shoulder, turned around, and headed back across the lot.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Jake sat in his car in the parking lot of Wally’s, his forehead against the steering wheel.
Don’t just sit there, he told himself. Go after her, damn it!
Sure thing. Go where?
Try Evan’s apartment.
He wouldn’t take her there. Not enough privacy for what he has in mind.
Eating her.
God!
Think!
The apartment is out. He’d take her someplace secluded, where he wouldn’t have to worry about neighbors hearing anything, where he could work on her secretly for a long time. A field, maybe, or an abandoned building.
And which abandoned building would that be, you dumb asshole?