One car ahead of Sam, Molly ran back
over the content of her conversation with Eden. She really didn’t want to be
involved with retrieving her father’s car from the ocean but she was trapped
now.
She couldn’t have refused Eden’s
request if he’d been well, if he’d only wanted company, but as it was there was
no chance. He couldn’t go himself; despite her regrets, Molly’s mother could
never have faced it; and Ruben… Ruben couldn’t care less about anything now his
chance at the money was gone.
Despite his callousness, it amazed
her how difficult it was to hold any kind of long-term anger at her brother, because
she knew how weak he was when it got right down to it. She couldn’t hate him
for being himself and she was afraid there was at least a little of that same
selfishness in her.
The traffic was getting thicker.
Molly rapped a series of impatient taps on the steering wheel. “Come on.”
The driver of the car in front was
barely visible in silhouette. It had to be a little old lady, doing her best to
see beyond the dashboard. She kept her speed to a steady, but irritating,
twenty five. The cars in front were pulling away. It was annoying. Molly was
going to be trapped at the stop light at this rate. They crawled closer and
closer. There was still time but the lady wasn’t accelerating. Then her brake
lights came on of all things! She was slowing down! The light turned to red and
that was that.
Molly sighed and pulled up behind the
old lady’s car. She was stuck for the long haul now. Even after the light
turned green she’d still be trapped behind this terror of the road... unless
she pulled over into the other lane now while they were stopped. Molly glanced
into her rear view mirror to see if it was clear and looked straight into the
face of the man from the beach; the man who had beaten up David Eden.
He was in a blue sedan right behind
her car, looking directly forward.
She took her eyes off the mirror. She
couldn’t allow him to know she’d seen him.
It couldn’t just be a coincidence he
was there. What were the odds that a man who was after her would happen to end
up one car behind at a stop light? Not very good at all. She wished she could
call the police but she didn’t have her cell phone. The battery was flat. She’d
left it charging on the kitchen counter at home.
She risked another glance at the rear
view for a split second. He was still looking straight ahead; straight at her back.
His eyes were half mast as though he were deep in thought. There wasn’t any
urgency to his expression. He didn’t seem to realise that she’d spotted him.
That gave her an advantage. And it was broad daylight, even though the day was
moving on. That gave her another.
What could he possibly do? Nothing
surely; except follow until she was alone, find out where she lived if he
didn’t know already, come back later and torture her until she gave up where
Jack was.
If he wanted Jack so badly it was to
do something nasty; to kill him. If he got her, she wouldn’t tell him a thing,
but her throat tightened to think of David Eden’s battered body and whatever
horrors this madman might do to her. Would she really be able to keep her mouth
shut if it came to that?
The light turned green. For a moment
Molly just sat there, frozen solid with panic and insecurity. The little old
lady in front of her pulled ahead across the junction. She didn’t know what to
do but she couldn’t stay there or he would realise she knew about him.
Then she had an idea, how she could
turn this situation to her advantage, and she pulled across the junction
herself, keeping her eyes fixed straight ahead. She didn’t look into the rear
view mirror once.
But she knew he was there.
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