Out in the Dark Read online

  “What the hell was that all about?” Shelley said, sounding scared.

  “I don’t know,” Jake replied, staring intently at the road ahead. “And I really don’t want to find out either.”

  “Do you think Paul’s dead?”

  “Can’t see how he wouldn’t be.”

  “Shouldn’t we go help him, just in case he’s not?”

  “Here, use my phone, call 9-1-1 and explain what you heard and where.” Jake handed her his phone and noted how cold her hands were when she took it. He adjusted the heater and turned one of the vents in her direction. “Just don’t tell them who you are or why you’re not there with the body…the victim.”

  Shelley nodded and turned the phone over in her hand a few times, marveling at the compact piece of machinery. She had never owned a cell phone. Once or twice on the job she had used one that a client had let her borrow, but this one was sleeker than any she’d handled before.

  “Don’t know how to use it?” Jake was about to make a sarcastic remark but realized she had been too poor to own one. He briefly noted that he was fairly lucky to have the latest technology. Instead of hurting her feelings needlessly, he took the phone back, clicked the small button and slid the screen to life, then tapped the call icon.

  He handed it back to her and she figured out the rest.

  Shelley did her best to calm her voice, but what had just happened was the worst thing she had ever experienced, especially since she was beginning to like Paul and felt he was someone she could turn to. He had probably known Melvin, so he had to be good.

  Sometimes her own naïveté worried her, but that worry was only a tiny voice in the back of her mind.

  “I’d like to report a hit-and-run,” Jake heard her say to the 9-1-1 operator.

  He tried not to listen to the rest of the conversation. He had to figure out where the interchange was and he needed to get a message to his father. That last bit would be very hard to do while concentrating on driving, but it was important.

  “They don’t believe me,” Shelley said, handing back the phone. “I could tell by the tone of the woman’s voice. She kept asking for my name and address, saying if I was a witness to a crime I had a responsibility to come forward. I hope she does send someone to at least look. What if Paul is still alive but bleeding? What if he has one of those critical head injuries?”

  “Shelley!” Jake cried out. “Please, stop. We can’t go back. It’s more important than ever that we, I mean I, find my dad. And I need to concentrate on sending him a message. So please, be quiet.”

  Shelley crossed her arms and sat back in her seat again. There was no need for Jake to be so rough with her. It wasn’t her fault. She pulled her thin jacket closer around her and huddled against the door frame, pretending to sleep. If Jake had to send secret mental messages to his father, then he could damn well do so without her. She was not going to interfere or help in any way. As if she could have.

  Deep down, she was a little jealous of Jake’s closeness to his father. She missed Melvin and she missed who her mother had been when she was with Melvin.

  Jake merged onto Route 95 and loosened his grip on the wheel. The inside of the car was warming up and he no longer felt the chill of the night, though his legs still had a slight tremor to them, but that was aftershock from the shooting. Fortunately, they weren’t being followed. Perhaps he hadn’t been the intended target. Or maybe they only meant to scare him.

  He pulled out his cell phone again, remembering that someone had tried to call just as they got shot at. Keeping one eye on the road and the other on the small device in his hand he located the message. It was James.

  “Dude, some weirdo came around school asking questions. I think he was ex-military, all buff and scary and mean-looking. Brandon almost got into a fight with him. It was awesome the way he stood up to the dude. Anyway, be aware, someone’s looking for you. Gotta go.”

  “Yeah, thanks J, I got that,” Jake said.

  “What?” Shelley woke up from her doze.

  “Nothing, just my friend James telling me some goons are after us, I mean me.”

  “Us,” Shelley said. “You need my help. I know you do. Don’t ask me why, but I just know.”

  Jake thought about it and wondered what possible help she could give him, but he was grateful for her company, despite his ambiguous feelings about her.

  “Where are we anyway?” Shelley sat up and looked at the dark landscape outside the car. She could just make out the outline of mountains against the dark sky. Streetlights were spaced far apart and the road seemed endless, dark and lonely. She too was glad to have someone kind with her in the car.

  “Somewhere south of Coeur d’Alene, heading up into the mountain pass. Let’s just hope it’s clear of snow,” Jake said.

  As if on cue, the first snowflakes came down around the car. Luckily they were not sticking to the road, yet.

  Jake used his thumb to dial James’s number.

  “Dude,” was the enthusiastic greeting from his friend.

  “J, Jimmy-J…do me a favor. What’s the pass condition just south of Coeur d’Alene? It’s starting to snow, but I don’t want to stop,” Jake said.

  “I’ll look it up.” Jake could hear typing on a keyboard in the background. “Did you get my message earlier?”

  “Yep, thanks, had our first meet-and-greet,” Jake said, sounding tougher than he felt. “They shot at us and we ran.”

  “They shot at you? Holy shit, Jake, that’s not funny.”

  “No, it’s not funny. That’s why I don’t want to stop on the side of the road and wait for them to do it again.”

  “Right, Pass information, coming up.” A silence followed. “Uh, Jake, who’s ‘us’?”

  “What? Oh, Shelley and me, who else?” Jake replied absentmindedly, forgetting that he hadn’t explained about Shelley yet. “And we think they killed Paul.”

  “Paul? Shelley? You’ve been holding out on me.” James sounded petulant, but Jake knew that was just an act, one James had perfected to get things out of his mother. James could be a master manipulator if he wanted to be. Fortunately he rarely used it on Jake as Jake was one of the few who called him on it.

  “Oh, while you’re doing research, find out what you can about a Paul Thomson and some ESP research place in Palo Alto. It could be connected to my dad,” Jake said.

  “Will do, boss.” Jake could just picture James giving a mock salute. “Anything else?”

  “No…wait, yes,” Jake remembered his mother’s call. “Can you check on my mom? She got a visit from the goon squad too.”

  “Is she okay?”

  “I think so, but…you know.”

  “Yeah, I know.”

  “How’s the weather?”

  “It’s raining here and will be for the next few days.”

  “No, idiot, I mean in the pass where I am.”

  James chuckled and tapped his keys some more. “You should be good for tonight. Light snow, not expected to cause problems.”

  “Thanks, catch you later,” Jake said, and without waiting for an answer, ended the call. He didn’t trust the weather report. The flakes around the car were coming down heavier now, making it harder to see the road. He reluctantly slowed down.

  He estimated that he had at least an hour before the pass, if not longer, provided the snow didn’t get any heavier.

  “Did you…um…send a message to your father?” Shelley asked tentatively.

  Jake shook his head. “Can’t concentrate,” he said.

  The headlights of a big truck coming toward them made the snowflakes look like sparkling glitter, dancing across the road. The wipers on the old car were having trouble keeping up and Shelley wondered where they would spend the night. She could see now why it was so urgent to keep going, but her experience with truckers had taught her how perilous sleep-deprived driving could be. The truckers often told her stories of buddies they had lost due to lack of sleep and tight deadlines.

  S
he remembered one of them in particular, Chuck, who never had her do anything; he just wanted her to listen to him as he poured out his experiences and his loneliness. Sometimes he would park his rig and lay his head in her lap and cry quietly.

  He would pay her in the morning and drop her off at home again. She liked Chuck. He was a sad heap of human, but he was very kind and generous. Even now his loneliness still touched her; she would never forget it. Why did people make things so hard for one another? She wouldn’t do that. She would just make a lot of money and insulate herself against poverty and loneliness and sadness. Money should be able to do that. Just look at all those smiling rich people in magazines.

  But first, she would help this boy.

  Chapter 12

  The snow was starting to stick to the road and at times Jake had trouble keeping the car from fishtailing. He knew it was getting too dangerous to go much farther but he couldn’t seem to bring himself to pull over and wait till morning.

  The decision was taken out of his hands when a car came swerving across the double line of the four-lane highway and nearly hit them. Jake managed to swerve, but it sent him spinning and he had trouble regaining control. The car was slow to respond and heavy, which only exacerbated the spin.

  Shelley screamed and hung on to the door handle with her eyes squeezed shut while Jake manhandled the car for all he was worth.

  “Shit, damn, shit.” Jake sat breathing heavily and swearing once he got the car stopped. They were facing in the wrong direction, but at least they were still on the road. If they had landed in a ditch they would have been in real trouble.

  His knuckles were white from gripping the wheel and his heart beat wildly. Shelley finally opened her eyes and repeated, “Oh my God, oh my God,” over and over again, while taking big gulps of air.

  “You okay?” Jake finally asked.

  “I think so,” Shelley said. “What the hell happened?” And she almost started to cry, more out of relief than anything else.

  “Had to avoid that other car.” Jake pointed through the thickening snow on the windshield; when he had turned off the engine it had also stopped the wipers.

  Someone knocked on the window, which made them both jump and Shelley scream.

  Jake rolled down the window a crack and a flurry of cold snow blew into his face and dropped on his lap.

  “Hey, you okay?” a deep voice sounded over the wind outside.

  “Yeah, we’re okay, no worries,” Jake managed to say.

  “I saw what happened. You need any help? You went into a pretty wild spin there,” the man said. Jake rolled down the window a little farther and peered out to see who was talking. The man looked old and tired. He was dressed in Carhartt from head to toe and looked like a logger or construction worker of some sort. “I’ve got hot coffee in my cab if you want to catch your breath for a spell.”

  “A spell?” Jake mouthed to Shelley, who cocked her head to one side and seemed to be remembering something.

  “Johan?” Shelley leaned across Jake and looked up at the man, who was slowly turning into a snowman outside the car.

  “Portia? Baby girl, what are you doin’ out here?”

  “I’m off to college!” she almost screamed up at him.

  “Would you like to go and talk in his cab over coffee?” Jake said with more than a touch of sarcasm. He was getting an inkling of how she might know this man and it made him sick to his stomach.

  “Yes, let’s go.” Shelley enthusiastically unbuckled her seat belt and got out of the car. Her feet nearly slid out from under her. The first snow had melted and then frozen as the temperature dropped below freezing. Now the thin layer of ice was deceptively covered by snow.

  “Easy there, baby doll,” Johan called out. The words nauseated Jake, but he did his best to keep control.

  “I’ll just straighten out the car,” Jake said through the open window. “Be with you in a minute.” He started up the car again and after most of the snow had been wiped off the window he was able to see the truck only a few feet away from him. How Johan had managed to stop in time and not bulldoze into them he couldn’t fathom, but he was thankful for that at least.

  The big rig’s engine started up and the trucker carefully pulled to the side of the road. It would not be safe to go on tonight.

  There were no other cars in sight, so Jake was able to turn the car around safely. For good measure he backed up a little to park in the shelter of the big rig. Though he was sorely tempted to just hit the gas and leave Shelley to one of her “clients.” he felt he couldn’t. He had grown fond of her in the short time they had spent together and he wanted to take her away from all that. He felt it was his duty to protect her. That sounded like something his father might have said, which brought his father front and center again.

  With everything that had happened tonight he’d had to push thoughts of his father away and concentrate on staying safe. Just as soon as he could, he would try to send a message, he told himself, though he was worried of what he might see or feel when he did.

  He rolled up the window and got out of the car. He locked his door and stood looking at the cozy light coming from the truck’s cab. He could hear Shelley giggling and it made him reluctant to go in and join her. What if they were doing something? What if she was about to trade favors with this Johan guy?

  No, he had to man-up and go in after her.

  “Got the car settled, son?” Johan said, as Jake hoisted himself into the cab. “Looks like a nice vintage automobile. Your daddy’s?”

  “Yes,” Jake replied curtly, looking hard at them.

  Shelley started to laugh.

  “Don’t worry, young man. I would never take advantage of Portia here. It’s shameful that a girl has to do what she does to get ahead in life. I only talk to her and have her keep me company from time to time,” the trucker explained.

  Jake was getting tired of being called “son” and “young man,” but gritted his teeth and put up with it as he understood they might need the man’s help. It had startled him that the man had used Shelley’s work name. Again, the revulsion of her past washed over him.

  “Whatever,” Jake said, and looked away.

  “Have some coffee, son. It’ll wash that bad taste out of your mouth.” Johan held out a thermos cup of steaming hot coffee. “Oh, don’t deny it. I can see by the sour pucker on your snoot that you disapprove of Portia’s past. Like I said, I hate it too, but at least she had some standards and her momma made sure she didn’t end up on the streets where things would have been a lot worse for her. Trust me, I’ve picked up my share of hitchhiking street kids, runaways and junkies, and hookers. I ain’t sayin’ it’s right, that the world ain’t always a friendly place, but I help where I can and I’m very glad Portia here is going to college.” He patted Shelley’s knee.

  Jake accepted the cup and felt thoroughly chastised, even though he still didn’t like it and very much doubted the coffee could wash the taste out of his mouth.

  He took a sip and found it quite good. The hot cup warmed his hands and he cursed himself for not remembering to pack gloves. He had warm clothes with him but no scarf or gloves and he was feeling very cold in his hooded sweatshirt with just a T-shirt underneath.

  “Now, I want you two to sleep in the back there tonight.” Johan motioned to the back of his cab, which was set up like a tiny bedroom. It looked a little like a bunk bed setup with enough space for two. “No, I don’t want any arguments from either of you.” Johan held up a hand when it looked as if Shelley and Jake would protest. “You can’t go driving in this snow at night. The scanner chatter says it’ll clear up by mornin’ and then we’ll see about fittin’ some chains around your tires, if you need them. But I won’t be responsible for you two goin’ off in this weather. Trust me, I know what can happen.”

  “Sir, you don’t understand, we have to go on,” Jake said, annoyed with himself for sounding like a little kid. “I have to find my dad.”

  “I hear you, son
, but you ain’t no good to your daddy dead on the side of the road.” Jake grimaced at the man’s lack of confidence in his driving skills, but deep down he knew Johan was right.

  “Johan, Jake’s mission is very important, so be sure to wake us at first light,” Shelley said sweetly, placing a hand on the man’s arm and looking up into his eyes.

  He smiled down at her and nodded. “Don’t you worry about a thing. Ol’ Johan will watch over you two.”

  This was a world Jake knew nothing about, and as much as he hated the connection between Shelley and the man, he was curious about the life of the trucker. His cab looked like it held souvenirs from almost every state in the union. The back area where the beds were was set up like a proper bedroom, complete with little lamps and posters, a few cubbyholes for toiletry items and a change of clothes. He even spotted a hotplate, a pan and small refrigerator. The truck cab was a totally self-contained home away from home.

  “Where do you live?” Jake asked, surprised that he had let the question out. “I mean when you’re not on the road.”

  The man turned his attention away from Shelley and gave Jake a wistful look, sighed and then said, “This is my home, son. Ever since my Miss Janey died I’ve lived in my rig on the road. There’s no home to go back to. She was my life.” He pulled a small stack of pictures from a compartment in the door and proceeded to show Shelley and Jake pictures of his late wife.

  She was a plain woman, a little plump, but smiling happily. The pictures showed their little house in Missouri, a small structure with a large garden with vegetable plots and fruit trees.

  It shocked Jake to see these pictures when earlier, in his mind, he had accused the man of abusing Shelley. These pictures showed Johan to be a caring and loving husband, and it made Jake feel lonely out here in the middle of nowhere, trying to find his father.

  “I’m sorry,” he said.

  Johan just smiled and then quickly put the pictures away before he could get morose. “Time for sleep, youngsters.” He pointed to the back of the cab and Shelley took the lead.