From her point of view, he was a stranger who’d almost run her down. “I’m driving to Retribution Bay, so if you need a lift north, you could come with me. I’ll be going past Geraldton, Kalbarri and Carnarvon.” He held out his hand. “I’m Ed.”
She hesitated and then shook it, her touch light. “Tess.”
“Sir, if you come this way, I’ll take you to your car.”
Ed glanced at the customer service woman. “Be right there.” He smiled again. “Do you want to come?”
She looked over her shoulder again, and then nodded.
Concern filled him. She was worried about something. What if she was a criminal on the run? Still, she was smaller than he was, with a light bone structure, so she wouldn’t overpower him. This time, his smile was forced. “Come on.”
They followed the woman outside, and another employee brought the van around. Ed’s heart sank. The website images didn’t do the car any justice. It was old, like twenty years old, and had scratches all over the bumper. The sunroof was popped open and as the customer service woman opened the passenger side door, Ed noted water dripping from the gap. The driver thumped the roof, and it closed.
Inside, the seats were grey with miscellaneous stains on them, and the back was tiny. Would it survive the twelve-hundred-kilometre trip?
“It’s all we have left,” she said apologetically, and handed him a clipboard. “Mark any scratches on this.”
He almost laughed and circled the whole damned vehicle. Instead, he walked around, circling and recording the myriad scratches and dents the car had in the bodywork. When he was done, the woman opened the sliding side door and explained how the bed folded down.
Tess gasped.
“We won’t be needing it,” Ed said, but took note anyway. Tess could share the driving after they left the city, and they’d be in Retribution Bay by nightfall. He didn’t care if she didn’t have an international licence.
The woman explained the rest of the features—a term which she used generously considering the cooking facilities consisted of a tiny portable camp stove with a single butane bottle, a plastic tub for a sink and a five-litre container of water. Thankfully, he wouldn’t be using any of it. The only useful things were a couple of towels, one which he handed to Tess so she could dry herself. The customer service woman handed him the keys, and he threw his backpack in the back. Tess stepped back, clinging to her bag, so he shut the sliding door. “Thank you.” He shook the customer service woman’s hand.
He climbed into the car. “Ready?” he asked Tess.
She nodded, some doubt on her face. He agreed completely. Turning the key, the engine kicked over and growled, the sound loud in the cab. He sighed. At least it started. He pulled out of the pickup area, flicking on the windscreen wipers, which stuttered twice before sweeping into action.
Tess was silent next to him.
“You want to drive the coastal road or Brand Highway?” He turned the temperature to hot and switched on the fan. It blew out a gust of stale air before settling into a steady blow with a ticking sound behind it. Seriously, this car must have been hidden at the back of the yard for a decade.
Tess held her hands up to the heat. “Whichever’s faster.”
They were about the same, but the Brand was more direct from here, and in this car that would be a good thing. Ed rubbed his eyes. He would kill for a coffee. He’d planned to buy one and something to eat, after he’d arrived at the airport. They’d stop on the way out of the city.
The headlights weren’t great, but they had only about an hour before the sun would be up, and the streetlights illuminated the road.
He settled into his seat. He was going home.
Chapter 3
Tess clutched her bag to her chest and stared straight ahead, every muscle in her body tense. What was she doing? Ed was a complete stranger. The area they were heading was sparsely populated and easy to disappear in—or made to disappear. She shivered and rubbed her hands together, holding them up to the heater, hoping the warmth would soon seep through her soaked clothing.
Exhaustion made it difficult to think clearly. She hadn’t slept all night, constantly alert for the sounds of Tan returning. She hadn’t dared turn her phone back on to make an anonymous call to the police in case the light from her phone attracted attention.
She glanced at Ed. Maybe she could call the police now. But what if Ed freaked out and kicked her out of the car?
No. It would have to wait until she was out of the city, perhaps when they stopped for petrol somewhere and she could call from the toilets.
Her eyes closed of their own accord and a flash of the woman’s dead eyes lit up her vision. She jerked and forced her spine straight. She couldn’t fall asleep. Not until she was out of the city, not until she knew whether Ed could be trusted.
“You OK?”
She nodded. “A little tired.”
Tess’s mother would be horrified by the situation Tess had got herself into. She could practically hear the panic in her mother’s voice, the admonition for getting into a car with a complete stranger. She wouldn’t understand why Tess hadn’t gone straight to the police and would demand Tess return home.
