“No,” she looked up in the rear-view mirror and then back front and brought up the hand that had been resting on the bottom of the steering wheel to grip it adjacent to her other hand.
“Don’t speed up until you have to,” he said and realized he hadn’t thought of a weapon since he’d been injured. Some protector he was.
“Right,” her voice didn’t relay any stress, other than the flat tone. He spent the next several seconds watching the car advance on them and her keep a steady speed. When one car was between them and the trailing one, he said, “Speed up now.”
He didn’t look around at her, hadn’t noticed the garbage truck in front of them until the thing was in his passenger window view as Sophie slid by them and then back into her lane. He heard a quiet whoosh as she released her breath just as the wail of a passing horn told him they’d made a narrow pass.
“You okay?” He didn’t take his eyes from the blue car. It sped up and passed a car, forcing one going in the opposite directionoff the road and onto the shoulder before coming up one space behind them.
“Yeah,” she sped up and he ventured a look in front of them. They were at the edge of town and open spaces were beyond, other than an old warehouse. “This isn’t the road to the cabin,” he noted and she nodded abruptly.
“That’s the one place I’m not driving to right now.” She swerved around an SUV and passed them then, in fifty yards, took a hard left onto a smaller road. Behind them the blue car narrowly missed an oncoming truck, joining them on the county road.
“Take the next right,” Ephraim said.
“Nope, dead end,” she replied shortly.
Ephraim shut up then and just watched over the next several minutes as she dodged the odd car, took what seemed like random turns, and generally drove like a race car driver. The blue car kept up with them, even gaining some ground. When Sophie made a last turn, she was on a three-lane road and up ahead was the town again.
“I thought you were getting out of traffic,” Ephraim said, holding on to the door handle as she took another left.
“Give me a minute,” she’d shown no emotion for the last few minutes while she maneuvered the old car like a champ. Now, the strain shown through, her mouth set, her eyes blazing on the road. She took a right, her tires squealing and then another hard left.
Into the city police station parking lot.
The blue car, already starting the turn, suddenly swerved and almost took out a sign before it regained the road. As it sped past them, Ephraim made a note of the license tag and started laughing.
When the station door opened, he sobered and looked at Sophie. “You ready for this? I think you blew the speed limits out of the water.”
She shrugged. “It won’t be the first time,” and opened the door to get out of the car and greet the police officer.
Ephraim chuckled and then got out of the car too. By the time he joined Sophie on her side of the sedan, he realized she knew the officer.
“Ephraim, this is Jake. We went to high school together. I was just filling him in on our adventure.”
The officer, wearing black rimmed glasses and looking more like an accountant than law enforcement personnel, eyed him with a stern look. “Seems you’ve gotten Soph here in some trouble.”
Ephraim introduced himself formally and extended his hand for a shake. “Believe me, I didn’t want to. But it seems someone isn’t pleased with me and for some reason, they’ve extended the sentiments to Sophie.”
“You sure it’s not Frank?” Jake looked at Sophie and gestured toward Ephraim. “If he tracked you down and saw you with this guy, he might think you’ve moved on.”
“I haven’t received any word that he’s out of prison,” she said quietly and then put her hand on Jake’s arm. “I appreciate your concern, Jake, but I don’t think it’s him.”
The officer nodded then turned to Ephraim. “Any idea who that was in the car?”
“No. I did get a license tag number, but that’s it. The tint was dark enough I couldn’t make out any features when he passed us.”
Jake asked for the plate number and Ephraim rattled it off. When Sophie asked if they had to do anything further, Jake shook his head. “You didn’t break any laws that I saw, and unfortunately, other than speeding and reckless driving in frontof the station, neither did that guy. We don’t have enough officers on duty to cover that, what with it being Christmas Eve.”
Sophie looked startled. “It is! Oh, shoot I forgot. I don’t even have my tree up or anything.”
Jake shook his head. “If you had kids like Rach and I do, you’d have had it up since Thanksgiving. We barely kept them off til then.”
“True.” She turned toward Ephraim. “Think it’s okay to do some shopping and go home?”
Ephraim nodded slowly. “I think so. I’d like to do a little shopping of my own, if it’s okay.”
She nodded and he mentally added the cost of a knife and some outdoor lighting to the tally he’d owe her when he got money out of the bank.
