“Huh? You lost me.” My brother sticks his head out the driver’s side window.
“Her wounds were inconsistent with a fall. Someone banged her head against a stair until dead.”
Greg purses his lips and slides his hand through his dark hair. “Whoa. I did not see that one coming. Jeff doesn’t seem like the type.”
“You never know what people are capable of.” Feeling justified for my actions, I start Danni’s car, put it in drive and…
Holy fuck! The car jerks forward at full speed. I slam my foot on the brake. When it flattens to the floor with no resistance, I grab the steering wheel with both hands, crank to the right, and shave bark from a two-hundred-year-old oak.
Out of imminent danger, I take a deep breath and switch off the ignition. However, instead of slowing to a stop, the dashboard lights up like a Christmas tree.
“Ah, come on now!”
Crashing into a stone building at eighty miles per hour is not an option; neither is turning into a wood framed structure. An oil truck comes up fast, I pass on the double yellow lines, and stare into the headlights of a van. No place else to go, I yank the steering wheel, leave the road, and smash down upon a barbed wire fence. The frozen field does nothing to slow the rental so I make a new plan. I will drive in large circles until I run out of gas.
Suddenly, my tires hit a rut and I’m air bound. The Ford lands hard, a tire flies off, and with the forest looming, I jump.
Rolling on the ground, my back teeth clunk, rocks dig into my carcass, and the world spins out of control. A huge bang ensues, my eardrums ring, and I come to a dizzying stop. The front seat, where I was sitting seconds ago, is now one with the windshield attached to a tree.
On the road, Greg jumps out of his car. “Cole? Cole? You okay?”
I wiggle my arms and legs. Nothing is broken but pain shoots from my whole body.
“Damn.” Moaning, I stare at what was almost my demise.
“What happened?” Tears drip down my brother’s face as he drops to his knees and hugs me.
“Hell if I know.” With my phone out of my back pocket, I curse at the crack, and call Al. “We got a big problem.”
By the time I finish explaining, I’m sitting on the back of an ambulance with my old friend Hal, a State Trooper.
“Whose car got totaled?” His eyes lift to where a tow truck operator connects a hook to the back axel.
“Belongs to a rental company.”
“Want to tell me why you were in it?”
“Not yet.
“C’mon now, I need something for my report.” Frowning, he watches the slack in the chain tighten. Metal groans but the vehicle appears reluctant to dislodge from the tree.
Picturing my dead body behind the wheel, I shudder. “Stacy Adams. I was doing her a favor by driving it back to the inn.”
“She got an angry boyfriend? Ugly divorce?”
“Nope. Not that I know of.”
“You thinking this was an accident?”
“Not sure.” Without proof, I don’t want the state involved.
However, I am ninety-nine-point nine percent certain someone wanted Danielle Abbot to die in her rental car.
Chapter 10
Danni
Lost in my programming, I jump a mile when someone pounds my door.
