First Girl Gone(34)

She rubbed her thumb against her fingers. Thinking.

The police would be here soon, and he’d probably still be out. Was that a reason to stay put? Wait for backup? Or was it an even better excuse to get a look?

She should wait. She knew she should wait.

But no. She couldn’t do that.

“Don’t you want to see who he is?” Allie said, then cleared her throat theatrically. “I mean, uh, he could be hurt, right? Isn’t it our duty to check? I’m just worried about the guy’s health. That’s all.”

“Nice try.”

“What?”

“Covering your curiosity under the guise of some good Samaritan crap.”

There was a long pause before Allie replied.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Charlie took a breath. Cracked open the car door and slid into the night.

“Here goes, I guess,” she said under her breath.

She’d grabbed her stun gun from her bag, just in case. Clasped it in her right hand. Then she withdrew the Maglite from her jacket.

Charlie swept her light over the vehicle as she inched forward, walking in slow motion. Listening. Watching.

And then a muffled sound erupted. Pattering of some kind. Gone almost as fast as it had arrived.

Charlie stopped. Glared. Aimed her light at the driver’s side window. She saw no motion in the SUV, though at this angle she couldn’t really differentiate his silhouette from that of the headrest.

Had the sound been from the vehicle? Or from the woods?

She raised the stun gun and the flashlight. Confused. Scanned the light over the perimeter of woods surrounding her. Nothing stared back but the trees.

Pins and needles climbed her spine now, and her pulse rippled in her ears. She wished she could turn the volume of it down. Needed to listen more than ever.

Silence.

Nothing.

She lowered the stun gun. Took a few deep breaths and moved one step closer to the door. She squinted, trying to see through the tinted glass.

“Hurry up, already,” Allie whispered, a clear giddiness in her voice.

Charlie tucked the flashlight under her opposite arm and reached out for the handle.

There was a soft clunk and the door lurched at her, hard steel slamming into her ribs and knocking her off-balance.

She staggered backward, feet tangling in the underbrush as the driver burst out of the car.

“Hey!” Charlie shouted, but it did nothing to slow him.

He was out and off and running all in one motion, bounding into the pitch-black woods.





Chapter Twenty-Three





Charlie ran without thought, her flashlight cutting a narrow path in the darkness.

She hurdled some deadfall. Tried to keep eyes on him as she ran.

He flitted in and out of the foliage, disappearing and reappearing in her spotlight over and over. Part of her wondered if her light was helping him as much as her, lighting the way ahead for him, allowing him to find the openings in the dense growth.

At best he’d be woozy, though, she thought. Odds were high he’d make it less than a hundred yards before he bashed into another tree.

He was fast, though. Long strides.

“Dude runs like a gazelle,” Allie said.

He was pulling away from her. Pressing into the darkness. She was starting to lose sight of him more and more of the time.

The woods seemed to be thickening around her. Trees clustering more tightly. Brush and deadfall packing more and more of the ground with obstacles. And yet his pace didn’t slow.

She came down on a low spot and felt her right knee buckle. Staggering forward, unwilling to break her stride, she somehow managed to keep herself upright. But it didn’t matter. She could hear his footsteps crashing ahead at the same breakneck pace.

Finally, Charlie gave up. Stopped. She shined the light after him one more second, watched him disappear into the gloom and leaves one more time, and then she circled back the way she’d come.

“Quitters never win,” Allie said.

Winded, Charlie answered between breaths.

“I’m just calculating our odds here.”

Breath.

“We’ll never catch him out here. He’s too fast. And the snow back here is mostly melted, so we can’t even follow his footprints.”

Breath.

“Better to take our golden opportunity to search his vehicle before the police get here, don’t you think?”

“OK. Fine.” Allie clucked out a little mouth noise. “That’s smart.”

Charlie hustled back through the foliage, more confident on the now familiar ground. When she reached the edge of the woods, she scrabbled up the shoulder, the dark bulk of the SUV taking shape there on the side of the road.

The driver’s side door still hung open, and she aimed her light inside, illuminating the cracked dashboard and the spider-webbed windshield. The airbags were still deflating—two off-white puffs going saggy before her eyes, fabric puckering. Considering the damage the vehicle had taken, it was a wonder this guy was up and about, let alone sprinting away from the scene.

Charlie shined her light over the seats, front and back. Apart from bits of glass and crumpled fast-food wrappers, she found nothing.

She crept closer, tucking her hand in her sleeve to avoid leaving prints. OK. She needed to be quick about this.