The Edge

They made her ride down in a wheelchair, which she didn't like at all. I put her in the passenger side of the Taurus and quickly shut the door.

    "What is this, Mac?"-her first words to me when I slid in behind the steering wheel. I turned to the backseat and said, "Hi, guys. Everything okay?"

    "Squawk."

    "Grubster, you got any news from the front?"

    Nothing from Grubster.

    "What's going on here, Mac?"

    I drove out of the parking lot. "You're on vacation as of right now, Ms. Scott. I've rented us a small house just south of Edgerton, on the cliffs. It's called Seagull Cottage, and Mr. Alyssum Tarcher has given it to us rent-free for a month. I'm going to be your roommate."

    She chewed this over for about twenty-two seconds. "No way. I live in Salem. I'll lose my job."

    "No. I got you a two-week vacation, without pay. I told them I was your brother and you'd come down with Lyme disease. They were suitably impressed. It was a Mr. Dirkson who cleared you. All right?"

    "My condo."

    "I told the manager you were going out of town. He's going to keep an eye on everything."

    "I don't have any clothes."

    "All in the trunk."

    She was done, for the moment. We were out of Salem now, heading toward 101.

    "It's okay, Laura," I said, giving her a quick smile. "Really, it's better this way. Except it's interesting about Alyssum Tarcher being our landlord. Hey, if he had anything to do with this, he would have found out that you'd flown the coop. Now everyone knows you're not alone, that you've got protection, namely yours truly."

    "You don't know anything, Mac."

    "I will, soon enough. I don't want you thinking that you're walking right into the bear cave, what with us going to Edgerton. I'll be in that cave with you and I'm mean. Besides, I've got a big spear. Running away is not the way to find out what's going on in Edgerton, or to find my sister." I waited, but she didn't say anything, just nodded after a bit.

    It had started raining, just a drizzle at first, but now it was really coming down. "I didn't bring you a raincoat, sorry."

    She didn't say a word for at least seven miles. Finally, I said, "Laura? Is this okay with you?"

    "Are you really going to let people know-the whole town-that someone tried to kill me? Or are you going to leave it as both of us?"

    "I already told Alyssum Tarcher that it was just you. When we get to Edgerton, I need to stop off at Paul's house to pick up my clothes. Then I need to see Maggie, find out if she's heard anything about Jilly. Also, Charlie Duck's autopsy report should be coming in soon."

    "You think the old man's death is somehow connected, don't you?"

    "My boss, Big Carl Bardolino, at the FBI, likes to say there's no such thing as coincidence, at least in our line of work."

    "Squawk."

    "Nolan's got some more sunflower seeds in that lunch bag on the backseat if you think he's still hungry."

    A car came around to pass us, not too wise since we were on a curve. I slowed down just a bit and gave it plenty of room to go around.

    Laura started to say something as she turned around to reach for the bag of sunflower seeds. In the next instant, there was a popping sound, then another. I jerked back. I realized that a bullet had gone through her passenger-side window. It had crashed through my window and missed my neck by a couple of inches, leaving a spiderweb of cracked glass in its wake.

    I pulled the steering wheel hard right, then corrected to the left, just missing an oncoming car. I saw a man in my mind's eye, on the passenger side, raising what had to have been a gun. I saw the car just ahead of us, a dark red Honda. I gunned the Taurus and winced. In this rain, if I wasn't careful, we'd go skidding right off the road. The Honda roared ahead, cutting hard and fast around a sharp turn. I knew the Taurus wouldn't make it. I had to slow a bit. When I got around the curve, the Honda had widened the distance.

    "My God, Mac, are you all right?"

    "Yep. You?"

    "I think so. If I hadn't turned in just that moment to get Nolan some sunflower seeds-"

    "I know. Laura, sit back down and fasten your seat belt."

    "Squawk."

    "It's all right, Nolan. Think of this as an adventure."

    Laura was strapped in and I passed two cars, nearly skimming off the paint on the second one. Horns blared loudly in our ears.

    We were getting closer. "Laura, I don't think we can catch them, but we can get the license plate."

    "I can try," she said, and buzzed down what was left of her electric