Free Killer Reunion by G. A. McKevett Page B

increasing their town’s meager population, the spot ahead was clear of trees and brush and provided an unobstructed view of the lake below.
    More than a few of McGill’s residents had been conceived there, as well. It was the number two favorite make-out spot and was frequently used when the primary nook higher up the hill was occupied.
    â€œPull over,” she said as they drew closer to the place in question. “I want to check it out.”
    â€œCheck what out?”
    â€œRight there. Where the splash came from.”
    Dirk slowed slightly. “I’m not pulling over anywhere. If I get off this road, we’ll get stuck in the mud up to our axles and die up here.”
    She rolled her eyes. “That’s a bit overly dramatic, don’t you think? The most dangerous things in these hills are raccoons and the occasional bobcat, and we’re both armed.”
    â€œAnd rattlesnakes and copperheads and cottonmouths and—”
    â€œOkay, okay.” Savannah could feel her skin crawl. She hated snakes and avoided thinking about them whenever possible. “I’m sure they’re all safely tucked into their nice, dry snaky houses for the night.”
    â€œWatching TV or playing video games with their kids, right? I think I’ve heard this little fantasy of yours before.”
    â€œHey, it works for me. Okay?” She reached over and poked him in the ribs. “Stop. You don’t have to pull over. Just stop.”
    â€œSavannah, you’re not goin’ on one of your wild-goose chases out here in a dark Georgia woods in the middle of a downpour.”
    â€œDirk,” she said in a deadly serious voice, barely above a whisper, “if you don’t stop this vehicle this very second, I swear, I’m gonna give you grief about it all night long. I’ll be lying there in bed next to you, tossing and turning and mumbling to myself, frettin’ up a storm, and wondering what I might’ve seen if you’d only just stopped and humored me for one teeny, tiny second.”
    He slammed on the brakes. The car slid a couple of feet and came to an abrupt halt.
    â€œThere,” he snapped. “Happy?”
    â€œPlumb ecstatic.”
    â€œGood.”
    She knew he was mad. He was huffing and puffing like a bulldog who had just run a marathon, and unless they were in the final throes of passion, that was hardly ever a good sign.
    Casting a quick sideways look at him, she was pretty sure she could see tendrils of smoke curling out of his nostrils. His face was an unpleasant shade of green in the dim glow of the dash lights.
    â€œI’m just going to be a minute. Really,” she said in a voice far too sweet. “You’ll see.”
    He muttered something under his breath that she couldn’t understand, and she figured that was probably a blessing.
    She had managed to get her dress halfway on, but she quickly peeled it off again and laid it across the console between them.
    â€œWhat the hell are you doing?” he said. “You asked me to stop so you could look and see . . . I don’t know. . . . What? The splash you heard before? Well, I stopped. So look !”
    She pointed to her side window, where nothing was visible but thick condensation on the inside of the car and rain streaming down the exterior. “Now you tell me. Can you see anything out that side window, boy? Can you? No, you can’t. Even with those windshield wipers flappin’ to beat the band, you can’t see diddly-squat out the front, either.”
    â€œDon’t you dare roll that window down.”
    â€œI’m not going to. Sheez. What kind of nitwit do you think I am?”
    â€œActually, I’m still trying to figure that out,” he grumbled.
    â€œI heard that.”
    â€œAnd will probably give me grief about that tonight, too, when I’m just trying to sleep. I put up with a lot off of you, girl.”
    â€œI know, sugar.