Free Joyride by Jack Ketchum Page B

He laughed. “I bet I scared the beejeesus out of you! Right, Carole?”
    Carole looked at Lee. He nodded.
    She stood up.
    “I’ll go get my jacket,” she said. She moved toward the stairs.
    “That’s where the gun is, isn’t it,” said Lock. “Upstairs.”
    Carole stopped and turned. “What gun?”
    He grinned. “Come on. I know you’ve got one somewhere. It’s up there, right? Well, bring it on down. The more the merrier!”
    He turned to Lee. “What is it? Colt? Magnum?”
    And then he looked back to Carole.
    “Please, guys,” he said. “We’re all gonna be friends here. I know you don’t exactly believe me on that yet, but you will. I’m making you a solemn promise. I’m not going to hurt you, either of you, as long as you don’t do something where I have to.
    “Now Lee’s right here not five feet away from me. I’m a very good shot. And I bet you’re not, Carole. So just go on up and bring it down. I trust you. Go ahead.”
    Lee watched her ascend the stairs. There was a slouch to her strong back that was depressingly familiar.
    She looked like she’d been beaten again, felt the pounding of rough hands against soft flesh.
    She was not going to try something. Not now. In her place he wouldn’t have either.
    They walked to the car. Lock had Carole’s jacket draped over the Magnum and it was trained on the center of Lee’s back. The .38 was in Lock’s back pocket. Just until you get to know me better, he’d said again. And he apologized.
    He’d admired the Magnum greatly and at length. Would they mind if they took it with them?
    That was fine with Lee. One more gun meant one more opportunity. Though so far the guy had covered all his bases neatly.
    He figured it couldn’t last. The guy would make a slip. They’d be able to get to one of the guns and then they’d face him down. He felt sure that faced down, Lock would fold.
    And then what? he thought.
    They couldn’t just run to the police and turn him in.
    Lock knew.
    And in a crunch Lee had no doubt that he would tell anybody and everybody exactly what he knew.
    The way out, of course, was to kill him. And kill him as soon as possible, before anybody could associate him and Carole to the man. While as far as anybody else knew they were still all strangers to each other.
    Could he do it? He felt pretty certain he could. The only question was how.
    It was not like Howard. This time he wouldn’t hesitate. The man was a lizard, crawled out from under a rock.
    Take your time, he thought. Think and keep thinking. And when you see something, move.
    “You parked pretty far away,” he said.
    Wayne smiled. “Well, I didn’t want to arouse any suspicions.”
    That was good. That was very good. He didn’t want to arouse any suspicions. They were walking four blocks through their own neighborhood, curbs empty everyplace you looked from their house all the way over to the Nichols’s house, they were walking all this way to get into a car that could have been parked right out in front of their own driveway.
    He didn’t want to arouse any suspicions.
    It’s a good sign, he thought. The guy is not all that organized.
    He’s got blank spots.
    Maybe he could use that.
    “I forgot to feed the cats,” said Carole.
    “Don’t worry about it,” Lock said. “We won’t be gone that long. You drive, Lee. Okay?”
    He had never met anybody who jumped so hard and fast at getting on a first-name basis.
    It seemed important to him.
    He got into the driver’s seat, Carole silent beside him, looking as though she were hardly breathing.
    Lock—correction, Wayne —climbed in back.
    “So. Where to, Wayne?” he said.
    He could see the smile brighten through the rearview mirror.
    “Just drive, Lee,” he said. “Just drive.”

CHAPTER TWELVE
    Rule knocked. Number 2211 again. Twice in two days was his personal record for the place but he had a feeling he might be breaking that soon.
    The BMW and Edwards’s Porsche sat in the driveway.
    There was