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Back A Small Town Save as PDF
Chapters (44)
  1. Cover
  2. Also by Thomas Perry
  3. THOMAS PERRY
  4. Copyright
  5. Dedication
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. 7
  13. 8
  14. 9
  15. 10
  16. 11
  17. 12
  18. 13
  19. 14
  20. 15
  21. 16
  22. 17
  23. 18
  24. 19
  25. 20
  26. 21
  27. 22
  28. 23
  29. 24
  30. 25
  31. 26
  32. 27
  33. 28
  34. 29
  35. 30
  36. 31
  37. 32
  38. 33
  39. 34
  40. 35
  41. 36
  42. 37
  43. 38
  44. Back Cover

“You made it up here, didn’t you?” He slapped him on the back. “I had the crosshairs on you all the way, and yet here you are, looking good. Let’s unload your stuff and take a look at it.”

21

Leah Hawkins drove toward the evening sun. Driving across the country was a good way to drop out of sight for a while. Summer afternoons lasted longer than winter ones, and the sun’s angle wasn’t as low and blinding so early, so this hadn’t been a bad driving shift. And driving on the plains that used to be the southern part of the Great Lakes was easy, except when there was road construction.

Leah was an expert driver because of her years as a state police officer and then as a local cop. She had no idea how many days she had spent behind the wheel of a car before she was promoted to homicide detective, but it was at least a few thousand. Even then she had spent long stretches of time in a car, using it as a mobile office while she went from place to place talking to witnesses and technicians, or going to see victims. In homicide the victims were past talking, but she had visited all of them. By now, if she was sitting upright, driving took so little additional effort that being a passenger didn’t relax her much.

She was going to have to stop somewhere to sleep soon, and the idea of sleeping in hotels along the highway made her think about Mark. He had been one of those men whose faces assumed a smooth, innocent expression while they slept, like they were children. There were plenty of people, both men and women, who while sleeping looked like they were dead, with jaws slack and mouths—and sometimes eyes—open, their facial muscles devoid of tension so the skin sagged. Mark Ballard’s face had looked smooth and happy.

The first time she had slept with Mark Ballard was also the first time she had ever stayed all night with any man, with both of them still lying side by side in the same bed in the morning. Other times when she’d been with men, either she or they would go home after waiting a long enough interval so that it wouldn’t seem as though the sex was all that was going on between them, even if it was.