EDGE OF SUSPENSE: Thrilling Tales of Mystery & Murder Read Online Free PDF Page B

her.
    "Let's hope the jury agreed," she said.
    "I have complete confidence that they won't
let Escobero get away with his crimes."
    Lydia looked at Carter, her face etched with
concern. "Will I be free of Escobero even if he's convicted?"
    "Not if, but when," he said. "And, yes, you
will be free of him. He's being squeezed out of his organization
even as we speak. With Feds all over him, Escobero's got more than
enough to deal with and won't have time to think about coming after
you. Besides, I won't let him or anyone else hurt the woman I
love."
    The following week, Antonio Escobero was
convicted and sentenced to spend the rest of his life in
prison.
     
    # # #
     

 
    VANDALS
     
    "Hey, Craig, can you get out to meet me?" my
best friend Stewart asked over the phone on Saturday night.
    "Yeah," I told him, though I was supposed to
be grounded after getting caught with Suzy Pickford in my room.
"Mom's at the library and dad's at work, as usual. I have to be
back before ten, though."
    "No problem," Stewart said. "I'll meet you
at Jasper Hill."
    Stewart and I had been buddies since sixth
grade. Now we were in the tenth grade and still hung out. A lot of
people thought Stewart was a troublemaker because his brother,
Kevin, was serving time for armed robbery.
    I didn't hold that against Stewart. Like me,
he just hated being bored and wasn't afraid to do something about
it.
    I grabbed a bottle of water, put on my
helmet, and took off on my bike. I liked feeling the wind in my
face and the freedom riding gave me that I never felt at home.
    I lived in Silver Pines, Oregon—far enough
from Portland to escape big city nightmares, but not so small that
it didn't have its own Sheriff who just happened to be my dad.
    Jasper Hill was the most popular place to
meet in town. It was at the top of Jasper Lane and gave you a
360-degree view of Silver Pines.
    Stewart was already there when I arrived,
standing beside his bike with a backpack. We were both nearly six
feet tall, but he was stockier.
    "Hey," he said. "Thought you might not
show."
    I shrugged, mindful that I wasn't supposed
to leave the house. "Didn't have anything better to do."
    "Yeah, me neither," Stewart said.
    "So what do we do now?" I asked. "Wanna see
who's fastest down the hill on our bikes?"
    "Nope, I've got a better idea." Stewart
reached into his backpack and pulled out two cans of spray paint.
"I say we have a little fun putting some smiley faces on cars."
    I chuckled nervously. "My dad would skin me
alive if we got caught."
    "So we'll just have to make sure we don't,"
Stewart said nonchalantly.
    "I don't know about this..."
    "Oh, don't be such a wuss," he said. "We'll
just spray a dozen cars or so and be on our way. They'll never even
know what hit 'em till the sun comes up. By then, we'll be on our
best behavior while our mothers are making us breakfast."
    Stewart gave me a look that said be gutsy
for once and step out of your dad's shadow.
    "Yeah, okay," I muttered. "I'm in."
    "Cool." He tossed me a can. "Let's start on
Eagle Street where they just love showing off their fancy BMWs.
We'll give them a real reason to be in the spotlight."
    I tested the spray, which was fluorescent
blue, and declared myself ready to do some vandalizing, for better
or worse.
    * * *
    We hit a few cars on Eagle Street starting
with Mr. Donleavy's, the Vice Principal at Silver Pines High. It
was easy as pie and no one saw us that we knew of.
    Moving onto Alpine Court, we sprayed smiley
faces on a few more windshields, trunks, and doors; then did the
same on Winchester Avenue.
    After we high tailed it out of there, we
ended up on Dover Road. There was one car parked on the street—a
black Chevy that looked like it had already been put through the
ringer with chipped paint, scratches, and dents.
    "I say we should spruce it up a bit,"
Stewart said.
    Something about the car rubbed me the wrong
way. "Maybe we should quit while we're ahead," I told him.
    "Come on, just one more," Stewart