Jack Stone - Wild Justice Read Online Free PDF Page A

keep an eye on you while you’re in these parts. Didn’t you hear officer Peyton?”
    “He deputized you?” Stone started to smile.
    “Wel l,” she shrugged. “That’s how it sounded to me.”
    They stepped out into the darkening afternoon. Stone stood with his hands in his pockets watching the traffic blur by while the woman locked the diner’s front door and rattled it half a dozen times just to be sure. Passing cars were just starting to turn on their headlights. Night comes fast in the desert.
    “Where’s your luggage?” the woman asked.
    “Luggage?”
    “Your bags.”
    Stone shrugged. “I’ve got a knapsack behind the reception desk at the motel across the road. That’s it.”
    The woman nodded, like she wasn’t all that surprised. “Fetch it,” she said. She unlocked the driver-side door to the grey Chevy and let some of the built-up heat of the day out . She wound the window all the way down and then slid in behind the big old-fashioned steering-wheel that seemed like it belonged on a farmer’s tractor. She looked totally out of place – this petite delicate little woman at the wheel of the big ancient brute. She pumped the gas pedal a few times then turned the ignition. The car started first time. Stone noticed how long and brown her legs looked. The woman noticed the direction of his gaze but made no move at all. “I’ll meet you back here,” she said, with just the trace of a flirtatious little smile on her lips.
     
    Six.
     
    Lill ey Pond sat with the drivers seat close to the wheel, and used one hand for steering the big car, and the other for talking. She was one of those women who talked with her hands – couldn’t talk without gestures.
    When Stone got in the car, he pushed his seat back on the runners as far as it would go, and tried to make some leg room for himself. There were worn rubber mats on the floor, and there were two cardboard boxes on the back seat. Looked like catering stuff – plates and cooking supplies maybe. There were a couple of crumpled credit card receipts stuffed into the unused ashtray, and a fine layer of dust on the dashboard. Stone set the canvas knapsack down between his knees and cranked his window down to let the cooling afternoon air in. He could hear the hiss of the tires and the whistle of the wind.
    The road towards Windswept was just a standard piece of two-lane tarmac. Looked like it had been resurfaced in the last few years. Loose gravel sprinkled and spattered against the underbody of the car when it got too close to the verge.
    “What have you got in there?” Lilley pointed to the knapsack. “Not guns, I hope. I’m not taking some kind of deranged madman home with me, am I?” She smiled to let Stone know she wasn’t really worried, and to take the edge off the actual question. She was curious, not concerned. She had small white perfect teeth.
    Stone shrugged. “Everything,” he said. “Everything I need. Everything I own. No guns.”
    “Wow. You travel light.” She did a thing with her hand and the car veered towards the middle of the road, but she didn’t seem to notice. There was no other traffic, so it probably didn’t matter, but Stone felt himself stiffen. It was like she couldn’t co-ordinate how to talk and drive at the same time. Stone figured she’d probably last five minutes driving in a city – or on a freeway. But out here in the Arizona desert, it didn’t seem to be a problem. Stone couldn’t recall seeing any dented fenders on the car when he got in – but maybe she had just been lucky so far.
    “I like to keep things simple,” Stone said. “And it’s hard to move around if you’re carrying too much luggage. Apart from a couple of shirts, another pair of jeans, a hat and some personal stuff, what else would I need?”
    “Shoes.”
    “I’m wearing my shoes,” Stone said. “I’ve only got one pair of feet, so I only need one pair of shoes.”
    Lilley said nothing for a mile or so. The car crested a