Wanted! Read Online Free PDF

human, and let her know that it loved speed; it yearned for speed. Alice held harder to the steering wheel, to be sure she made the decisions, not the Vette.
    The cop was in the left, faster lane of his side. When he saw the Corvette, he slowed.
    There was no doubt about it. He slowed.
    For a moment they were suspended across from each other. Alice, who had been going 75, easing off, and the cop, who had been going even faster, easing off, too, looking her way.
    Their eyes did not actually meet, because they were too far apart and because Alice had lost the ability to focus her eyes. But she knew he had spotted her; he was going to get to her side of the parkway and come after her.
    He could not cross here, but within a quarter mile, a half mile at the most, the police car could find a spot to bump up onto the grass, squeeze between trees and rocks, and come after her.
    Alice was sobbing, but they were dry sobs. It was more that her heart and lungs were yelling. Her hands got so cold and slippery she could barely hold the wheel.
    For a moment she considered just pulling over, letting him come, telling him what had happened, explaining that her father had told her to drive the Corvette, that she was bringing Dad the computer disk, that—
    No. She was not bringing him anything. He was dead.
    The parkway blurred; she felt like a small child in need of glasses, confused by a world of color smudges.
    If all she had to do was talk to a policeman, Alice could stop the car. But talk to Mom? Who had just said: We’re not going to make up stories. We have your confession.
    Mom had been talking of getting married again (she who had bungled the only marriage that mattered). Dad protested vigorously that his daughter should never have a stepfather. Mom and Dad had talked of going to court in a custody fight, but they couldn’t; Alice was too old; she could decide; and she had decided they had to stop their nonsense and share their daughter better.
    Alice imagined Mom’s friend showing up at the house right now. Her mother called him Rick darling. Alice never called him anything. Alice made a point of never meeting Rick’s eyes; facing away from him when she was forced to speak to him; having urgent social activities whenever there was a threat that Rick might be present for more than half a minute.
    Alice imagined Rick saying, “Chrissie, we must stand by your daughter. Whatever dreadful things she has done, we must be brave and remain at her side.” Alice heard her mother saying, “Rick darling, I’m so glad you’re here; what would I do without you?”
    Her father saying (because he was alive after all, and had a voice, and a heart, and loved Alice), “Come on, sweetie, give me a hug; everything’s okay. I’m here; it’ll work out.”
    Thinking about her parents was so painful and hideous, a great black vortex that might suck her down and leave her insane, Alice decided not to think about either of them. She would think car thoughts.
    An exit sign loomed.
    Alice got off the parkway.
    She had absolutely no idea where she was, and she had to hide from the police while driving (badly) the world’s most obvious car.
    She’d gotten off at the kind of road with stoplights every quarter mile. Endless strips of stores and parking lots and—and a mall.
    Westtown Mall. A mall she knew well. It was a mere five miles from her mother’s house. Alice had not driven away. She had driven right back. There was no time to yell at herself for such stupidity. It had happened. She must deal.
    The mall was an immense array of white buildings one, two, and three stories high, sitting in the midst of a truly vast parking lot.
    There was not just outdoor parking. There was underground parking. Alice found the entrance and coasted down the ramp, between huge scary cement pillars, and into a damp, dark world with dim lights and cars creeping out of corners.
    She needed headlights but could not remember how to turn them on. She needed both hands