EXCERPT #3, WINTER’S JOURNEY e-novel (paperback Oct. 3, 08) available NOW from The Wild Rose Press, p. 66
She didn’t want to believe that Sam was a killer, but
she was terrified that he might be. If he was, then she
didn’t know him at all. If he was, she could place him at
the scenes of the crimes. If Sam caught up with her, her
indecision and fear would give her away. Her loneliness
had blinded her from following her usual precautions. You
don’t pick up strangers on the road, give them a job, and
trust them unless you’re real sure they’re safe. Now she
realized she should have called those references of his.
Maybe she would have learned something important. Too
late now.
She didn’t want to be his next victim not only
because she had her own life to worry about, but as a
single parent, she had her daughter’s.
She dashed through the parking lot, hiding behind
the vehicles until she made it to her truck. She fished the
keys from her pocket with trembling fingers, unlocked the
door, and climbed into the cab, keeping low so as not to be
seen. She was glad she’d left her purse in the truck and
had never taken her coat off in the restaurant, or she
would have had to go back to the table for them.
Fighting tears, she started Baby Blue’s engine, let it
warm up too short a time, clicked on the seatbelt, and
began shifting gears. She made her way to the highway as
icy slivers of rain pummeled the outside of the rig. She
didn’t switch on her lights until she hit the road.
The night with its treacherous darkness and the
mountains with their narrow and winding curves lay
ahead of her. After driving all day she was exhausted,
and if she’d get caught she’d have a fine to pay. She
should pull off the road somewhere and sleep. But she
had a deadline to meet, a truck she couldn’t afford to lose,
a daughter depending on her, and a heartache she was
running away from. She couldn’t stop now.
****
Sam stood outside the Diamond’s doorway, framed in
light, watching Loretta go with troubled eyes.
A pale Freightliner pulled out behind her and trailed
her into the mountains.
“Oh, Loretta, you’re the one in danger out there
alone…not me,” he whispered to himself. “Somehow I’m
going to find you. I’m going to help you even if you don’t
want me to, and if I have to fight someone to protect you,
I will.”
These days when Sam made a promise, he kept it. No
one he cared about would ever die because of him again.
He’d promised himself that, and he’d die keeping that
promise.
So why had he pulled his knife like that and hurt
that guy in front of all those people? That’d been so foolish
and unlike him. What had he been trying to prove? That
he wasn’t the coward he’d once been.
All he’d done was scare Loretta away, and now he
had to find a way to go after her…and save her.
************************************
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