A Girl Undone by Catherine Linka Read Free Book Online Page B

right around and nail them with your eyes.”
    I plastered on a smile. “Hi, Ms. McAllister!”
    “Oh, it’s Vera’s visitor from Salt Lake.”
    “Let me help you with your cart.” I pulled out some cans of fancy cat food and laid them on the checkout belt. “Are you baking a cake for tonight?”
    “No, I leave the baking to the girls. I do a lot of tasting, however.” Hazel chuckled, showing me her wide, yellow teeth.
    “Well, I always make devil’s food with marshmallow frosting for Lou. That’s his favorite.”
    Hazel laid the Enquirer on her groceries. “You like to bake?”
    “Oh, I love to bake!” I was roasting under my hat.
    I kept up the chatter while I emptied Hazel’s cart, and somehow managed to slip the Enquirer back into the magazine rack without her seeing.
    Luke and I had to get out of town ASAP, I thought as I watched her pay.
    Back in the car, I ripped off my hat and jacket. My striped shirt was soaked with sweat. “Is Hazel everywhere?”
    “No,” Vera said, “but it feels that way sometimes.”
    We dropped the groceries at the house. Luke was mixing cement in a wheelbarrow beside the church when Vera and I drove up.
    Please tell me you’ve got good news, I thought, walking over to him. Tell me Harris found us a ride out of here.
    We didn’t have much time before Hazel put two and two together and came up with two hundred and fifty thousand.
    Luke was working on a broken section of the concrete walk. He stirred the cement with a shovel and jerked his elbow at the hose by his feet. “Put a little more water in that slurry, will you?”
    “Sure.” I pointed the hose so water trickled into the thick gray mud. “Any luck with Harris finding us a ride?”
    “No. He’s called over forty people. None are moving stock this time of year.”
    “Damn.”
    “That’s enough water.”
    I tossed the hose aside. The wood frame that Luke built to form the step was perfectly measured and cut, with angles that were exactly ninety degrees. He was so careful, always thinking through things.
    “So we need to come up with another way,” I said.
    “Harris offered to drive us.”
    “No. He can’t!”
    Luke looked up, as surprised as I was by my reaction. “Yeah, I told him no. We’re putting him and Vera in enough danger as it is.”
    “Hitchhiking would be too dangerous. And the police will be watching the buses.”
    “Yeah, it doesn’t look promising, does it?”
    I didn’t like asking Selena, but what choice did we have? “The woman who did my hair wants to drive to Denver, but she needs help.”
    “You saying she might offer us a ride?”
    “Maybe. She has to take a dozen dogs to a shelter. We’d be doing her a favor.”
    “Not much of a favor.”
    “I could ask. I’m pretty sure she knows who I am.”
    Luke lifted the wheelbarrow, shaking the handles so the cement slopped into the frame. “All right. Your turn,” he said, when the frame was full. “Slide that trowel around in a figure eight and even out the top.”
    I kneeled down and slid the trowel back and forth. “Yesterday, when I asked you how this guy in Laramie is supposed to help us, you didn’t answer.”
    “I can’t. I’m not sure he will.”
    “Then why the hell are we going?”
    Luke glanced at the street. “Would you keep it down?”
    “I’d be happy to if you’d give me a good reason to risk my life to get to eastern Wyoming to meet him.”
    “Because Barnabas told me to find him.”
    We stood there, letting the moment settle. How could I argue with that? “Okay, I’ll call Selena.”
    I was surprised when Selena hesitated only a moment before saying she’d drive us. “Are you sure?” I said.
    “You and Lou come over, and help me pack the RV.” She explained how she’d get her sister’s son to drive up from Denver and meet her in Laramie. Then he’d go the rest of the way with her.
    I had just put down the phone and was still marveling at our luck when Vera came up from the basement carrying