A Night at the Asylum by Jade McCahon Read Free Book Online Page B

neither of us had brought it up yet. My
current mission held all of my attention. “I just want to see
something. Please.”
    With a grimace, she turned down Raymond’s
dimly lit street.
    And there it was, this time parked in the
back alleyway. I had to crane my neck like a stalker to see it, but
it was there – a black Mustang, the same car I’d seen the night
after Raymond had kicked me unceremoniously to the curb.
    She hadn’t even bothered to pull it into the
garage.
    “That…bitch!” I swore.
    As if by invocation, the Mustang’s lights
popped on and it careened backward into the street, so abruptly
that Jamie had to stomp on the brakes to avoid broadsiding it. My
knees smashed into the dashboard and we were showered with an
explosion of trash from the landfill in the backseat. Without a
thought, I reached over and snapped my seatbelt across my waist.
“Follow her,” I barked.
    “Have you lost it? No!” Jamie cried, but my
face was so hostile she strapped her own belt on.
    “Come on!” I shouted. “I want to see where
she’s going with my boyfriend.”
    Jamie exhaled loudly in irritation, but made
a squealing U-turn in the middle of the street. “Let’s do this,”
she growled.
    Whether it was the ferocity of my voice or
the lure of impending drama or just plain curiosity that compelled
Jamie to drive, she made art of it. She backed away on the dark
streets, lingered on corners, drifting and weaving like a
professional creeper. “You’ve definitely done this before,”
I murmured, but she didn’t answer. Her mouth was set in a grim
line, her small features tensed, concentrating on the black vehicle
with narrowed eyes. She made a sharp right turn and we were backing
off again, trailing the tiny points of taillights up a hill and out
into the country.
    The inside of the little car was still too
warm as we crept smoothly up the road, yet I couldn’t help but
shiver as we left the lights of town and the safety of suburbia.
The land was a mass of dark shapes and sprawling trees, the city
far away in the distance. I gazed out the window, wondering what it
would be like to be lost out in those fields alone in the dark. It
made me think of Jenny Allison.
    I didn’t have much time to contemplate. Jamie
backed off the Mustang suddenly, her eyes on the rearview mirror,
swearing under her breath. “What is it?” As I turned I saw the gray
police car bearing down upon us, heard the siren bleat a warning
for us to pull over. I uttered some expletives of my own.
    “What should I do?” Jamie asked, her hair
wild about her face.
    “What do you mean? You should pull over,” I
said. The last thing we needed was to get arrested. Again.
    She seemed to be deliberating. I wasn’t sure
what there was to deliberate. “I have a bad feeling about this…”
she murmured.
    As she moved the car onto the shoulder, the
gray sedan veered around us, the sirens and lights going crazy.
Both of us gasped with relief, but our gratitude went cold as we
realized who the police car was after.
    “Oh my God, he’s pulling Bonita over,” Jamie
whispered.
    “Stop the car,” I ordered. “Turn off the
lights.”
    Jamie crammed on the brakes and pulled to the
shoulder, clicking the headlights off. “What is going on?” she
cried, straining to see past the dust that clouded around us. The
chalky smell of disturbed gravel invaded the car. Everything was
eerily quiet.
    For a moment I thought we might see a chase.
The Mustang’s driver seemed to hesitate as Jamie had. Then nearly ¼
of a mile ahead of us, they finally turned onto a gravel road and
eased to the shoulder. The police car made a wide left turn behind
them and straddled the road, effectively blocking them from
escaping back to the highway.
    Something about that just seemed… off .
Without a word Jamie and I both reached out and pushed down the
locks on our doors.
    It was so dark, almost impossible to see.
There was the sound of a door slamming, the crunching of