Blind Sight: A Novel by Terri Persons Read Free Book Online Page B

give them some warning.”
    “I know. Just thought I’d point it out. Dogs and guns. Guns and dogs. Be ready.”
    “Imagine everyone up here has at least a shotgun,” said Garcia, getting behind the wheel and starting up the Titan. “As far as dogs go, I like dogs.”
    Their breath filled the interior of the cab, and Bernadette clapped her gloved hands together. “The inside of this thing is colder than it is outside.”
    Garcia cranked the cab’s heat on maximum. “It’s got a great heater. We’ll be toasty in no time.” He reached behind his seat to grab an ice scraper and hopped out with it.
    Watching Garcia’s face through the windshield while he shaved the ice off the windows, Bernadette remembered Martini’s comment. When he got back inside the truck, she passed it on.
    “Erik Estrada?” Garcia navigated the truck out of the parking lot and headed for Paul Bunyan State Forest. “I wish.”
    While Garcia steered, Bernadette tried to navigate using the map Delores had scratched out for her. They were heading north on Minnesota 64, the highway that sliced vertically through the south section of the forest. As soon as they turned off the highway, they got into trouble.
    “Maybe you’re holding it upside down,” offered Garcia as they reached the end of what appeared to be an old logging trail. The narrow, snow-clogged path came to a dead stop at a thick stand of trees. No houses or other vehicles were anywhere in sight.
    Bernadette flipped the slip of paper, frowned, and flipped it back. “Have you got a map?”
    “Look around.”
    She reached under her seat and pulled out an ice scraper, a flashlight, a stocking cap, and a first-aid kit. The only thing inside the glove box was the Titan’s manual, another flashlight, and a bag of licorice, the red sticks as hard as icicles. With raised brows, she held up the sack of candy.
    “Emergency Twizzlers.” He took his arm off the square rest that sat between them on the bench. “Check in here.”
    Bernadette lifted the lid. Loose change, sunglasses, a box of Kleenex, and candy. She plucked out a Baby Ruth, peeled off the wrapper, and gnawed on the frozen candy bar.
    He surveyed the woods around them. “Where in the hell are we?”
    “Let’s get back on the main road,” she suggested.
    Garcia tried to turn the truck around, but there wasn’t enough room. He threw an arm over the top of the seat, looked behind him, and started backing up. “If we get stuck, I’m going to be pissed.”
    Bernadette looked through the windshield at the morning sky. The temperature was in the single digits, and snow was still falling. “Should have brought a GPS.”
    Garcia got them back on 64. “For sure it’s on the east side of the highway?”
    “According to Delores,” said Bernadette, peering through her window. “She said the road is visible from the highway but not the house.”
    After two more wrong turns, they finally hung a right onto a road that looked as if it was meant for more than logging trucks. It was a little wider, and had been visited by a plow.
    “This looks promising,” said Garcia.
    Bernadette studied Martini’s scribbles. “There should be a sharp right pretty quick here.”
    They took the first right that came up, and immediately realized that it was another logging road. Garcia put the truck in reverse and backed out. “I’m getting pretty good at this.”
    The next right led them down a road that seemed better cleared than the highway. “This has gotta be their place,” Bernadette said.
    “Why do you say that?”
    “The boyfriend drives a plow.”
    The snow was getting heavier, and Garcia activated the truck’s windshield wipers. “Gonna be a busy boy today.”
    “A postal box and an address marker,” said Bernadette, pointing.
    “Since deer don’t receive mail, that’s a good sign,” said Garcia.
    The trees on either side of the road started thinning and then stopped altogether as they came to a clearing. Garcia braked so