Dead Men Don't Order Flake by Sue Williams Read Free Book Online

tried again. Shit.
    I flicked a look in my mirror. The car behind was a dark shape in the gloom. It pulled over beside the road, only a couple of car lengths away.
    I grabbed my phone. No signal. My heart thudded inmy chest. I scanned through my windscreen, thinking fast. The farm around here sold a while back; I had no idea who owned it now. But there, ahead, across the gloomy wheat paddocks, I could see a light. Someone was home. Maybe they had a working phone; maybe whoever lived there was kind and strong and helpful.
    Or a toothless, axe-wielding maniac.
    I tore briefly at a fingernail. Well, no point sitting here waiting for my doom. I flung open my car door, ran over to the fence and wriggled under it. Not electric, thank God. I stood upright quickly, and then ran like hell across the damp wheat stubble.
    The only sounds were my panting and the crunching sound of my feet against the stubble. Painful bloody stuff, wheat stubble. It scratched and tore at my ankles. The rain grew heavier, the wind driving needle-sharp water droplets into my face. I heard a car door slam. I glanced behind. Was that someone behind me, back there in the gloom?
    I ran faster, my breath choking out in gasps. My legs burned; my hair and clothes were saturated. The house grew closer; I could see movement across a lit-up window. Another fence. Bugger, this one was electric: tell-tale orange sheep netting. On or off—that was the question.
    I slowed and glanced over my shoulder. A shape running towards me; slightly lopsided, limping. Getting closer. I sucked in a frantic breath. Sprinted the last few steps towards the fence and took a leap up, up, over the netting, my best effort for high-jump gold.
    Agh. Not high enough. My foot trailed against the fence top just as my other foot touched the soil; the kick of the electric current jolted through my body. I crashedto the ground, face-first in the mud. Lay there a second, my breath juddering.
    A goat mehh-ed at me. I groaned, then crawled to my feet. My left foot squelched, shoeless. I spent a frantic, fruitless moment looking for the shoe.
    Just a few steps now to the house. A dog started barking. I ran across the gravel yard towards the back door. Flew up the three concrete steps. My socks full of mud. I’m fond of rain, but not when it’s in my shoes. Shoe.
    I banged on the door; leaned, hard-panting, against the frame.
    The door opened. A tall bloke; blond hair gleaming in the light.
    ‘Cass?’
    Unbelievable. It was Leo Stone.

9
    Leo grabbed my arm and pulled me inside. I stood, bent over, hands on my knees, dripping mud onto the floor. Sucking at the air, trying to catch my breath.
    ‘What’s going on, Cass? And what happened to your eye?’
    ‘Brown Fairlane. Break-in. Stalker.’ I managed in staccato gasps.
    Once my breath started to remember normal, I explained as quickly as I could.
    ‘Right.’ He frowned. Marched over to the kitchen door and went outside. Two minutes later, he was back. ‘No sign of anyone. He could be out somewhere on the road though. You OK to come with me? I don’t want to leave you alone.’
    ‘I’m head-to-foot mud, Leo. I’ll ruin your sheepskin covers.’
    He laughed. ‘No sheepskin to worry about these days.’
    I walked out to his Land Rover and hopped into the passenger side. He got in, fired it up; put on the heater. My teeth were chattering.
    He glanced at me. Reached over to his back seat and handed me a blanket.
    When we got out to the road, the brown car was gone. No sign of anyone. Leo drove me back to his house and bustled me inside. While I dripped more mud onto his kitchen floor, shivering, he found me a huge fluffy blue towel, then pointed me in the direction of the bathroom. As I left, he started lighting a row of tea lights on the kitchen table.
    The shower was hot and welcome. I held my face up under the flow of water. My swollen eye throbbed. I was tempted to stay in there for a lasting period and not just because I was cold,