Girl on a Slay Ride by Louis Trimble Read Free Book Online

hysteria growing in her voice. He said softly. “They weren’t looking for you, Denise.”
    The driver of the sedan was pushing the fat man into the rear seat. He lifted his head. “Looking for her?” he repeated. He made a gusty, laughing sound.
    Denise cried out, “Then who are they? What do they want?”
    The slender man paid no attention to her. He said to the driver of the sedan, “We’ll follow you just as I planned it. But don’t wait too long. The road turns away from the ocean soon.”
    “I remember the spot you picked out,” the driver said. He shut the rear door on the fat man and walked back to the sedan. He moved gracefully for someone his size and bulk.
    The slender man rounded the wagon and climbed in beside Denise. He held his gun in his right hand, resting it on his leg.
    He said to Mallory, “Wait until Nick is around that curve ahead. Then drive on slowly.”
    Mallory watched the green sedan start up and pull onto the road. It picked up speed rapidly and disappeared around the curve.
    Mallory started the car and pulled onto the blacktop. He drove silently, his eyes on the road. He could feel Denise, still rigid beside him. The fat man’s breathing came noisily from the back seat. The sound annoyed him. It added to the anger building sourly in his empty stomach.
    He said, “Listen, you sonofabitch …”
    “Just drive. I’ll tell you when to talk and what to do.”
    Denise said, “You can’t get away with this, whoever you are.”
    “I am getting away with it,” the man said. He sounded amused.
    Mallory slowed for the curve. Beyond it the trees on his right fell away, revealing the ocean with the early sun shining on it. The coastline was rocky, in some places showing small beaches of sand, but for the most part everything was covered by jagged mounds of dark rock. At this point the road was well above the water; a little farther along it ran at the edge of a cliff which dropped sheer to deep pools covered with light foam from the swirling tides.
    Mallory could see the sedan drawn up at the edge of the cliff. The driver stood at the side of the car. He was looking into the water as though absorbed by its constantly changing patterns.
    “Pull up across the road from him,” the slender man said to Mallory.
    Mallory pulled over. The slender man reached over and turned off the ignition. He took the key out and dropped it in his pocket. He smiled his empty smile. “I wouldn’t want you to go away. And if you’re considering leaving on foot—I’m an excellent shot.” He got out of the wagon and crossed the road.
    He and the driver talked for a minute. Then they looked over the cliff. The small man nodded. He stepped to the edge of the road and glanced both ways along its empty length.
    He said, “All right.”
    The driver reached inside the sedan. He backed away hastily as the car started to roll forward. Mallory sat with his hands gripping the wheel of the wagon. There was a strange fascination in watching the big car move ponderously forward to the edge of the cliff. The front wheels went over. There was a grating sound as rock scraped the undercarriage. Then the nose of the car disappeared. For a moment there was only the rear end, wheels spinning. In a moment that too was gone.
    Mallory held his breath. He let it out gustily as the sound of a splash reached him. Denise said, “Why?”
    Mallory didn’t answer. The two men were crossing the road to the wagon. They climbed in; the large man got in the rear seat. Mallory turned and looked back at him and at the fat man who was sitting beside the former driver. The fat man had his hands on his legs, his chin down; his face was obscured by his tilted hat.
    “Let’s go,” the small man said. He replaced the ignition key and settled himself beside Denise.
    Mallory started the wagon. The large man said, “It went good, all right. You can’t see nothing but water.”
    “I thought that place would be right,” the small man said. “I