Long Holler Road - A Dark Southern Thriller by David Lee Malone Read Free Book Online Page A

the bed at the front. Scooter and Rick could have a car loaded and be gone in three minutes or less, depending on whether it could be driven or not. Most of the cars he was getting from this mysterious client all had four flat tires and either had to be driven up the ramps very carefully, or pulled up by the winch.
      As soon as the car was loaded, someone would pull up beside them wearing a ski mask and collect the money. There was never a word spoken between them. The price Scooter paid was always the same, no matter if it was a Cadillac or a Chevy Impala.
      Scooter knew there was probably something very unpleasant happening to the owners of these cars, but as long as he didn’t actually see it happen, he had no trouble sleeping at night. Out of sight, out of mind, was his motto. All he was doing was stealing an abandoned car. The same thing he’d been doing for most of his life. He was not guilty of harming anyone, at least not physically.
    *****
      Sheriff Andrew White was reading the latest bulletins and came across another missing persons alert. “This is the fifth one of these missin’ person alerts I’ve got in the last two months and everyone of them says the same darn thing,” he was telling his secretary. “All of them were s’posed to be traveling down highway 11 to wherever it was they was goin’ and they are all men. This last one was some kinda professor from down at the University in Tuscaloosa who was headin’ for Knoxville. They all just up and vanish into thin air. Nobody’s seen hide nor hair of ’em since they left. How many does that make for the last year now?”
      “I believe that makes fifteen, if you count the one you just received,” she answered.
      “Well there ain’t that many men that are just up and runnin’ off from their wives. I’ve been tellin’ everybody for six months that there’s gotta be a connection, but nobody wants to listen to me. I may start havin’ some of the deputies patrol Highway 11 more than what we have been at night. I doubt seriously these folks are disappearin’ in Putnam County, but at least I’ll be doin’ my part.”
      The sheriff made a mental note to call his friend who was the commander of the nearest Alabama State Trooper post and see if he could get those idiots in Montgomery to start being a little more vigilant on Highway 11 and not spend all their time chasing speeders on I-59. According to the timelines from when they were last seen until they were reported missing, some of them would almost certainly have had to pass through some part of Alabama.                                   Things had been boring lately, anyway. There weren’t many moonshiners anymore. The ones that were left were all friends of his. He did get to bust a dope dealer every now and then, but they were few and far between. It was mostly just marijuana, anyway, and almost all nickel and dime stuff.
      Sheriff White was going to make it his mission to try and get to the bottom of these mysterious disappearances. He sat back in his chair and imagined being the one who finally solved the case. Maybe there was some mad man out there who was kidnapping all these men. Hell, maybe they were being abducted by aliens, he thought smiling . Whatever it was, he was determined to find out and finally be the hero he had always dreamed of being. He could see his name in all the papers and see himself on news channels all over the country.  
     
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER EIGHT
                               
      I was sitting in the shade of a big old pecan tree watching Glenn and Snake sweat. But they were doing a commendable job and I didn’t want to interfere unless it was absolutely necessary. I would occasionally spell one of them and give them a chance to cool off under the tree. The Harper’s house and yard were immaculate. Like some sort of little fairy tale kingdom where everyone had nothing but happy