Skin Privilege by Karin Slaughter Read Free Book Online Page B

he’d say that Sara’s offer to tag along came because she hadn’t wanted to be by herself. Or maybe she’d just wanted to get the hell out of town. Jeffrey wasn’t too pleased with how the citizens of Grant County were treating his wife right now, either. For the last two months, he’d been keeping a running list in his head of people who would never have a speeding ticket fixed for them again.
    ‘Up here,’ she said, pointing to a side street that looked like a dead end.
    ‘You sure?’
    Sara scanned the directions again. ‘It says take a right at the barbecue joint.’
    He slowed the car as he blindly reached overhead, looking for a way to turn on the interior lights.
    ‘Here,’ she said, pressing a button near the rearview mirror. Sara’s BMW was like butter on the road, but all the bells and whistles made Jeffrey’s head hurt.
    He took the directions from her, holding them up to the light.
    She said, ‘It’s not like I can’t read your handwriting. You have the penmanship of a first grade teacher.’
    He pointed to the satellite navigation screen on the dash, which had read, ‘No data available for this position’ for the last half hour. ‘How much extra did you pay for this thing?’
    ‘What does that have to do with your handwriting?’
    He didn’t answer as he looked at his notes. He’d clearly written ‘right at barbecue joint.’
    Jeffrey handed the sheet of paper back to Sara and took the right. He drove slowly, the car’s tires dipping into one pothole after another. He was about to turn around when Sara spotted a familiar blue road sign with an H on it. Farther up ahead, they could see the bright lights of a parking lot, and beyond this, what could only be the hospital.
    ‘ Fifth Avenue,’ Sara read off the street sign. She didn’t say anything more as he pulled into the parking lot.
    The Elawah County Medical Center was across from a Dunkin’ Donuts and a Kentucky Fried Chicken, both closed this time of night. The hospital building was an architect’s nightmare. Part poured concrete, part cinder block, and yet another part brick, the two-story structure looked like a mangy dog that had been kicked to the curb. The few vehicles scattered around the parking lot were mostly trucks, mud caked around their wheel wells from a recent rain. NASCAR stickers and Jesus fish dotted the chrome bumpers. They had driven almost three hours straight to get here, but there was no mistaking they were still in a small Southern town.
    Jeffrey took an empty space right by the emergency room entrance. He didn’t get out of the car, didn’t turn off the ignition. He just sat there, thinking about what little information he’d been given. Lena had been involved in an explosion. She was being treated at the hospital. She had been arrested.
    What has she done now?
    Those were Sara’s words – Sara, who couldn’t understand why Jeffrey had stood by Lena all these years, who didn’t know what it was like to grow up with no one rooting for you, no one thinking you’d end up doing anything but making your parents’ own stupid mistakes. If that were the case, Jeffrey would die a worthless drunk like his old man and Lena would – he didn’t know what would happen to Lena. Her only saving grace was that she had rejected Hank Norton as a role model. As for the rest of the people in Lena ‘s life, Jeffrey had only met one of them, an ex-boyfriend, ex-felon, ex-neo-Nazi whose sorry ass Jeffrey had happily hauled back to prison.
    ‘Hey,’ Sara said, softly. ‘You okay?’
    ‘Yeah.’ He turned to her. ‘Listen, I know how you feel about Lena, but-‘
    ‘Keep it to myself?’ she interrupted. He studied her face, trying to figure out if she was annoyed or angered by the request. Neither emotion seemed to register, and she actually managed a smile. ‘Let’s just get this over with and go home.’
    ‘Good plan.’ He turned off the ignition and got out of the car. The smell of cigarette smoke wafted