don’t have my pitch quite right yet.” He really did sound stricken, like if we could see him he’d be banging his head against the steering wheel.
Jessica said, “Look, just drop me off at the next truck stop.”
“I swear I’m cool. I won’t hurt you and I could use the company. It’s kind of lonely out here when no one wants to talk about God.”
“I feel you, man. I need to make a phone call.”
“There’s a Flying J about five miles ahead. But would you like to use my cell?”
“Uh, no,” Jessica said, not bothering to make up an excuse.
I whispered to her, “Even runaways would have a cell phone. Next time tell him you’re meeting a friend there.” I could imagine her give a tiny nod though we couldn’t see.
Richard Rogers dropped Jessica off at the Flying J and headed on. After checking to make sure she wasn’t spotted making the switch, she started walking in the opposite direction from where they came. No killer would pick her up at the truck stop when it was still light out, the possibility of witnesses. But they might follow her from here. As she walked we talked a bit.
“Hey Rookie, did you by any chance notice that kid was wearing a short-sleeved white shirt and thin black tie?” I asked
“They always ride bicycles, so fuck you, Coach,” she said mildly, in a companionable way. I could feel her smile echoing mine. She was into this as much as I was when I was her age. I knew then she was going to be good.
We alerted again when she got picked up by a nice-looking older male (for Jessica that would have been somewhere in his late forties). He came on to her but didn’t make threats or try anything rough. “Too obvious. Let him go,” I said. She asked to get out on the side of the road. He didn’t slow down. I felt the nerve spark in the side of my neck. Breathing in the van stopped. He offered her a beer.
We heard her say, “I shouldn’t. I’m only fourteen.”
We heard the car stop and a door open and shut, then the car start up again. Jessica yawned loudly.
“Are we boring you?” I asked.
“Nah, I’m just getting warm. It’s a warm night, isn’t it?”
None of us answered, wondering whether it was warmer inside or outside the van. She sounded like it didn’t matter if we answered her; she was talking more to herself. “It’s kind of nice knowing you’re all there even though I’m totally in control. Sort of like being a stunt double with a safety harness.” She walked a bit more. “I don’t think he’s out here,” she said.
“Oh, he’s out there,” I said. “You ever see the movie Jaws?”
Back over the wire we all heard, “Na, na. Na, na. Na-na-na-na-na…”
Tony and Yves both laughed again. Jessica said, “How young do you think I am, Coach?”
“Just a slip of a girl,” I said, and stretched, thinking of getting back to the hotel and pressing a cold scotch on the knot on my back. “We should pack it in for the evening. Gets any later and anyone will be suspicious of a young girl in the middle of nowhere.”
“Want to pick me up? Wait, so you don’t have to make a big swing maybe I can do one more ride to the truck stop at the other end.”
“We can come and get you, no problem.” I gave Tony a nudge to get his attention so he’d shut down the surveillance equipment.
Before Tony could snap the button that would shut down the radio Jessica said, “Woman slowing down. Gonna get another dose of religion, I bet.”
“Send her on her way. We’ll come get you.”
We heard a door open and Jessica whispering, “She’s got AC.”
We were tired, we were fooling around, we were getting punchy, we were letting our guard down—maybe ten excuses would serve to explain what happened next.
I held up a finger to stop Tony from shutting off the radio and said to Jess, “You are so bullheaded. Okay, when you get to the truck stop get out but walk a little more east so you’re out from under the lights when we pick you up.”
“Ten-four, Coach,” in the same whisper as before.
“Over and out.”
We both chuckled at the cop speak and I took off my headphones. Yves put the van in gear and bumped us out of the patch of hard sand onto the highway. He took his