“Shut up!” Rena screamed. She was losing it. Maybe she had already lost it. Maybe she would just kill Avery with the gun she had in her hand as soon as they got to Privett Road.
She had to figure a way out of this.
“Just drive,” Rena said, marginally calmer. “Drive. Nothing stupid, because if you get us stuck, we’ll be able to get out, but you won’t.”
Avery believed her. She slowed down as standing water rushed over the gravel road. They could be caught in a flash flood and Avery would be dead. They rolled through it, water splashing up on both sides like a ride at an amusement park.
But there was nothing fun about this.
Rena hadn’t told her which way to go on Orchard, so she’d gone left, away from her house because she suspected that Bobby would have headed home, and Avery didn’t want them to come across him in the rain. She didn’t want her brother in any more danger than he already was. Plus, while their house wasn’t visible from the road, their driveway was wide with a wooden archway that proclaimedWhisper Creek Ranch, Est. 1898. Avery didn’t want Rena to see it and think that they could hole up there. Not with her great- grandmother and family inside.
Then, at the county road that intersected Orchard, she turned right because that was toward town, toward civilization. They’d first pass Greg Baldwin’s place, then they’d go through the heart of Verdacorp land. Maybe someone would see her driving the Mendozas’ truck and become suspicious. Maybe Gianna had already gotten out of her zip ties and called Sheriff Perez.
Maybe.
Maybe she was already dead.
Rena nodded. “Good, good. Keep it steady. Don’t get cute.”
“I’m not,” Avery said, her voice dry, raw. Her heart hammered as she slowly sped up now that they’d passed through the low spot on the road. “I’m just trying not to crash.” The truck hit a deep divot in the muddy gravel road and Sam grunted from the backseat.
“Be careful!” Rena screamed.
“I am!” Avery yelled back.
She risked glancing in the rearview mirror. Sam’s head was slumped against the window, his face a mask of pain. He looked over to his sister. “I’m okay, Rena.”
He kept saying that, but Avery knew he was anything but okay.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to take him to the hospital?”
Rena hit her in the head with the gun and Avery saw stars. She swerved and almost drove them into the water-logged ditch. Rena grabbed the wheel and jerked them back onto the road.
“Just take us to Privett Road and I’ll tell you where to go from there.”
Rena didn’t know where Privett Road was, maybe Avery could trick her, drive all the way to…
“Stop!”
Avery slammed on the brakes. The truck skidded over the waterlogged dirt road and nearly rolled into the ditch. Her heart pounded hard in her chest.
This was it. Rena was going to push her out of the truck and shoot her in the back.
Rena was looking at her phone. “Turn right in a half mile. That will lead us to Privett Road, then we’re going to turn right.”
They were going in a giant circle. Did Rena know that? There were only two houses on Privett before they reached Orchard Lane again. The Coulters on the east, and the Sudduths on the west.
Avery pressed the gas, but the truck didn’t move. They were stuck in the mud like it was glue.
“What the hell?” Rena said.
Tears burned behind Avery’s eyes. “We’re stuck.”
“The truck has four-wheel drive. Use it!”
Avery took her hands off the wheel, showing Rena that she couldn’t reach the gear shift.
Rena scowled, then put the truck in four-wheel drive. Avery gently pressed the gas. Nothing happened at first, the engine roaring over the sound of the storm. After the tires spun for a half minute, they finally gained traction and they were moving again. She pulled out of the muck and drove slowly down the road.
