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She hops up and shakes her dress out. “I’m going back for my phone.”
“They could be waiting for you,” I say, with maximum disapproval. “The men in the truck.” Not because I believe it, but so she’ll listen to reason. There’s no point in putting ourselves unnecessarily at risk when we’re fine where we are. I refuse to leave the woods, while Ashley refuses to stay in them. When I tell her she can go alone, she calls my bluff, and that is how we end up making our way back toward the car.
Thankfully, when I reach the tree line just off the road, I spot a truck that has stopped. An older man climbs out of the cab and appears to be inspecting the scene. I watch as he walks to his pickup and radios for help. “I didn’t think people used radios for that anymore,” Ashley says, and I’ve never wanted to punch anyone in the throat more. This is not the first time I ask myself why I saved her, and it won’t be the last.
“Cell service hardly exists out here,” I tell her. “As we found out. Hence the radio.”
“Do you think it’s safe?” she asks with doe eyes.
“How should I know?” I have to admit at this point that I’m deliberately being difficult. I know the man, and I also know that his truck isn’t the dark green pickup that forced us off the road in the first place.
Ashley starts immediately bawling. This catches the attention of Rusty Chamberlain, the old farmer who has a place on the other side of Hillford. He stands there for a moment, taking us in as we make our way toward him. When we reach the car, he takes his hanky from his shirt and hands it to Ashley.
“Lord as my witness, I sure wasn’t expecting to see you tangled up in this, Ruthie Channing.”
Mr. Chamberlin went to school with my parents. That puts him in his seventies. He walks hunched over, and he’s thinner than he was just six months ago, but he’s sharper than ever. He’s also one of the few people that I still allow to call me Ruthie.
“That’s funny. Because I sure as hell wasn’t expecting it either,” I say, wiping sweat from my brow with the back of my hand. “I appreciate you stopping.”
“It’s no trouble at all.” He glances toward my car and nods. “Did you get any off on him?”
“No. Sadly.”
He looks at me like he’s almost ashamed. All I can do is shrug in response. “This isn’t an action movie, Mr. Chamberlin.” I motion with my thumb toward Ashley. “Plus, city girl here was hy
perventilating as it was. That certainly would have put her over the edge.”
“I see.” He says like he doesn’t see. Mr. Chamberlin was not born in a generation that sits and waits for the police to come and clean up the mess. Out here, in the middle of nowhere, he’d be waiting a long time. “Well, I know for sure your daddy taught you to be a good shot.”
“Driving and shooting is a little different.”
“Just takes a little practice,” he tells me, opening the truck door. “What are you thinking? One of those road rage things or something else?”
“Oh, definitely something else.”
Mr. Chamberlin wags a finger at me. “I was just testing you, Ruthie Channing. Honesty’s always the best policy, isn’t it?”
I don’t answer, mostly because I’m watching the road. That, and I’m not sure I agree. I’d hate to lie to Mr. Chamberlin.
“I radioed Roy,” he says. “He can get you towed in. I’d do it myself, but I’ve got an issue with a mare that needs tending to.”
“Is Dr. Erichs coming out?”
“I don’t know. We’ll just have to see.” He looks at my car and then back at me and furrows his brow. “Any idea who it was that did this?”
I shake my head. “I didn’t recognize the truck.”
“Didn’t get the plates? Assuming there were plates.”
Again, I shake my head.
“I see.”
“I wish I knew who it was,” I tell him, which is a half-truth. I don’t know for sure, but I have a damn good idea.
“Oh, well. I have a feeling you’ll find out soon enough.”
Nothing further is said because Roy arrives then with his lights flashing and his siren blaring. He asks all the same questions Mr. Chamberlin already has, plus a few more. Roy calls out for a tow truck and then he drives us into Hillford, where Davis is set to meet us. I’m grateful he offers. I can skip the rest of the errands, but not the hardware store.
