Page 32 of Dark Roads

He took a deep breath. “They found your bike.”

“But I hid it!” My stomach muscles clenched. What else had they found?

“A road crew was fixing the bridge and one of the surveyors was walking the river to take photos of it from a distance or something.”

I could imagine it, every terrible, unlucky moment of it. The worker probably stopped to eat his sandwich, or to take a leak. He saw the glimmer of metal and kicked off the branches.

“Are they searching the woods?”

“Yeah. They found your cell in the creek too. Everyone thinks you were abducted.”

“They think someonetookme?”

“That’s the rumor. Because of the highway killer.”

I pressed my hands to my head, as if that could stop the tornado of panic that was hurling my thoughts around. “If they find my tracks…” It had been a couple weeks. Too long, I hoped.

“There was a sniffer dog, but he didn’t find anything. Some people are going out by themselves on the weekends. Me and the guys have done a few searches. It feels shitty to lie to them.”

“I didn’t want people to think I was murdered!” I thought of Lana and Cash, how upset they must be. Cash was just akid. “Did you talk to Amber?”

“I told her that you were okay. She thinks you went north. Vaughn questioned her but she told him that she’d rather eat grease straight from the deep fryer than talk to him.”

“Holy shit. Why is she antagonizing him?”

“She’s angry you had to leave. She told him that if anything bad happened to you, it was his fault for being so controlling and that he should take meditation classes.”

I stared at him openmouthed. “He is going tofreak.”

“He’s got a lot going on. There have been vigils, your poster is all over town, and you’re on the news. The highway is all anyone talks about now. Girls are scared to be alone.”

“Did he question you?”

“Thompson interviewed everyone at the party, so I’m in the clear, but Vaughn’s been following me around. I don’t even go one mile over the speed limit.” He watched Wolf as he dug at a section of log. “Cooper was talking about a dog at the search. I thought he meant the puppy, but he was telling one of the cattle ranchers that he’d had a stray turn up and then disappear.”

“What does Cooper care?”

“He said he was really smart, and if he showed up at any of the other farms, he wanted him back.” Jonny must have seen the jolt of fear cross my face, because he added, “That’s good news. He’s a stray, so when this is all over you can say the dog followed you.”

“How is this all going to be over? I can’t just walk out of the bushes now.”

“I’ve been thinking about it. You can say you got away from the killer. You never saw his face—or you can make up a description. It’s not too late.”

“It’swaytoo late, Jonny. They’d never believe that.”

“Then what are you going to do?”

“Stick with the plan. Maybe it’s better that Vaughn thinks I’m dead.”

“How will you get your money?”

“I’ll figure it out when I’m eighteen. It’s not my fault if they think I was abducted. I ran away, hitchhiked north or something. I didn’t read the news.”

Jonny gave me a skeptical look.

“I’mnotcoming back now. Even if it means I get in trouble.You don’t know what it’s like to sit at the table with a man who has taken photos of younaked.”

Jonny rubbed his hair and made a frustrated sound. “I hate him so much. I hope he gets busted one day. He’ll get his ass kicked in jail.”