Page 75 of The Other Lady Vanishes

His hand tightened around her arm but he didn’t propel her toward the speedster. Instead he drew her in the opposite direction, deeper into the shadows, well out of range of the convertible’s headlights.

The rumble of the approaching car was louder now. Adelaide watched as it turned off the farm road and pulled into the gas station. A dark-colored sedan rolled slowly toward Jake’s vehicle.

Jake drew her a few more feet into the dense darkness, halted, and put his mouth close to her ear.

“Don’t move,” he said. “Don’t say a word.”

She went very still beside him. She could not see the figure behind the wheel of the other car but she saw what appeared to be the flame of a cigarette lighter. Something sparked and caught fire.

Not a cigarette, Adelaide realized.

The shadowy figure behind the wheel of the sedan tossed what appeared to be a stick out the window. The flaming object was attached to it by a string or a cord.

There was a softthunkwhen the stick landed on the concrete and rolled under the speedster.

The sedan roared out of the gas station, tires shrieking.

Jake moved suddenly, pushing Adelaide against the side of the building. He crowded in close, crushing her against the wall.

She heard a muffledoomph. An instant later the explosion ripped apart the night. Glass shattered.

For a few seconds, Jake did not move. Finally he stepped back, freeing Adelaide. She realized he had been shielding her. They both turned to look at the convertible.

At first Adelaide could not see anything. The vehicle’s headlights had been knocked out by the force of the blast. The engine had stopped.

An unnatural silence descended. It did not last long.

The fire roared out of the guts of the speedster. The wildly flaring light revealed the broken hulk of the car. Adelaide gazed at the scene in disbelief and then turned to Jake. The flames glinted on the gun in his hand. Until that moment she had not realized that he had taken the pistol out of the holster.

“Dynamite?” she whispered.

“Why not?” Jake said. His voice was flat and grim. “Very handy stuff. You can get it anywhere, especially in rural communities like this one. Farmers use it to clear fields.”

“Whoever threw that stick of dynamite under your car must have assumed that we were—” She broke off. She did not want to finish the sentence.

“Yes,” Jake said. “The lights were on and the engine was running. The driver of the sedan assumed that we were still in the car.”

Chapter 36

“Car broke down, eh?” The grizzled proprietor of the auto court peered at Jake over a pair of spectacles. “Bad night to end up hitchhiking. Not surprised no one stopped to pick you up. Only a fool would be out driving in this pea soup.”

He’d introduced himself as Burt and he had seemed pleased to see a couple of customers walk through the door.

“Have you got a cabin for us?” Jake asked.

“Well, now, let me take a look,” Burt said. He lounged against the counter and gave Jake a knowing wink. “We’re a mite busy tonight, what with the fog and all.”

Jake took out his wallet. “I understand.”

He put a couple of bills down on the counter.

He sounded remarkably patient, Adelaide thought. Too patient. She’d had it with the disasters of the day. She was exhausted from the damp, miserable trek along the deserted highway. On top of that, she was struggling to cope with the fact that someone had tried to murder them with a stick of dynamite. She was very short on patience.

She gave Burt a fierce look. “When we arrived a few minutes ago, we noticed that one of the cabins is empty. There’s no car parked in front and no lights on in the windows. Also, I can see a key hanging on the wall behind you. Looks like it goes to number six.”

“Yep, you’re in luck.” Burt chuckled, scooped the money off the counter, and turned around to reach for the key. “Number six is available. Say, did you two hear a loud boom about an hour or so ago?”

“Yeah,” Jake said. “Figured it was a car crash but we didn’t pass any wreckage.”