Lipstick On A Pig

Chapter 17

As I got into the car and started the engine, I realized just how exhausted I was. I figured I could stop by the Indian food place on the way back and grab some dinner for the three of us; I knew Bee would be upset that I didn’t pick Japanese, but since she had gotten to spend the whole day wreaking havoc with Buster, she was just going to have to deal with it.

I started back on the country road that led from Wawnee to Willow Bay. After spending the warm afternoon outside, I cranked the air conditioning, turned on the radio and found the Variety channel blasting out Hips Don’t Lie by Shakira.

Singing along to Shakira—badly, I might add—I didn’t even notice the car with its headlights on pulling up behind me. When I eventually saw it in my rear view, it was driving behind me. Great. Small town country roads always had people trying to drive way too fast on them; after all, they were generally pretty straight, rarely ever had any traffic, and the cops preferred to catch people headed toward the Interstate, where they were more likely to catch people breaking the law by sheer virtue of the number of cars on the road.

I motioned for the car behind me to overtake me as I pulled over slightly further toward the side of the road.

“Come on,” I said as Shakira belted out the chorus. The car was refusing to pass, though. It was right on my bumper, and there was obviously nothing coming the other way. I could see for a good mile or so, and there were no cars in the oncoming traffic lane.

“Are you dumb, or just blind?” I started muttering to the idiot behind the wheel of the other car. So I have a bit of road rage sometimes. But not only did he have his high beams on in the middle of the day, but he was starting to annoy me.

I decided I didn’t want him on my bumper anymore, so I pressed my foot on the gas and Sophie’s old clanger of a car burst to life, speeding away. When I looked in my mirror, though, that same car was still right behind me.

Ok, now I was worried. I didn’t know what this car wanted, but I didn’t like it. Looking in the rear view, I could tell it was a sedan, and it was dark, but that was it. The lights were blocking me from being able to tell anything else.

My heart began to pound. My parents had been killed in a car accident, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get that idea out of my brain. I tried to force myself to concentrate on the road. I was ten miles from Willow Bay. If I could just get through to the city limits I could get off this road, and drive straight to the police station, or something.

I pulled ahead once more, refusing to look at the odometer. I wasn’t a big fan of speeding. For the first time in my life, I found myself wishing Sophie was driving instead of me; for all the crap I gave her about driving too quickly, she could definitely handle herself in the car at high speeds. I wasn’t sure I could.

Suddenly, the car pulled out from behind me.

Oh, good, he’s just passing me after all. Maybe he just sucks at driving, I thought to myself. I looked over at the driver and only saw the vague outline of a person wearing a hoodie with the hood up, the rim of a baseball cap jutting out from underneath it.

The next thing I knew, there was a sickening thud and the steering wheel in my hand jerked to the right. I let out a scream as I wrenched the wheel back, trying to get the car back onto the road. Whoever was in that car was trying to kill me!

I saw the car swerve toward me again, and this time, I slammed on the brakes. Instead of hitting me side on, my car’s deceleration led to the other car simply getting the front of mine. My car spun in circles, and I could feel it heading off the road.

Please don’t let me die like this, I thought to myself, squeezing my eyes shut.

There was a loud crunch, and then nothing. I sat there, motionless, for what felt like five minutes. No one was coming. That meant whoever was in the car that had driven me off the road was gone. That was something, at least.

Finally, I gathered the courage to open my eyes. I was looking directly at the trunk of a tree that the front of Sophie’s car had bashed into.

“No fighting, no fighting,” the radio still blasted out as the song ended. I jammed my finger onto the power buttoned and turned the radio off. There was silence everywhere. I couldn’t even hear myself breathe; a moment later I realized it was because I wasn’t breathing. Forcing myself to let out a breath, I started to slowly move my legs. They still worked; that was good. So did my arms. And my neck. It seemed that I was mostly fine.

Reaching over to my purse, I saw it had fallen to the floor in the collision. I reached down and grabbed my phone and dialled Sophie’s number.

“I was about to get lucky, and you ruined it,” Sophie said into the phone as soon as she picked up. Despite myself, I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Sorry,” was the only answer I could muster.

“Are you ok?” Sophie suddenly asked, concerned. “You sound weird.”

“Um, I was just kind of in a bit of an accident.”

“Oh my God! Are you ok? Where are you?”

“I’m ok. I think I’m ok. I can move everything, but I think your car is probably a goner.”

“Where are you? Taylor and I are coming to get you right now.” I could hear some rustling in the background, like Sophie was getting up from wherever she was sitting.

“I’m uh… I don’t really know. I’m on the road between Willow Bay and Wawnee, somewhere. On the side. Like maybe nine miles out from Willow Bay?”

“Are you trapped, or can you get out of the car?”

“I honestly don’t know.”

“Ok, well don’t hang up. Taylor is driving. I’m staying on the line with you until we get there. Can you try to open the door?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I can try,” I said, Sophie’s commands soothing my nerves. She was giving me something to do. I reached over to the door handle and pushed, but nothing happened. “Hold on,” I said. “I need to put the phone down to try and give this a bigger push.”

With the full weight of both arms, I managed to pry the door open.

“Ok, I have the door open.”

“Now, are you sure you’re able to get out of the car?” Sophie asked.

“I think so.”

“Try it, but if you feel any pain whatsoever, I want you to stop immediately. Got it?”

“I got it,” I replied, gingerly moving my legs out from under the steering wheel and onto the grass. There was no pain, but as soon as I got up my head began to spin somewhat.

“Sophie?”

“Yes?”

“Everything is spinning.”

“Sit down,” Sophie ordered, and I did as she asked, the sharp grass biting through the thin layer of my black pants as I sat on the ground. “Are you sitting?”

“Yes.”

“Now, I want you to look around. Where are you?”

I slowly began to take in my surroundings. The car had fallen down a short embankment, about four feet lower than the street level. The car had hit a tree, but it was just a small birch. All in all, I had actually been pretty lucky. I described the scene to Sophie.

“Can you climb up the embankment so we can see you when we come past?”

“I think so.”

“Good. Do that,” Sophie ordered. I crawled up the embankment slowly; my head felt like it was on fire. When I was there, I told Sophie I’d done it.

“Good. Now don’t move. Tell me what happened, we’ll be there in a couple of minutes.”

About five minutes later I’d told Sophie everything that had happened with the car that had run me off the road. Taylor called Chief Gary, who came and took my statement himself.

“You should really go to the hospital,” Chief Gary told me for the tenth time since taking my statement.

“I’m fine. I’ll go home and rest, and if I feel like I have a concussion tomorrow I’ll go see the doctor.”

“Fine, but I will be calling you tomorrow to make sure you’re really all right,” Chief Gary warned me. “And I’ll be asking Charlotte for her opinion, as well.”

“I’m the older sister, you’re supposed to be taking my word over hers.”

“She’s the one who’s trained to be a doctor.”

“So am I!”

“On humans,” Chief Gary replied, giving me a pointed look.

“Close enough,” I muttered in reply. “Fine. I’ll check in tomorrow,” I finally added. “Taylor can drive Sophie and I home. I’ll get Charlotte to pick up Bee.”

I texted my sister quickly asking her to get my cat while Sophie came over.

“Did you convince her to go to the hospital?” she asked Chief Gary, and he gave her a wry smile.

“What do you think? We’ve compromised. I’ll check in tomorrow and see how she’s feeling; if there are any problems then Angela has agreed to go see the doctor.”

“Good. If she keeps getting into trouble we’ll finally have enough reason to build a hospital in Willow Bay.”

“I know you’re joking, but I don’t like this at all,” Chief Gary replied. “From what Angela has told me it sounds like someone tried to purposely run her off the road. She’s extremely lucky to just come out of this with a small concussion.”

I shifted uncomfortably in place. I didn’t really like to think about what could have happened.

“What I want to know is why someone would go after Angela.” Sophie and I glanced at each other. “The two of you aren’t getting in too deep on the Jessica Oliver murder, are you?” Chief Gary continued, his eyes narrowing.

“What? No, of course not,” Sophie replied in a voice that was a half octave too high to be completely believable. “We have no reason to be involved in a murder case.”

“Good. Make sure it stays that way. I want to find the person who did this to Angela. If you think of anyone who might have wanted to do this to you, please let me know. I mean it. I don’t even care if you have been investigating the murder, I just don’t want you hurt worse than you already are.”

I nodded mutely. I knew what Chief Gary was telling me, but I couldn’t admit to him that we had been investigating the murder separately. I just couldn’t.

“Take care of yourself, Angela. I’ll check in with you tomorrow.”

He gave me an awkward pat on the shoulder then headed off to speak with one of his other officers. I glanced over at Sophie.

“I just want to go home,” I told her quietly, and she nodded, leading me back to Taylor’s truck. Five minutes later Taylor was driving us back home.

“I’ll bring you guys over some food,” he told us. “You’re a vegetarian, right Angela?” he asked, looking at me through the rear view.

“Yeah,” I offered. “Thanks.”