Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Keith had questions

Keith had questions, but he said little. Was Nicole still alive, Travis, when you drove through here? Or had you already taken her life? What were you thinking, Travis, when you drove through here nine years ago with that poor girl bound and gagged and bruised, traumatized after a long weekend of sexual assault?
They turned to the left, onto another road that was paved but narrower, and drove a mile before they passed a dwelling. "Old man Deweese had a store up here," Travis said. "I'll bet it's gone now. He was ninety years old when I was a kid." They stopped at a stop sign in front of Deweese's Country Market.
"I robbed that place once," Travis said. "Couldn't have been more than ten. Crawled through a window. Hated the old bastard. Keep going straight."
Keith did as he was told and said nothing,fake uggs.
"This was gravel last time I was here," Boyette said, as if recalling a pleasant boyhood memory.
"And when was that?" Keith asked.
"I don't know, Pastor. My last visit to see Nicole."
You sick puppy, Keith thought. The road had sharp turns, so sharp that at times Keith thought they would loop back and meet themselves. The two vans and the pickup stayed close behind. "Look for a little creek with a wooden bridge," Boyette said. "This looks right." A hundred yards past the bridge, Boyette said, "Slow down now."
"We're going ten miles an hour, Travis."
Travis was looking to their left, where thick underbrush and weeds lined the road. "There's a gravel road here, somewhere," he said. "Slower." The caravan was almost bumper-to-bumper.
In the van, Robbie said, "Come on, Travis, you sick little weasel. Don't make liars out of us."
Keith turned left onto a shaded gravel road with oaks and elms entangled above it. The trail was narrow and dark like a tunnel. "This is it,Moncler outlet online store," Boyette said, relieved, for the moment,fake montblanc pens. "This road sort of follows the creek for a while. There's a camping area down here on the right, or at least there was." Keith checked his odometer. They went 1.2 miles into the near darkness with the creek showing up occasionally. There was no traffic, no room for traffic, and no sign of human life anywhere in the vicinity,replica gucci handbags. The camping area was just an open space with room for a few tents and cars, and it appeared to have been forgotten. The weeds were knee-high. Two wooden picnic tables were broken and turned on their sides. "We camped here when I was a kid," Boyette said.
Keith almost felt sorry for him. He was trying to remember something pleasant and normal from his wretched childhood.
"I think we should stop here," Boyette said. "I'll explain."
The four vehicles stopped and everyone gathered in front of the Subaru. Boyette used his cane as a pointer and said, "There's a dirt trail that goes up that hill. You can't see the trail from here, but it's here, or it used to be. Only the truck can get up there. The other vehicles should stay here."
"How far up there?" Robbie asked.
"I didn't check the odometer, but I'd say a quarter of a mile."
"And what will we find when we get there, Boyette?" Robbie asked.

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