Read Online Deadly Nightshade by Cynthia Riggs - Free Book Online Page B

can do it now,” Elizabeth said. “I'll finish it tomorrow.” She opened the desk drawer and rummaged around for the bank bag, stuffed it full of bills from another drawer.
    “Wouldn't it be nice if he actually does bring us lobsters?” Victoria looked at her reflection in the window and patted her hair, turned her head to one side to examine her great nose.
    “I don't see how you do it.” Elizabeth looked in the bank bag and zipped it shut, locked it. She took a flashlight out of the top desk drawer, waited for Victoria to step out of the shack, then turned out the lights and pulled the door shut.
    They drove the short two blocks to the bank, past the Steamship Authority dock, at night only a suggestion of a structure that faded into the distant deep water to their left. Waves lapped softly on the deserted beach below the bluff. Some creature swam beneath the surface of the water, trailing a stream of phosphorescence. A line of white foam lingered where waves broke onto the dark shore. A lone night bird cried. The breeze blew in from the sea.
    Elizabeth parked in front of the closed bank, and Victoria watched as she unlocked the night deposit box, put in the bank bag, relocked the drawer, and got back into the car.
    “That was harbor revenue we haven't turned over to the town treasurer yet.” Elizabeth looked behind her and pulled out into the deserted street. “Domingo is determined to have every penny accounted for on the new computer forms, and he wants a receipt from the treasurer to prove he did.”
    The Flying Horses had closed for the night. They could hear laughter and shouts on Circuit Avenue, music coming out of the open doors of the Sand Bar on Pequot Avenue. The rest of the town was quiet.
    Elizabeth drove along the route they had followed earlier in the day, past the gingerbread houses, past the boats. No one sat on the porches now or walked along the bulkhead. No one sat in boat cockpits with feet up on transoms. They passed the Harbor House and the road to East Chop.
    Victoria looked in the side mirror. “There's a car behind us. It came out of the road next to the Harbor House.”
    “Can you make out what kind of car it is?” Elizabeth moved her head to one side. “The headlights are blinding me.”
    “It looks high, like a truck or a van.”
    “Wish they'd switch to low beam.” Elizabeth moved the mirror to cut the glare. “I hope they turn off before we get to the curve near the hospital.”
    The vehicle stayed close behind them. Elizabeth slowed at a wide place in the road, where it could pass them easily, and the vehicle dropped back.
    “I'm going to turn left onto the road that goes to the lobster hatchery, Gram.” Elizabeth switched on her left-turn signal. “See if I can shake him.”
    “He's turned on his left-turn signal, too,” Victoria said, looking into the side mirror.
    “Damn.” Elizabeth stepped harder on the accelerator.
    “Why don't we stop at Domingo's?” Victoria said. “We can pull into his drive and wait there, let him pass.”
    “Good idea.” Elizabeth moved her head so the lights behind them were not reflected into her eyes from the side mirror.
    She signaled a right turn onto Barnes Road, and the other driver did, too.
    “I suppose it's possible that he happens to be going the same way we are.” Elizabeth adjusted the mirror again.
    “Unlikely this time of night.” Victoria leaned forward to look into her side mirror again. “It's after midnight.”
    They halted at the stop sign by the fire station and the vehicle behind them stopped, too. No other cars were in sight.
    “We're almost at Domingo's,” Elizabeth said. “When I turn into his drive, see what kind of car it is, if you can.” She passed the boxy privet hedge in front of the de los Fuerzos's and made an abrupt turn, without signaling or braking until she'd turned into the drive. Brakes squealed on the vehicle behind them before it accelerated and sped into the night.
    “A Ford van,”