Read Online Peak Road - A Short Thriller (Jon Stanton Mysteries Book 10) by Victor Methos - Free Book Online

bed, trying to alleviate the pain radiating from the side of my body. “I think we need to pay Jennifer another visit.”
     
     
    I resisted going to the hospital that night and barely slept. The next morning, I went back to Jennifer’s house, and I had Mickey wait for me outside. He tried to insist that he take me to a hospital, but I wouldn’t go. I had felt fractured ribs before, and mine were merely bruised now. Doctors couldn’t do anything for bruised ribs.
    It was early but not early enough that Jennifer would be asleep. I knocked on her door and took a step back. Seconds later, she opened the door.
    “Hi,” she said, a grin on her face. She wasn’t concerned, which meant she thought my visit was a social call.
    “Can we talk?”
    “Sure. You wanna come in?”
    “How about we go for a walk?”
    “Lemme get my shoes.”
    I waited on the porch and looked out at the car. Mickey had his head leaned back against the seat. He had been the best investigator I’d ever met, full of boundless optimism that somehow, the good guys would always win. That had been ten years ago, though. Now, he looked like a tired old man. Instead of his usual energy, I had the sense that everything was a sheer act of will. Suddenly, I felt bad for him in a way I hadn’t before.
    I’d never really considered that I would be attending his funeral one day. Even when he’d told me of his HIV diagnosis, I’d known that thanks to modern drugs, people could live meaningful, productive lives for decades. His imminent death just hadn’t hit home. But seeing him now, wearing the fatigue as clearly as a heavy coat, I felt the reality set in. I didn’t have many friends, and losing even one would be a real loss.
    “You ready?” Jennifer asked, shutting the door behind her.
    We strolled along the sidewalk. I don’t know why I’d said we should go for a walk because every step sent a sharp, shooting pain up my side. I ignored it. The sunlight came through the trees in fragments and lit our path, but huge swaths of sidewalk remained covered in shadow from the massive trees lining the street. Jennifer had her hands in the pockets of her jacket.
    “I looked up some pictures of Hawaii,” she said. “I can’t stop thinking about it since you told me all that stuff. I told my mama I’m gonna move there one day.”
    “You should. I usually think running away doesn’t solve anything. That your problems just follow you. But I think I ran away there.”
    “Are you happy?”
    “I don’t know. I’m not miserable. Maybe that’s good enough?”
    She grinned and reached out to take my hand. “You seem sad. Not like you’re sad now, but like you’ve always been sad. Like you have some secret that makes you like that.”
    I wanted to let go of her hand. She was only nineteen. But somehow, I suspected she needed it more than I did, so I didn’t withdraw.
    “Is your mother on her own?” I asked.
    She nodded. “Yeah. My daddy ran out on us when I was born. I’ve never even seen him. He called my mom once, like five years ago. I think he asked for money, but he didn’t want to talk to me, so I don’t know.”
    I stayed silent as we turned a corner into a new neighborhood. A few cars were on the road now, and country music played through outdoor speakers at a convenience store. A person I guessed was the cashier sat on an empty plastic carton, smoking.
    “Jennifer, I need to ask you something really important: did you tell anyone that we talked?”
    “No.”
    “You didn’t tell anyone that we were here looking into the death of the Noels?”
    She shook her head. “No. Why would I?”
    “What about your mom?”
    “No, I don’t think so. She don’t really talk to no one. I can ask her if you want.”
    “Please do.”
    She was silent for a second. “Why?”
    “He knows we’re here looking for him. Someone we talked to must’ve told someone else, and it eventually got back to him. He’s here, in the town.”
    She stared down at