Read Online Wicked Lies by Lisa Jackson, Nancy Bush - Free Book Online

bumping along as the vehicle’s shocks were shot, too. Justice was counting off the seconds in his head. How long before the sheriff’s department started circling back? They had to realize which way he’d traveled after he turned out of Halo Valley’s long drive to the two-lane highway that connected the Willamette Valley to the coast. He knew he had only a small window of time in which to disappear. He would have headed east, toward Salem, if he’d known the area better, but Justice was most familiar with the ins and outs of the Oregon coastline. The land was rugged here, steep, craggy cliffs rising above the pounding surf. Hundreds of acres of old-growth timber. Hidden coves that the Pacific had carved at the shoreline.
    Lots of places to hide.
    And, more importantly, that was where she was.
    As they traveled, he sensed the change . . . the slight shifting of the world . . . the moment when he slid inside himself and let his senses take over, the slipping of this outer skin to open to his true self.
    There are many of them. So many.
    “You cannot kill them all,” the old woman warned me, and I nearly strangled the life from her right then for not believing in me!
    “I can. I will,” I told her.
    “God will save them. . . .”
    But they do not listen to God. Their master is from the dark realm of hell. Satan is their soul mate. Their lover. Father to their children. Father to them!
    I cannot wait to do God’s bidding and fulfill my mission in this world.
    First, there are those outside of the walls. One is nearby . . . and near to the old woman as well, who has survived against all odds. It is my duty to end her torment. Dear, dear, mother.
    “Hey, man.” Cosmo’s voice sounded liquid and wavy. From a long distance away.
    Justice opened his eyes and saw lights ahead as they approached the town of Tillamook. He felt the uneven roll of the Vanagon’s wheels, smelled the familiar scent of cattle from the surrounding dairy farms. Located on the south end of Tillamook Bay, the town was actually inland from the ocean. Still, he was closer, felt more alive, his nerve endings snapping.
    “You took a nap, but like with your eyes open. Creepy.” Cosmo glanced his way and grinned.
    Justice was glad for the dope, which had obviously slowed down Cosmo’s perception.
    “We made it,” Cosmo added. “But I think the tire’s really shot now. I’m gonna have to hit some kind of service station. God, maybe I should call the old lady. It’s kind of a pisser.”
    “Don’t call her.”
    Cosmo turned the Vanagon south onto Highway 101, the road that ran straight through Tillamook’s gut. Though Justice wanted to head north, he wasn’t quite ready yet.
    “Man, are you giving me relationship advice?” Cosmo turned his way again, his Lennon glasses winking in the streetlights.
    Justice thought a moment, his skin tingling as he mentally slipped it back on over his naked soul. His camouflage. He already knew he was going to have to kill Cosmo and hide the body so that when his van was discovered, there would be no trace to Justice. Mentally, he ran over what he’d touched. The pump. The left rear tire. The passenger door handle, the toolbox, the hammer . . .
    “Keep going,” Justice said as Cosmo glanced toward a service station that looked half-deserted on the south end of town. Its bank of fluorescent lights flickered, and the red stripe painted on the extension over the pumps had dulled and chipped away.
    “We ain’t gonna make it much further,” Cosmo said, ignoring him.
    They pulled into the service station, and Cosmo rolled down his window under the weird, unsteady lights. After what seemed a millennium the teenager who seemed like the only one on duty stepped out of the office to look at them. “You gettin’ gas?” he yelled, his face screwing up as if he couldn’t see well.
    “Gotta patch a tire,” Cosmo yelled back.
    “Can’t help ya unless you want gas.”
    “Shit.”
    “Go on down the road,”