Body Rides Read Free Page B

signs.’
    ‘Like his pulse?’
    ‘Yeah.’
    ‘I’d have to touch him.’ Quickly, he added, ‘Anyway, I don’t think it’s necessary. He isn’t moving. I don’t hear any breathing, either. I’m pretty sure he’s dead. I mean, I shot him in the head.’
    For a few moments, Elise was silent. Then she said, ‘You’re going to check his pockets, aren’t you?’
    ‘What for?’
    ‘Maybe he has a pocket knife or something.’
    ‘I think the pliers’ll work fine.’ Keeping his pistol aimed at the body, he reached for the pliers with his left hand. He watched the man’s gloved hand. He half expected it to make a grab for him. But it didn’t move. He picked up the pliers and hurried away. After a few steps, he glanced back.
    ‘He isn’t coming,’ Elise said.
    ‘I know.’
    The pliers in his hand felt contaminated. As if they’d been soiled by all the suffering they’d caused, and might pass the filth to him.
    He imagined himself suddenly clamping their jaws on Elise’s nipple, squeezing hard, making her scream.
    The fantasy sickened him.
    Possessed pliers.
    They’re just a tool, he told himself.
    Like my gun.
    Stopping by Elise’s side, he clamped the pliers under one arm and decocked his pistol. Then he dropped the pistol into his right front pocket. He took the pliers in his right hand.
    ‘Watch out with those, okay?’ Elise said.
    ‘Don’t worry.’
    ‘They can really hurt.’
    ‘I bet.’ Left hand holding her above the wrist, he caught a loop of the knot in the jaws of the pliers and tugged.
    And felt the hard knot soften.
    ‘It’s coming,’ he said.
    ‘Thank God.’
    ‘Keep an eye on him.’
    ‘I am.’
    Continuing to work on the knot, Neal said, ‘I mean, I know he’s dead, but . . . That’s what they always think, you know? In the movies? Like Halloween , that sort of thing. You always think the bad guy’s dead, and then he gets you. I know it’s just the movies, but . . .’
    ‘Sometimes life’s worse than the movies,’ Elise broke in.
    ‘Yeah. You can say that again.’
    ‘And sometimes it’s better.’
    ‘Think so?’
    ‘And it’s always stranger.’
    ‘Stranger?’
    ‘I think so. Yeah.’
    ‘Well,’ Neal said, ‘all this is sure awfully strange. Me just happening to come by at exactly the right time and saving you.’
    ‘A few minutes earlier couldn’t have hurt.’
    ‘Yeah. God. I sure wish . . .’
    ‘I was kidding,’ she said. ‘I mean, it would’ve been nice, but on the other hand, I might not’ve yelled just as you drove by. I wouldn’t exactly like to go back in time and give it another whirl. You might miss me altogether, and then where would I be?’
    ‘Good point,’ Neal agreed.
    ‘I’m not about to quibble about how it turned out. It’s like a miracle.’
    ‘Or a bunch of lucky accidents.’
    ‘I don’t believe in accidents,’ Elise said. ‘Everything happens for a reason.’
    ‘Well . . . I guess you weren’t meant to die tonight. And he was .’
    ‘And we were meant to meet.’
    He blushed. ‘Guess so.’ Then the last twist of rope yielded to the pliers. ‘There,’ he said.
    Elise sighed. Her wrist shoved against his hand, so he let go. She swung her arm forward, shaking the loose circle of rope off her hand. Then she stepped away from the tree. With a swing of her right arm, she whipped the rope out from behind it.
    She hunched over slightly, head down.
    Neal looked at her back and the curves of her buttocks and her slender legs.
    We were meant to meet .
    ‘Could you help me with this?’ she asked. Turning toward him, she held out her right hand. It was still bound with knotted rope.
    ‘Sure.’
    When he reached out, she took hold of his hand. She gripped it firmly while he used the pliers in his other hand to grab and rip at the knots. He tried to avoid staring at her body. He couldn’t help it, though. Sometimes, when he jerked hard with the pliers, her breasts joggled. He could see that happen, even with the bad