Desert Exposure Read Free

kind of don’t want him to get into trouble.”
    “What happened?”
    Rachel filled her in on the holdup, the camera, the chase. “At least, I think I’m being chased. I called you in case the man catches up with me, and…”
    “Dave is on his way. You’ll be fine. Stay with me, keep talking. Why had the nasty man wanted the camera over money and credit cards? It doesn’t make any sense to me.”
    “I know,” Rachel said, and glanced in the mirror. “Me neither. Maybe I photographed something illegal. I got all choked up, kind of crying a bit. I don’t know what the hell I photographed.” She wished Jack had been at home. He was a former DEA agent turned PI. He knew all about the weirdos and the druggos of the world.
    “Aw, honey. I’m so sorry. First your grandpa goes missing, and now this?”
    “I know…strange, huh? Maybe the guy intended to get the camera, and then kill me. You know, leave no witness. No evidence.”
    “Stop it,” Debbie said. “That’s crazy talk. There has to be a better explanation. Let me think this through, and I promise I’ll talk with Jack the minute he gets home. Tell me, had you seen the guy earlier? Or ever seen him around town, or perhaps in your bar?”
    “No. He’s never been to Cliffs. You know how I am with faces. And I was alone on the beach today.”
    “Do you have a description?”
    “Late thirties. Latino, light-skinned, and I think light eyes. Maybe about five nine, stocky build. Light brown hair I think, but he wore a knit cap.”
    Rachel knew Debbie would be taking notes. Jack had trained her well, and even though she didn’t technically work for the firm of Cabrera and Fischer, being married to a PI had rubbed off on her. Rachel looked into the mirror again. Nothing .
    She eased off the accelerator. “I’d been there since five.”
    “Why on earth?”
    “The white pelicans.” Rachel swallowed hard. “We expected them to arrive this week.”
    She supposed it had been dumb, not telling anyone of her plans. But she’d been going to the Sea since she was five years old, and more than enough times had stayed there alone. Hell, she’d slept in Grandpa’s cabin with the doors unlocked and the windows open. He’d never been afraid of anything or anyone. And while he knew a lot of sketchy characters who drifted in and out of the area, everyone knew and respected him.
    “Grandpa and I had chosen a date when we thought the pelican’s would arrive,” Rachel continued, and her throat tightened. “I wanted…I wanted to honor—”
    “Oh, honey,” Debbie said. “I’m so sorry.”
    Rachel’s eyes stung from the soft sympathetic tone in Debbie’s voice. Damn it. She couldn’t cry now . She rapidly blinked her eyes, took in a deep breath and blew it out. The traffic light ahead turned yellow, she floored the truck and dashed through. The horn from a nearby SUV blared at her rudeness.
    “Rachel? Are you okay?” Debbie asked.
    “Yeah, I’m fine. I had to focus on the road for a bit.”
    “Stay with me. Stay on the line until Stanton gets there, okay?”
    Deb never chastised her, or advised. And Rachel knew how tough it must have been through the years, with her always getting into some scrape or another. She wasn’t called Rabble-Rousing Rachel for nothing; the nickname was given to her, somewhat affectionately, by Dave and Debbie and the now mayor of Rancho Almagro, back in their elementary school days.
    She took a quick look in the rearview mirror. A chill ran up her spine, and she squinted hard but couldn’t make out the color, or the vehicle, only the glint of sun on the windshield. She heard the wail of a police car siren close by, and another somewhere north of her.
    “Oh, dear God,” she whispered, and floored the truck.
    “What?” Debbie asked loudly.
    “Hummer’s gaining on me, but I can hear the cop sirens. Got to go, need both hands.”
    She tossed the cell phone onto the seat, slowed the truck, stretched toward the glove