Slow Burn (7 page)

Morgantown, like everything in West Virginia, was built on a hill. I drove through the streets, going further and further uphill as I did. On each side of the street, the houses clung to the ground, and looked like they might tumble into each other like dominoes if the right person pushed.

I had to go up pretty high before I got where I was going.

I parked my car on the side of the street and walked up to the door. The lights were on inside. But then the lights were always on. Middle of the night was a great time to show up at this house. Afternoon? Not so much.

The door opened. A guy stood there. “Yeah.”

“Hey, Shane,” I said.

He seemed to be having trouble focusing on me. “Do I know you?”

“Yeah, it’s Leigh,” I said.

He shrugged. “Whatever. You here to see Benton?”

“Yep.”

He let me in.

Inside the house, it smelled like dog shit. Benton had about five dogs, all purebred beagles. But he neglected them something awful. He didn’t clean up after them. He yelled at them. He only fed them junk, and he did that irregularly. I felt really bad for them, but I didn’t dare say anything to Benton about it.

You don’t piss off your drug dealer if you can help it.

“Who is it?” came Benton’s voice.

I followed Shane into the living room. There was a big screen TV on one wall. Stacked beneath it were at least five different game consoles, every kind you can think of, all brand new.

Benton was lounging on a leather bean bag chair, holding a Playstation controller in his hand. He was shirtless, revealing his skinny arms and torso. He wore a backwards baseball cap. Several dogs lounged around his feet.

“It’s Leigh,” I said.

“Holy shit!” Benton dropped the controller and jumped to his feet. “I have been fucking waiting for you.”

The dogs all jumped to their feet, barking.

“Shut up,” screamed Benton.

The dogs quieted immediately. Tails between their legs, they slunk out of the room.

“That’s right,” said Benton, eyes wide, nodding. “That’s right, boys. You keep your mouths shut.”

Benton was always a little tweaky. He dealt crystal meth too, and I wasn’t sure that he didn’t dip into that a little too often. But he seemed a more hyper and strange than usual. He had lots of people he sold dope too. Why would he have been waiting for me?

“Well,” I said. “I’m here.”

He held his arms out. “Hells yes, you are.”

Did he think I was going to hug him? I was so not going to hug him. “Uh, I was just wondering about, um, some of the big C, you know? You got anything?”

He let his arms drop. “Yeah.” He dragged the word out to about four syllables, all the while bobbing his head. “Yeah, I can hook you up, girl. I can definitely hook you up. You know me. I’m good for it.”

What was going on with him? He never paid this much attention to me. Usually, I had to sit around for twenty minutes until he got to the next level of whatever video game he was playing.

He pointed at Shane. “Go get some product for the lady, why don’t you?”

Shane backed out of the living room.

Benton bounced on the balls of his feet. “So, Leigh, where did you say you were living these days, huh?”

I narrowed my eyes. Why was he asking me that? “I don’t think I did.” I didn’t tell random people my business. I was in hiding in Thomas. Benton didn’t need to know that I drove an hour and a half one way to buy coke. It was the easiest, most reliable place to get it. And I’d hoped that if anyone tracked me to Benton, they wouldn’t be able to tell where I lived.

“So where do you live?”

“Here in town,” I lied.

“What part?”

“On campus,” I said. I could be living on the WVU campus, couldn’t I?

“Oh,” he said. “Cool.”

I tried a smile. “Why do you care?”

His eyes got big, and he looked really uncomfortable. “Just making conversation.”

Shane came back with my “product.” I paid. I left.

I was pretty shaken up as I walked back to my car. I peered around in the darkness, expecting a guy in a black suit with sunglasses to jump out at me at any second.

I walked past hedges and porches. Past fences and flower gardens. I glanced over my shoulder every few seconds.

The first time I turned, I saw a stop sign behind me, out of the corner of my eye.

The second time, I saw a dog.

I was three feet from my car before I saw the man. I could barely see him because he was dressed in black, but I saw the white of his shirt.

I turned around and started running for my car, yanking open the driver’s side door.

I dug in my pocket for my keys.

They came out too fast, slipping through my fingers and landing on the pavement.

Shit.

I went down on my hands and knees, looking up to see how much the man had gained on me.

There was no one there.

What I had mistaken for an Op Wraith agent was a pile of garbage bags, three bags on top of each other. The middle bag was white.

I swore at it.

Then I picked up my keys, got in my car, and started it.

“Calm down, Leigh,” I whispered to myself. “You’re okay.” But my heart was beating in my chest, and I was feeling ready to jump out of my skin.

For two seconds, I contemplated doing a little bump.

“Don’t be an idiot, Leigh.”

“It’ll make me feel good,” I responded.

“No, it won’t. It’ll make you more nervous.”

Fuck. I was talking to myself. I was
answering
myself. I locked the car doors, and I pulled the car out. I had to go up to the next street to turn around. I leaned forward, peering anxiously through the windshield.

Same old Morgantown at night. There were some young people walking along the streets smoking cigarettes. There was a car ahead of me, going super slow.

“Kids smoking weed,” I murmured.

I checked my rearview mirror.

No one was behind me.

I wanted to pass the super slow car ahead of me, because I wanted to get out of here as soon as possible. But I couldn’t just pass on a residential street like this. I’d be breaking the law. If a cop saw, then I’d get in trouble, and I had drugs in the car.

I checked my rearview mirror.

There were no cops around.

Should I do it?

I couldn’t do it. I crept along behind the car for four or five blocks.

Man, they were really going slow. I should pass.

I checked my rearview mirror.

Headlights.

I screamed.

“No,” I whispered. “It’s okay. It’s just a car behind you. It’s not a cop car. It’s not an Operation Wraith car.”

I hoped, anyway.

In front of me, the slow pot-smoking car put on its blinker and turned right.

I sped up to a normal speed.

The car behind me sped up too.

I rocked back and forth, gripping the steering wheel as tight as I could. “Turn,” I begged the car. “Turn off.”

But then it was time for my turn. I turned onto Grafton Road. Now, I’d be okay.

The car behind me turned
too
.

Fuck. What were the odds?

I had to stay on this road for fifteen minutes. Surely the car would turn off soon.

I kept driving. I slowed down. If I went slow, the car would pass me, right?

It didn’t pass me. I slowed down further.

It slowed down too.

I drove that way for a long time, creeping along the road, my gaze flitting from the road to my rear view mirror. Certainly, they’d pass me soon. Or they’d turn off onto another road. They couldn’t keep following me forever.

Unless...

The car behind me was following me on purpose. I gulped.

Finally, I got close to my turn for 29. Now, I’d lose the car behind me. I’d realize how silly I’d been. It would all turn out just fine.

But when I got to the next turn, onto 29,
the freaking car behind me turned too.

Chapter Four

“Oh fuck,” I muttered. “Oh, fuck, fuck, fuck.” There was only one reason that Benton would ask those weird questions. Op Wraith had gotten to him. He must have called them after I left, and the car behind me must be Op Wraith agents. I just knew it.

Why had I ditched Griffin again? When had that ever seemed like a good idea?

Griffin!

I scrabbled to find my phone and turn it on.

I tried to dial, but I kept messing up. I was having a hard time driving with only one hand.

The phone rang.

I screamed.

It was Griffin. I picked up. “Griffin?”

“Where are you?”

“I’m leaving Morgantown. There’s a car following me.”

“Morgantown? Where the heck is...? Hold up, this car’s got GPS. I’ll program it in.”

“This car? How do you have a car? Did you steal it?”

“You ran off on me. What else was I supposed to do? Besides, I’m more borrowing it, really. I’m not going to keep it.”

“I’m sorry,” I said. I was close to tears. “I’m so sorry. I’m really—”

“Spare me, doll. Just tell me exactly where you are, please.”

“I...” I looked around in the darkness. “I’m on 29.”

“There aren’t any landmarks, cross streets?”

“This is West Virginia,” I said. “There are trees. And hills. And—”

“Okay, okay.”

“There’s a car following me, Griffin. I think it’s Operation Wraith.”

“Why would you think that?” he asked.

“Well, because when I went to see my dealer, he was asking all these questions.”

“You went to see a dealer? You ran off on me to go buy cocaine?”

“Yes,” I said in a small voice.

He sighed. “I don’t believe you.”

“I’m sorry!” I said. “But you were—”

I broke off, because the car behind me was pulling into the lane next to me to pass. I watched as its taillights disappeared in the distance in front of me.

“Doll?”

“N-never mind,” I said. “The car passed me. It wasn’t them.”

“They wouldn’t be obvious about following you,” said Griffin. “They’re trained not to be seen. You wouldn’t know they were there.”

That didn’t make me feel better. Here I was, starting to bask in relief because the car had passed me, and I wasn’t in danger, and Griffin had to rip the rug out from under me like that.

“Tell me what your dealer was asking.”

“He wanted to know where I live,” I said. “He’s never cared about stuff like that before. He was really interested in me, and usually, I’m nothing to him. He doesn’t even know who I am, really. So...”

“Did you tell him where you live?”

“No. I’m not that stupid.”

“Good,” said Griffin. “Okay, here’s what we’re going to do. I can get to 29, I think. I can meet you at the intersection of 29 and 92. Do you know where that is?”

“Uh huh,” I said. “I’ll be there in like five minutes.”

“Okay. Well, you wait for me there. I’m going to be a little longer than that.”

“Do you think that Operation Wraith—”

“Don’t think about that right now, okay? You just get there, turn the car off, lock your doors, and wait for me. Got it?”

I chewed on my lip. “Got it.”

There was a gas station at the intersection of the two roads. It was shadowy and dark, closed this late at night. I pulled into the empty parking lot anyway, turned my car off, and locked my doors.

The only light in the parking lot came from a buzzing, flickering light on a pole at the edge. It illuminated a broken, empty sign above the sign that gave the list of gas prices. Another sign next to it proclaimed that there was Mario’s Pizza inside, with a picture of a cartoon character flipping a pizza crust. It the scant light, the bright reds and yellows of the signs looked sickly and sinister.

I slid down in my seat, clutching the steering wheel. I didn’t like this.

Griffin had asked if I told Benton where I lived. He’d only asked that to be cautious, right? Or did he think that there was something to my idea that Op Wraith was after me?

If he did, he wouldn’t tell me to sit in my car, would he?

I peered out my windshield at the night sky, wondering.

Outside the gas station, there was an ice chest next to two vending machines. I stared at the Pepsi logo for a long time. It seemed like I’d been at this gas station for hours. It had only been a few minutes, but I was tense and frightened. I wasn’t sure what was going on. There were signs on the glass in the front of the store advertising the prices of cigarettes.

Where was Griffin? Had he told me when he’d be here?

He’d only said it would be a little longer than five minutes.

God. I should have asked him where he was when I called him. I should have found out. Because then I’d know. And it would be better to know than to be stuck here, all alone, confused and afraid, waiting.

Maybe I should get out of the car.

No. Griffin had told me not to. He’d said to stay inside with the doors locked. But would locked car doors be any barrier to these guys? I didn’t think they would. They could get to me if they wanted. Griffin must know that. So, why had he told me to lock my doors, if it wouldn’t make any difference?

They were after me, weren’t they? And close? Maybe they were outside now.

I lifted up, peering over the back of my seat, looking into the darkness. I couldn’t see anyone out there.

But I wouldn’t see them, would I?

I turned back around. Screw this. I was only making myself paranoid. There was no one there. Griffin had probably told me to lock the doors in order to make me feel better. If I thought I was behind locked doors, he figured I’d feel safer.

But he didn’t know me very well. When I was a little girl, I’d learned that I never felt safe unless I proved to myself that I was. If I thought there was a monster under the bed, I had to look and make sure. That’s what I needed to do now. Reassure myself that there weren’t any monsters out there. What would make me feel better right now was if I could get out of the car and get a can of Pepsi out of that machine. I took a deep breath. Yeah, if I did that, I’d know everything was okay. I dug through my purse and got out the change.

Holding the cold coins in my hand, I gazed at the vending machine again. I guessed I could wait until Griffin got there. He’d have to get out of his stolen car, anyway, right?