The Whole Truth (A. Shaw 1)

gotten to Pender first, and then waited for us to come poking around.”

Katie shuddered. “They made his death look like a burglary and now we’re going to end up as a traffic accident.”

Shaw grimaced as yet another pain shot through his battered head. “A run off the road and down the hill where we burst into flames when the gas tank ignites as we smash into the trees down there. I’m sure the skid marks off the road were professionally done.”

“So why hasn’t the car rolled down already?”

“We seem to have gotten stuck on an outcrop of rock.”

“Are we really that close to going down or am I becoming almost hysterical for no reason?”

“None of the tires are touching the ground. It’s like being on a seesaw and the rock is the fulcrum. We move too much, down we go.”

“And if we don’t move, at some point, we go down anyway. Can you call somebody? Frank? Royce? The president?”

Shaw gently felt in his pocket. “They took my phone. How about you?”

“It was in my purse. I left it in the car. Do you see it?”

Shaw eyed the floorboard. “Yeah, but if I try to get it, we’re going over.”

“Can you slide into the backseat? With your weight back here it might anchor the car.”

Shaw tried to ease himself backward, but another long groan and a few more inches of the car sliding stopped him.

“Okay, that’s a no-go.”

“We can’t just sit here waiting to die,” Katie exclaimed.

He moved his weight a little to the left. The scraping sound came immediately and they could both feel the car move forward another inch.

“Okay, that tells me something.”

“What?”

“Not to move again.” Shaw eyed the interior. The keys were still in the car. They would have to be, he thought, to make it look like a real accident when the police found the charred wreckage. He edged his hand forward and carefully turned the keys one click to the right. That didn’t turn the engine on, but it did do something else. He slowly reached over and depressed the window button. The glass slid down even as the car eased forward another inch or so.

“Okay, the window’s down, now what? We can’t exactly jump for it.”

Shaw reached down, undid his belt, and slid it off. “Please tell me you’re wearing a belt.”

“I am.”

“Take it off and give it to me. But slowly.”

She did so, but it seemed like even moving her arms made the car wobble on its precarious perch. She finally got it off and handed it to him.

Using very slow and careful movements Shaw made a loop with her belt and then slid his belt through that circle, cinching it tight and leaving a stretch of leather about four feet long in his hand.

“What’s that supposed to be?” she asked.

“A lasso.”

“What exactly are you going to lasso?”

“That tree branch outside the car window.” He nodded at the short but thick piece of wood. “If I can pull myself through the window, with my weight out of the front seat, the rear should settle back down. And I can get something to wedge under the front tires. And then get you out.”

“Should? Should settle back down? What if it doesn’t? What if you getting out makes the car go hurtling down to those trees? Are you just going to wave bye-bye while I plummet to my death?”