They’d reached speeds of 120 mph at some points during their pursuit. Kenny’s fingers were cramped from hanging on to the door handle for dear life. Dani was pretty as hell, but she drove like a crazy woman. She whipped around turns and zipped through traffic like there was no tomorrow, and Kenny was pretty sure on a number of occasions there would be no tomorrow for him or the pretty deputy.
He was hoping to use the time to get to know her, but every time he settled into a topic she was maneuvering her way through a deadly stretch of road that required her full attention. When they hit a straightaway stretch of interstate, his nerves settled, and he decided to try and lock her into a conversation.
“I was talking to Step the other day about that butt sex.”
She didn’t respond. Her mind was on a million other things. She didn’t even hear him.
“You’re familiar, ain’t you?”
“Familiar?”
“Yeah, it’s like regular sex…’cept it ain’t.”
She looked at him, confused. “Regular sex? What the hell are you talking about, Kenny?”
“I told you. Butt sex. Me and Step was considering it the other day.”
“Considering it?”
“Yeah, in conversation. We was wondering why butts’re getting bigger and the like. Got into the topic of hairy backs, too.”
“Kenny,” she barked.
He looked at her, shocked.
“This ain’t the time for this kind of discussion. I can’t imagine there would ever be a time for it, but if there is, this ain’t it.”
He nodded. “Step says my inquiries are irritating. I’m a curious person by nature. I’ll just prod on things until people punch me or walk away.” He shrugged. “Can’t say why I do it.”
Dani suddenly felt bad for yelling at him. “I tell you what, we get this Campbell girl home safe to her momma, I’ll talk about butts and whatever you want over beers.”
Kenny smiled. “Ima hold you to that, Deputy Dani. Yes, ma’am, Ima hold you to that.” His smile slowly flattened out. “ ’Cept, getting her back to her momma may not be a good thing.”
“Why not?”
“Woman’s a crackhead mess. She was deep in it last time I saw her. Wouldn’t trust her to raise a fuss, much less a little girl.”
Dani considered his comment and then said, “We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”
Kenny’s phone beeped, and he retrieved it from the dashboard. “GPS alarm. We ain’t but five miles from Step.”
“Which way?”
He looked at the map that popped up on his phone. “Can’t say for sure. This thing’s hard to read.”
She slowed the cruiser.
He looked up from the phone. “Best I can figure is we go that way,” he said, pointing to the thick stretch of woods to their left.
She looked past him and examined the trees as they blurred by.
“I’m thinking you go up about another three miles and then just take a hard left into the woods. We’ll come up on Step soon after.”
Dani felt her heart beat faster.
Kenny absentmindedly removed his hat and molded the bill with his thick fingers. “We’ll get that Campbell girl, Deputy Dani. Easy as pie. And then you and me’re going dancing. For real, this time.”
She smiled nervously and nodded.
Neither of them noticed the small prop plane that soared overhead.