By six o’clock in the morning, I was back in my SUV with Bernie riding shotgun beside me. Behind us in their car were Mac and Renee, along with Sonja and Anders Nyberg, the other couple who’d elected to finish the weekend’s birding agenda despite the decidedly gloomy pall that Jack’s murder had settled over the group like a dingy old blanket. Shana had opted to waddle over to the sheriff’s office first thing to see how the investigation was going, and Tom had offered to accompany her. Depending on what they found out about any progress in the case, I’d make a decision about heading home or sticking around another day in Spring Valley.
“So did you call that sister of yours?” Bernie asked me as I pulled out of the parking lot.
I slid her a look. “Did anyone ever tell you you’re nosy?”
“Oh, sure, lots of times,” she cheerfully replied. “But I don’t listen. It’s my prerogative, you know. I’m an old biddy. Everybody knows that. So did you call her?”
I shook my head. “I’ll see her when I get home. With any luck, the sheriff will make an arrest today and my name will fall right out of the headlines. That’ll make everyone happy, Lily will forget all about it, and I’ll still have to get measured for that tux.”
“What about Luce?”
“What about her?”
“What did she think about you being on television with Shana?”
I followed the county road as it curved down out of town. “I don’t know, Bernie. I didn’t talk to her last night. And even though it’s none of your bees’ wax, Luce trusts me. She knows I love her. She’s not going to worry about our relationship because I’m trying to help out an old friend who just lost her husband.”
The car swung hard to the left as I rounded another curve and I noticed Bernie grip the dashboard.
“Okay,” she said. “I get the message. I’ll back off. You don’t have to drive like Bo Duke to get me to shut my mouth.”
“I’m not trying to drive like one of the Dukes of Hazzard,” I told her, suddenly concerned. I checked my speed. For once, I was watching it, keeping my foot well off the accelerator, yet the car was steadily gaining momentum as the road wound downhill between some small bluffs. I tapped on the brakes.
Nothing happened.
I punched the brake pedal down.
Still nothing, and we were picking up more speed.
“Shit.”
“What?” Bernie asked, still gripping the dash.
“My brakes are gone.”
“Shit!” she agreed.
“Hold on!” I glanced in my rear view mirror to be sure that the Ackermans were a good distance behind me. Ahead of me, the road snaked past a small rough turn-out area before it took a sharp turn to the right. If I was going to do some fancy maneuvering, it had to be now.
I jerked on my emergency brake, sending the car into a spin. The tires screeched as they skidded across the pavement and into the turn-out. Gravel sprayed up around our windows and with a lurch, my SUV came to a bone-jarring stop, facing the direction we’d just traveled.
“Go, Bo,” Bernie managed to say just before the air bags deployed and smacked us both square in the chest.
“Bernie!”
I released my seat belt and turned to help Bernie, who was looking dazed and frazzled behind her air bag, but all in one piece. “Are you all right?”
She nodded. “Is this the part where I jump out of the car window? You know I’m not exactly Daisy Duke material anymore,” she added weakly.
I smiled at her reply. Not even faulty brakes were going to throw Bernie off her game. “You can be my Daisy anytime. Here, let me help you.” I pushed her air bag out of the way and released her seatbelt.
“What the hell happened?” Mac shouted outside my window.
“Are you all right?” Renee was beside Bernie’s door.
“My brakes quit on me,” I told them. “But I think we’re okay.”
Renee carefully helped Bernie down from the SUV, while I stepped out on my side. Mac was bending down, hands on his knees, examining the wheel well of my left front tire.
A puddle of liquid was sitting under it.
“Brake fluid,” Mac announced. “Somebody cut your brake line.”
I looked at him in stunned silence.
“Somebody cut my brake line?” I repeated, doing my best idiot imitation.
“Yes, Bob, that’s what I said,” Mac grimly assured me.
“Why would someone do that?” I looked back at the roadside edge of the turn-out where Mac had left his own SUV. I could see the Nybergs in Mac’s back seat, staring open-mouthed at our little accident scene. “I guess this means that Bernie and I are done birding for the morning. I’ll call for a tow. You guys know where you’re headed?”
Mac nodded. “Yeah, Renee knows the area. She’s birded it with Jack a few times the last couple years.”
From the other side of the car, Renee called out to me. “Bob, I think you’d better get an ambulance for Bernie. I think the air bag might have cracked one of her ribs.”
I hustled around the back end of the SUV and found Bernie sitting on the ground, leaning against Renee and holding her arms wrapped tightly around her middle. Her face was drained of color and she was trying hard not to grimace with pain. “I’m on it,” I told the women and pulled out my cell phone.
“Sorry, Bob,” Bernie gritted out after I finished talking with the dispatcher.
“Hey, no problem, Daisy.” I sat on my haunches beside her. “We’ll get you fixed right up, Bernie. Don’t you worry.”
She reached out with one hand and grabbed my shirt to pull me down into her face. “I heard what Mac said,” she whispered, almost nose-to-nose with me. “Someone’s trying to hurt you, Bob.” Her eyes filled with concern.
“Yeah,” I said. “I got that.”
“What are you going to do?”
I lifted a hand and gently patted her lined cheek. “I’m going to find out who, Daisy, and then I’m going to chase him down and make him apologize for hurting you. Nobody messes with a Duke and gets away with it.”
She let go of my shirt, worry still clouding her eyes. “This isn’t funny, Bob.”
I leaned back and studied her. “No, it’s not,” I agreed. “I’m pretty sure my car insurance just went through the roof.”