SHELBY THREW HER BAG ONTO THE passenger seat of her Mini Cooper and slid into the driver’s seat. Normally driving two hours to see a client would be a pain in the ass, but today she was looking forward to it. A chance to get out of the office. Clear her mind. Think about her cases, her business. It didn’t hurt a bit that she really enjoyed driving. And the road to the coast was a pleasure. There was usually very little traffic at this time of day and she could drive fast. There was always the chance of getting a speeding ticket, but sometimes it was worth it.
Shelby backed out of her driveway and threaded her way through the in-town traffic of Portland. Less than an hour later, she was on the winding road to Lincoln City. She down shifted around a curve, enjoying the responsiveness of her little car. The conversation with Paige’s grandmother and “uncle” Robbie still bothered her.
Shelby clearly remembered Paige telling her that she was going to visit her grandmother for a few days, then going on a wilderness camping trip. She could be remembering the conversation wrong, but that was highly unlikely. Shelby had an almost eidetic memory. As an agent for the Federal Security Agency, she’d often been in circumstances where it was imperative she remembered what she’d heard, seen, or read, exactly. She’d learned to remember everything without taking notes.
Why hadn’t Paige’s grandmother heard from her? And why hadn’t Robbie Malloy known where Paige was? Shelby knew that Paige was extremely close to Robbie Malloy. He’d been Paige’s father’s partner for years. Paige had grown up with him, and they were still close. Oh, maybe not in a talk-every-day way, but she knew that Paige contacted him on a regular basis. Paige was always telling him about her life. What she was doing, how everything was going. Shelby knew it was a way of keeping Paige connected to her father who had died almost a year ago. Still, even Robbie hadn’t known where Paige had gone.
Of course, Paige might have just wanted to get away. She might not have wanted to visit her grandmother. Shelby knew they didn’t get along all that well and had never been close. And Paige might not have had a chance to talk to Robbie. After all, she had left on the vacation on very short notice. And it was probably not any of Shelby’s business.
Shelby laughed. That had never stopped her and probably never would.
She down shifted around a corner and pressed on the brakes. They felt a little mushy, which was strange since she’d just had the Mini in the garage last week. The mechanic had said everything was fine. Maybe she was just imagining it. The next curve was even sharper and Shelby pressed on the brakes again as she down shifted. The brakes were definitely softer. Her foot went almost to the floor.
This was especially bad since she was going downhill and there were more curves coming up. Shelby down shifted again and applied the brakes. The engine whined and her foot went all the way to the floorboard.
She’d been in worse situations and stayed calm. She pulled up on the emergency brake, but it had no effect. Shelby cursed whoever had done this because she knew it had to be deliberate. Even if there was something wrong with her brakes, the emergency brake would still work unless someone had messed with that as well.
Pushing all thoughts out of her head, Shelby concentrated on slowing the car. She whipped around a curve, veering into the on-coming lane in order to clear it. There was a slight upgrade coming up and that was probably her last chance to slow down. After that, it was steeply downhill for several miles. Shelby scanned the roadside for a likely place to stop. Nothing but forest.
Crap!
She hated to wreck her little car, but she didn’t see any other way out. She swung around another curve and pumped the brakes, hoping for a little resistance. There was none.
She’d slowed down to under forty miles per hour. Bracing herself, she steered the car off the road. Crashing through the brush, she aimed the car at a large tree.
The seatbelt tightened across her chest as the air bag exploded.