FORTY-FOUR

Jerry had the pedal to the metal and, from the look on his face, he was loving it.

We were kicking up so much of our own dust it was hard to see any clouds ahead of us, even though we were leaving most of ours behind.

‘I think we’re gainin’ on him!’ Jerry shouted.

He took his .45 out and put it in his lap.

‘We get close to him you might have to take the wheel, Mr G.’

‘If we kill him,’ I said, ‘we won’t be able to ask who sent him.’

‘So we’ll try not to kill ’im.’

I stared ahead through the windshield, trying to see if we were catching up to him or not. Jerry had to run the windshield wipers from time to time to get the dirt off but it only seemed to be making it worse. I tried leaning my head out so I could look around the windshield, but I only ended up with sand in my eyes.

‘Jerry.’

‘What?’

‘I don’t think we’re gaining.’

‘We’ll be at the highway soon,’ he said. ‘Let’s see what happens then.’

What happened when we got to Highway 159 was that we didn’t know which way he had gone. Jerry came to a stop and we looked both ways.

‘Pick one,’ he said. ‘Where do they each go?’

‘Either direction,’ I said, ‘takes you back to Vegas, eventually.’

‘OK,’ he said, ‘then pick one.’

‘That way,’ I said, pointing to the direction we had come from town.

He turned right and stepped on the gas.

‘Take it easy,’ I said. ‘We’ve got Highway patrol along here. The last thing we need is to get picked up by the cops.’

‘Yeah, OK.’

By the time we came within sight of the city we had both long since given up the ghost.

‘Tell me why somebody would try to kill you,’ I said to Jerry.

‘Me? Why do you think they were tryin’ to kill me?’

‘He shot at you, right?’

‘Well . . . yeah, but maybe he thought I was you.’

‘Excuse me, Jerry, but you and me, we don’t look alike.’

‘Maybe through a kitchen window, we do.’

‘Yeah, maybe,’ I said. ‘OK, so why would anyone want to kill either of us?’

He shrugged. ‘I dunno.’

‘The only reason we’d be out there is if we were looking into Chris’s death,’ I said.

‘The shooter would hafta know we were comin’, Mr G.,’ he said. ‘He’d hafta be waitin’ there for us.’

‘OK,’ I said. ‘So who knew we were goin’ out there?’

‘Well, the Vegas Dick and his girl.’

‘Danny and Penny, yeah,’ I said.

‘And who else?’ he asked.

‘Adrienne,’ I said. ‘She left us the key.’

‘So she set us up?’ Jerry asked.

‘That’s hard to believe,’ I said, ‘but what else can I believe?’

‘Maybe,’ he said, ‘she told somebody.’

I looked at him.

‘Like her brother?’

‘Maybe.’

‘Well,’ I said, ‘there’s only one way to find out.’

‘Yeah,’ he said, ‘ask her.’

‘Right,’ I said. ‘Ask her.’