Page 6 of Justice for Aleta

“That sounds good. I’ll follow you, if that’s okay. The next exit?”

“No, we’ll go down and turn around in one of the cross overs,” Jack offered.

“It says no unauthorized vehicles?”

Jack threw up a hand with two fingers up, like a scout hand signal. “I authorize you.” And that was the moment he heard something that changed his mind about talking to her.

She laughed. Three little words, but she was laughing, and Jack wondered if she’d laughed at all in the four months since the accident. Probably not much, if any. “Well, if you authorize me, then I guess it must be okay! Lead the way!” she sang out, her voice light and sweet.

He drove five below the speed limit, watching to make sure she kept up, but she was right there in her little car. When he pulled into the restaurant’s parking lot, she pulled in and parked right beside him. Out of habit, he waited until she exited her car and walked to the front door with her, her gait extraordinarily slow because of the brace and a cane she was using. She thanked him when he held the door, and in minutes they were in a booth.

“I guess I stopped you from going somewhere you wanted to go,” Aleta said as the server left from taking their drink orders.

“I was just going to a gun shop in Needmore to pick up a shotgun. No big deal.”

“Oh. Well, I hope the shop stays open so you can get there before they close.”

Jack smiled. “It’s just an old guy who works on guns. He’s usually home. I’m sure it’ll be fine. So, how are you doing?”

“Good enough, I suppose. I won’t lie?it’s hard. My leg is still bothering me all the time, and I go to physical therapy twice a week, although I think I probably do better on my own than I do with them,” she said and snorted.

“But you should still go. What about your arm?”

She held it up and pulled up her sleeve. It was a mess of suture scars. “Works pretty good. It was a clean break. That’s the only thing that saved it. My leg was more of a crushing injury. That’s why it was so bad. But I guess I’m doing okay.”

“I’m glad to see you up and around. You were in pretty bad shape.”

“Yes. I was. But I’ve worked through it.”

“And you’re working at the pancake restaurant?”

She blushed. “Yeah. I don’t know how to do much of anything. I went straight from my parents’ house to marriage with Joshua, and we worked for years trying to have a baby. He didn’t want me working. You know, pastor’s wife and all. So washing dishes is really more of a job than I thought I could get.”

“Nothing wrong with washing dishes. It’s an honest job. If you saw all the drug dealers and car thieves I see, you’d understand.”

“I’m sure.” The server came back with their drinks, and Jack watched as Aleta ordered an appetizer and a small salad. She’d asked for water to drink. No doubt she had to watch every penny, but he wished she’d ordered something more substantial. He’d decided when he got in his car out there on the parkway that he was paying, and he’d argue that point with her if she wanted to be obstinate.

“So you said you wanted to talk to me, to ask me something.”

“Yes.” She bowed her head, tented her fingers on the table, took a deep breath, and blew it out before she lifted her head and looked straight into his eyes. “Did you find anything unusual about that red car?”

That wasnotwhat he’d thought she was going to ask him. He’d been sure it would be something about her husband and child, how they’d looked, if they were already dead when he got there. “Like what?”

“Jack, I know things were confusing. I know a lot happened in a very few minutes. I know I was traumatized. But I’m going to tell you something.” He waited while she sat there, and he could see a war going on behind those eyes, something she had to say and didn’t want to. “I’m positive somebody shot that red car.”

“What?” That couldn’t be right. There were no bullet holes, none that anybody had found.

“That guy in that dark car? He shot that red car. I saw the gun in his hand, I heard the pop, and that’s when it crashed into our van. I’m telling you, he shot that car.”

Jack’s mind reeled. If what she was saying was correct, how had they missed that? “Ma’am, I?”

She puffed up just a little. “You want me to call you Jack, you’re going to have to call me Aleta.”

“Okay, um, Aleta, are yousure?”

“Positive. I couldn’t have dreamed that. My mind couldn’t have made that up. There was no reason. I can even tell you what the gun looked like.”

“Okay. What did it look like?”

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