Page 37 of Mystery at Rescue Ridge

“The rain must have flooded this place more than we realized,” she said.“If I open the door, water might come in.”

He muttered a few more choice words before tapping the gas.The wheels spun, unable to gain traction.“I’m going to need something for leverage.Hold on while I search for something to use.”He wished he’d thought to bring a couple of wooden planks with him.That way, he could wedge them underneath the back tires.He’d be eyeball-deep in water, but it was the quickest way out of the situation.

They were stuck between a rock and a hard place.Or, as it were, the farmhouse and town.This was roughly the midway point, and it wasn’t likely anyone was going to randomly drive this part.He’d taken backroads on purpose because he could drive a lot faster and get Evie home by dinner.

Being stuck out here wasn’t exactly ideal.Owen fished his cell out of his pocket.Shit.No battery.

“Hey, do you have any battery left on your phone??”he asked.

Evie checked her cell.“Yes.”

“How about bars?”

She frowned.“Nope.Not a one.”

Taking backroads had its downsides.Being out of cell range was one of them.He should have thought about that before making the decision to head this way.

“We’re too far to walk back to the house and grab your car while we wait for this to dry up.”

Evie climbed over the driver’s seat to exit the vehicle.“We’re not close enough to town to walk there.”She glanced around.“There has to be something we can use.”

“A couple of these heavy branches might work.”He picked up the closest one and shoved it underneath the back tire on the driver’s side.Murky water sloshed around inside his boot.Could this trip get any better?

Before locating a second log, he grabbed the tackle box inside the back of his Jeep and opened it.His preferred handgun sat on the bottom.He handed it over to Evie.“Whatever you do, don’t point that thing at me.”

“Got it.”She took the offering with a shaky hand.That wasn’t a good sign for accuracy if the worst-case scenario happened and she had to fire, but it might scare Hiker off long enough for Owen to get the weapon.

He caught her gaze.“You’re going to be fine, even if you have to use that thing, which isn’t likely.I’m just being overprepared here.”

“It’s a good idea.I’ll just stand next to you, in case…”

He was already shaking his head before she could finish her sentence.“You’re going to have to be in the driver’s seat while I hold onto these.”He motioned toward the branches.

“Won’t that basically spray your entire face and body with mud?”

“Pretty much,” he said.“If you have a better idea, I’m all ears.”

“Maybe we can walk the road until we get cell coverage.”

“I have no idea how long that’ll take, and it would leave us exposed.”

She shivered again.“Right.And there’s still a dangerous, human-stalking mountain lion out here that didn’t get the meal it wanted.”Her eyes lit up for a second.“Hey, maybe it got to Size Eleven.”

“We should be so lucky.”Owen couldn’t say he’d ever been lucky.The tradeoff was that he’d learned to work hard and not cheat at anything because he would have gotten caught anyway.It wouldn’t have been worth the punishment.Beaumont hadn’t needed an excuse to take his anger and frustration out on his kids.That was a given.All anyone had to do was look at the man the wrong way, and they’d be kneeling on rice for two hours or taken out back to pick their own switch.Owen had gotten used to the beatings.They’d only left marks on his skin.He’d refused to let Beaumont get inside his head.Owen’s stubborn streak had landed him in hot water more than once, but he had no regrets.

Glancing at Evie, he decided he’d only ever had one.

Owen scanned the area behind him.No way was he getting surprised again.He used the branches as levers.

“Hit the gas pedal,” he said to Evie.

She did.Muddy water spewed but the Jeep’s back tires only spun out, unable to gain purchase.

They were going to have to leave the vehicle behind and walk.Should they continue on to town or head back to the Ashworth home?

14

“What do we do now, Owen?”Evie asked.Either way, they were taking a risk.

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