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“If you poison us, do we not die?” He tapped the needle against Mr. Freeman’s leg. “Meditate on<br />
that while you get our drinks.”<br />
14<br />
He watched closely as she operated the machine. This gas stop was on the wooded outskirts of some<br />
little town, and there was always a chance she might decide to hell with the geezer and run for the<br />
trees. He thought of the gun, but left it where it was. Chasing her down would be no great task, given<br />
her current soupy condition. But she didn’t even look in that direction. She slid the five-spot into the<br />
machine and got the drinks, one after the other, pausing only to drink deeply from the water. She<br />
came back and gave him his Fanta, but didn’t get in. Instead she pointed farther down the side of the<br />
building.<br />
“I need to pee.”<br />
Crow was flummoxed. This was something he hadn’t foreseen, although he should have. She had<br />
been drugged, and her body needed to purge itself of toxins. “Can’t you hold it awhile?” He was<br />
thinking that a few more miles down the road, he could find a turnout and pull in. Let her go behind a<br />
bush. As long as he could see the top of her head, they’d be fine.<br />
But she shook her head. Of course she did.<br />
He thought it over. “Okay, listen up. You can use the ladies’ toilet if the door’s unlocked. If it’s<br />
not, you’ll have to take your leak around back. There’s no way I’m letting you go inside and ask the<br />
counterboy for the key.”<br />
“And if I have to go in back, you’ll watch me, I suppose. Pervo.”<br />
“There’ll be a Dumpster or something you can squat behind. It would break my heart not to get a<br />
look at your precious little buns, but I’d try to survive. Now get in the truck.”<br />
“But you said—”<br />
“Get in, or I’ll start calling you Goldilocks again.”<br />
She got in, and he pulled the truck up next to the bathroom doors, not quite blocking them. “Now<br />
hold out your hand.”<br />
“Why?”<br />
“Just do it.”<br />
Very reluctantly, she held out her hand. He took it. When she saw the needle, she tried to pull<br />
back.<br />
“Don’t worry, just a drop. We can’t have you thinking bad thoughts, now can we? Or broadcasting<br />
them. This is going to happen one way or the other, so why make a production of it?”<br />
She stopped trying to pull away. It was easier just to let it happen. There was a brief sting on the<br />
back of her hand, then he released her. “Go on, now. Make wee-wee and make it quick. As the old song<br />
says, sand is a-runnin through the hourglass back home.”<br />
“I don’t know any song like that.”<br />
“Not surprised. You don’t even know The Merchant of Venice from Romeo and Juliet.”<br />
“You’re mean.”<br />
“I don’t have to be,” he said.<br />
She got out and just stood beside the truck for a moment, taking deep breaths.<br />
“Abra?”<br />
She looked at him.<br />
“Don’t try locking yourself in. You know who’d pay for that, don’t you?” He patted Billy Freeman’s<br />
leg.