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on my hand is itching like crazy.”
    Terry slipped it onto the ring finger of her right hand, then rolled her head around, rubbing her temples. If only the pain
     would ease she might be able to think more clearly.
    “There’s Tylenol in my purse,” Lynn said, glancing over.
    Terry reached into the backseat and grabbed Lynn’s purse. With the Coke, she swallowed two pills, dropped Lynn’s purse on
     the floor, then leaned her head back, closing her eyes.
    “Fasten your seat belt,” Lynn said. “We’ll be on I-17 in a minute.” When Terry didn’t move, she glanced over at her. “Are
     you all right?”
    “
Please
stop asking me that. I’ll be fine as soon as my head stops hurting like hell.” And even better when she reached either her
     father or Andy Russell. She wanted to hand over this burden of witnessing a murder to others, to be free of it. Brushing back
     her feathery bangs, she opened hereyes and turned to check the traffic behind them. It was dark, but she couldn’t see a car that resembled the gray sedan.
Please, God, let it be so
.
    Still concerned, Terry peered around Lynn out the driver’s window. Was the car in the far lane gray? The windows were tinted
     and… No, there were only two doors and the one at the garage had been a four-door. Why hadn’t she had the forethought to get
     the license number?
    “Terry,” Lynn began again, “what are you looking for?” She’d been craning her neck in every direction since they’d set out.
    “Nothing. Just drive.” She ground her cigarette out in the ashtray, leaned her head back and closed her eyes.
    It was going to be a long trip, Lynn thought as she swung onto the sloping entrance ramp to the highway leading north. She
     turned into the curve, then stepped on the brake to slow their descent. That’s when she noticed that the pedal went all the
     way to the floor, yet the car was picking up speed on the downward loop. The first rush of panic had Lynn gasping. “Terry,
     the brakes won’t hold.”
    Terry jolted upright, her eyes wide. “That can’t be.”
    Lynn tried to pull out of the curve, but the car was going too fast and the wheel wouldn’t straighten. She could see the cement
     retaining wall just ahead of them. Gripping the wheel, she cried out. “Oh, my God, we’re going to crash!”
    The tan Volkswagen grazed the retaining wall, spun completely around, carried along by the momentum of the curve, then smashed
     into the wall with a shattering crunch of metal. The engine mounted in the rear of the vehicle hit cement, sparking a violent
     explosion.
    Fingers of fire engulfed the small car as black smoke swirled up into the peaceful evening sky.

CHAPTER TWO

    He’d never seen anything like it. Officer Charley Drake took out his handkerchief, wiped his damp face, then held the cloth
     to his nose. The heat was so intense, the smell of metal and plastic and gas burning vile enough to threaten his dinner. His
     partner was in the patrol car radioing for two ambulances. Charley was sure that when they managed to extricate the driver’s
     remains, one ambulance might as well head for the morgue.
    They’d been cruising along Bell Road about a mile from the I-17 turnoff when they’d gotten the call that a civilian with a
     car phone had reported an automobile out of control and crashing. Four minutes later, they’d arrived and the fire hadn’t yet
     burned itself out.
    Charley circled around the smoking wreckage toward the woman lying motionless on the ground about twenty feet from the burning
     car. She’d been tossed free, but he wouldn’t bet much on this one’s chances either. Who’d have thought that not wearing a
     seat belt would give her a fighting chance? The older couple who’d witnessed the accident huddled together near the squad
     car.
    The veteran cop stooped alongside the unconscious young woman, his frown deepening. Her blond hair wasbadly singed, but that was the least of her problems. Her face was the worst,