Creatures of the Storm Read Online Free Page B

doctor a hard
look, a look that Lisa read as Who the
hell do you think YOU are, boy. I t was hidden by a smile in an
instant. “Of course,” the Sheriff said. “Only a minute or
two.”
    He stood at the end of the bed and asked her
a series of questions about the crash. How fast had she been going?
How bad was the rain? What made her turn like that? Lisa described
what had happened, Ken and Rose filled in with their own
observations, and Peck took it all in without comment or a change
in his serious, thoughtful expression. He didn’t take notes; he
obviously didn’t need to.
    He was particularly interested in the red ATV
and the person driving it. “So,” he said, talking to them all now,
“no look at the face. Just a black helmet, black leather jacket…
nothing else? No second person riding behind? No large bundles or
boxes attached?”
    They looked at each other and agreed, no,
nothing like that, and only one person.
    “I wish like hell I could give you more,” Ken
said.
    Peck smiled tightly. “Not a problem,” he
said. “I have a couple of ideas already. It’s not that big a town,
after all.” He put on his hat and shook hands all around. “I’ll be
getting back to you soon as I can,” he said.
    Thunder rumbled outside. It made the picture
window’s glass buzz like an angry bee.
    “Sheriff, what’s going on?” Ken asked. “I
mean, this is a normal hit and run, isn’t it? What’s with the
police protection?”
    Peck smiled again, thinner than ever. “It’s
nothing like that, Mr. Mackie. Things are a little tense around
here right now. You know about the missing girls?”
    Ken nodded. “Sure, I’ve heard.”
    “Another one today. So anything out of the
ordinary, we’re looking at pretty hard. And believe it or not,
speeding ATVs running people off the road, that’s out of the
ordinary.”
    “Got it.”
    “The officer,” he shot another look at Bo,
who almost flinched, “will be going with me now. Plenty of other
things to do with the storm and all.” He looked closely at Ken as
he shook his hand. “Your daughter staying with you at the house up
on West Ridge?”
    Ken glanced at his daughter who made an
unhappy face. He nodded. “Yes, she’ll be with me. And her Mom will
be here at the clinic overnight.”
    “Good. Good all around.” He
made his goodbyes, gave the doctor one last don’t you screw with me, asshole look, and stepped out. When he left, a pretty young nurse
came in with a cup of pills for Lisa. She swallowed them without
objection.
    “Lovely fellow,” Ken said. “Can’t imagine how
I’ve avoided him for a whole year.”
    “Cream of the Gestapo,” the doctor muttered.
He checked his watch. “Oops, look at that, I have to get out of
here.”
    “Big date?”
    He shrugged. “Worse.
Birthday party. Mine .”
    “Congratulations,” Lisa said.
    “Please. It’s my thirtieth,
and I begged my
roomies to leave it alone. No such luck.” He leaned forward as if
telling a secret. “I hear there’s going to be a girl jumping out of
a cake and everything.”
    “Unsanitary, maybe,” Lisa
said, “but fun .”
    He frowned. “We’ll see. Anyway, I’ll check
with you in the morning, Ms. Mackie.”
    “Lisa,” she said.
    “Lisa.” He shook hands with Ken. “Are you
okay with this?” he asked.
    Ken nodded. “Thanks. I appreciate
everything.”
    “All part of the service.”
He put his hand out to Rose, who accepted it with grown-up, serious
grace. He smiled at her. “If that back really starts to bother you, let me
know, okay?”
    Rose gaped.
    He grinned. “See you tomorrow,” he said. He
shot one last line over his shoulder as he left: “And let the lady
get some sleep soon, okay?”
    They stayed with Lisa for another twenty
minutes, but there was less and less that needed to be said, and
the new round of medications were starting to affect her. Ken put a
hand on his daughter’s shoulder. “I think I’ll take her to dinner,”
he told Lisa, “then go up to