Read Blind Trust for Free Online Page A

turning. “There’s this guy who was with him yesterday and then again today. Sticks to him like glue. I knocked over that model, and the guy came running like he thought I’d shot Clint or something. It was so weird.”
    Wes frowned. “Sure is. Who does he say the guy is?”
    “Just a friend. But yesterday when I asked him to explain where he’d been, for just a flicker of a second, I thought he was going to tell me the truth. But he looked at that guy, and then his whole countenance changed, and he gave me the song and dance about the book again.”
    “Something’s not right.”
    “You said it. But I don’t know if I’ll ever get to the bottom of it.”
    “Maybe you shouldn’t try. Maybe you should just steer clear of him.”
    “I’m trying,” she said. “But he isn’t making it easy.”

    A little while later, as Sherry drove back to the office from the post office, she noticed that a black car like her father had described was tailing her.
    Coincidence, she told herself without conviction. There must be hundreds of black sedans in Shreveport, and her imagination was making more of it than there was.
    She parked her car in the private garage next to the office, and hurried in looking for Wes. Since he wasn’t in his office, she stepped to his window and peered out toward the small parking lot. When nothing unusual caught her eye, she breathed out a long, shaky breath and set her bag on Wes’s desk. She was getting jumpy. Clint Jessup’s sudden return had distracted her in more ways than one. Stepping over, she glanced up the street to her right, and her stomach lurched at the sight of the waiting black Pontiac. Threading her fingers through her hair, she expelled a low, dreadful moan and realized the driver was waiting for her.
    “What is it?”
    The sound of Clint’s voice made her swing around, and she caught her breath in a ragged gasp. “What are you doing here?”
    “I was waiting for Wes. I want to talk to him.” He glanced past her out the window. “What were you looking at?”
    Sherry set her hand on her chest as if it could calm her constricted lungs, and turned back to the window, fighting the rebellious urge to tell him it was none of his business. She was becoming frightened, and he was the only one there at the moment. “It’s just … that car. It’s been following me.” Without questioning her suspicion, Clint stepped into the office and squinted up the street at the car she pointed to. When he saw it, his eyes closed and a long, tangled breath wound out of his lungs. “How long has this been going on?” he asked.
    She didn’t answer at first, because she wasn’t sure.
    “How long?” he asked more urgently.
    “I don’t know,” she said. “I think he might have followed me to Dad’s house today. I may have seen the car yesterday, too, but I can’t say for sure.”
    “ God … please, no … ” The words came out as a craggy whisper. Clint took Sherry by the shoulders and turned her to face him. She felt a slight shiver in his hands, saw genuine fear and haunted despair in his eyes. “Listen to me, Sherry,” he said, his hoarseness contradicting his steady monotone. “I have to go get Sam. He’s down the hall. I’ll be right back, and I’ll take you home. Don’t leave here until I get back. Do you understand me?”
    “But … I have work to do.”
    “Forget work,” he insisted. “Just give me your car keys.” “My keys?” The keys were at the top of her bag, and reluctantly, she surrendered them. “What are you—?”
    “No questions now, Sherry. Just wait right here. Please.” Frightened at the adamant, admonishing look in his eyes, Sherry nodded acquiescence. She stood frozen, listening to the squeak of his rubber soles as he ran up the corridor, heard the exchange of muffled voices, heard Clint’s athletic breathing as he ran back to her office. When he got there, he closed the door and leaned over her desk to catch his breath. “I’ll drive