Read Dark Luck (A Suspense Thriller) for Free Online Page B

He
wondered how soon the driver would be missed after he vanished.
    “I’m heading to Salem, the Beaver State capital, so
it’s your lucky day.” David giggled quietly. “I’ve had my share of hitchhiking,
and I remember very well how hard it was to flag down a car. People don’t trust
hitchhikers, and I understand them. There are quite nutty individuals out
there. Besides, you can rarely get wherever you need to go just in one car.
It’s never happened to me.”
    “Yeah, I got lucky,” agreed Ron.
    Anyway, he didn’t have to kill David. He could play
with him instead. What would Zack say? Damn, he wished he could tell David that
dazzling story. He was no blabbermouth, nevertheless lately he’d been dying to
share this amazing secret with every stranger he’d met. But if he told the
story to David he would have to kill him afterwards.
    “It’s hot today,” said the driver.
    “Yeah, you’re right.” Ron wiped sweat off his forehead
with his left palm. “Hot like in hell. I should have put on sandals.” He tapped
on the floor with his dusty sneakers.
    “It’s May, what else can you expect?” David adjusted
the right air vent so that his passenger could cool down faster. “The guy who
invented car air conditioning is a saint.”
    #
    Okay, now it is time for the dazzling story. Once there
was a guy in his early thirties, let’s call him George, who sold auto parts in
Southern California. His pregnant wife, let’s call her Janet, liked to walk
every morning in a park not far away from their home. One fine winter day two
friends saw that woman in the park and decided to have fun with her. They were
quite peculiar people, you know. For a number of reasons they loved hurting
young women, and Janet was a great specimen. They approached her, asked how she
was doing, with a smile of course, and then one of them hit her really hard in
the temple with a fist, thus rendering the poor woman unconscious.
    The two friends brought Janet to their cabin in a
forest in the Sierra Mountains and locked her in the basement. The fact that
she was pregnant added delightful zest to the whole affair. The intensity of
pleasure quadrupled when the story of the missing woman went national. For some
reason every major TV channel and newspaper decided that the Americans needed
to know just about every little detail of that particular case, which quickly
became a murder investigation. Main suspect? Of course Janet’s husband.
    #
    “You have a cool car,” said Ron. “These Malibu are
neat.”
    “I am a fan of Chevy. They make classy and reliable
cars. And affordable, too. Do you like the color?”
    “Yeah, I do. What year is it?”
    “I bought it three years ago and never regretted it.”
    “What are you going to do in Salem?” asked Ron.
    “I’ve got to pick up my wife and son. My mother-in-law
lives in Salem, so they went there to see her. They are very beautiful. Want to
take a look?” Without waiting for Ron’s answer, David pulled out his wallet and
unfolded it, letting out the photo holder. “My wife’s name is Laura.” His eyes
on the road, he handed the wallet to Ron, who, probably out of politeness,
started examining the pictures. “My son’s name is Tony. He’s four. He has my
nose and mouth. Do you see that?”
    “I guess he does.” Ron returned the wallet.
    “My mother-in-law is an all-right lady. Have you ever
been to Salem?”
    Ron shook his head.
    “I’m going to stay there overnight, and tomorrow all
three of us will get back home, to Oceanside. Ever been to Oceanside?”
    “No. I’m sure it’s a gorgeous place.”
    “It is a great place. But I’ve always dreamed of spending
a few years in Las Vegas. All those neon lights, casinos, seething nightlife.
Fascinating.”
    #
    Okay, back to the story. George was arrested and
charged with the murder of his wife. To make things even worse for him, it
turned out that he had been cheating on his wife for many years. And his latest
paramour was so