Meeting Evil

Read Meeting Evil for Free Online

Book: Read Meeting Evil for Free Online
Authors: Thomas Berger
Tags: Fiction, General, Thrillers
just tell him the truth.”
    The redhead shrugged and said, “Okay. Yeah, it’s like he says.”
    “He was driving?”
    “Right.”
    The policeman nodded heavily, reluctantly, annoyed at having first been lied to. He took a slight revenge on Richie by asking him to come to the patrol car and wait while a radio check was run on the driver’s license. And added, peering at the document, “You oughta complain to the DMV: they took a lousy picture.”
    When they were out of earshot, the young woman discreetly asked John, “What’s he up to?”
    “Richie?” John asked disdainfully. “How do I know?”
    “He’s your friend.”
    “Not on your life! He was only giving me a ride—it’s a long story.”
    “I realize he’s doing me a favor…”
    “Don’t ask me,” said John. “All I can say is you better go over there with them. You ought to know what he’s saying.”
    “Okay,” she said with fervor. “Only, listen: will you come along?”
    “Me? I really am just a bystander.” He looked down on her for having offered in effect to go to bed with him, not to mention that none of this affair was even remotely his business, but when she said “Come on” and seized the crook of his elbow and tugged, and added, “You’re the only one I can trust,” he let himself be drawn further into a situation he was apprehensive of but certainly did not yet recognize as a growing calamity. He had never been able to reject the plea of an importunate woman.
    The cop sat in the police car, holding the microphone in one hand and Richie’s license in the other.
    John started to ask the latter a question, but Richie rolled his eyes significantly and turned away. He did not want to talk at the moment, apparently concerned that the truth might be revealed, though actually John’s intention was merely to remind him that his car had not been locked, an imprudent omission in this day and age. Even in the suburbs there were plenty of people abroad on the sidewalks who would not hesitate to drive it off while its owner was conferring with the police.
    The young woman was not so easily evaded. She successfully drew Richie away from the door of the cop car and said, quietly but including John, at whose elbow they stood, “Thanks, but what’s the deal here?”
    Richie carefully eyed the officer and then said, smirking, “I expected more gratitude.”
    “Sure,” she said. “But right now I can’t figure it out. We never saw each other personally before, am I right?”
    He murmured, “Who says chivalry is dead?”
    The cop hung up. He spoke out his window. “Okay: you check out.”
    Richie seized John’s wrist. “And this gentleman agrees to work this thing out with our insurance companies.”
    The policeman stared at John. “You’re the owner of the other vehicle?”
    It was a mistake not to end his involvement right here, but John could not bring himself to lie outright. Therefore he said nothing at all in answer to the question, hoping the young cop would repeat it and insist on a response. Instead, Richie quickly broke in.
    “The Triple-A wrecker is on its way. That’s where I was, right after it happened: on the phone.”
    The cop called the woman to his window and returned her papers. Then he bent his capped head to write on a pad held against the steering wheel. Subsequently he presented Richie with a summons, saying, “I’m doing it by the book: reckless driving. You’ll have to explain it to the judge. That’s not my job. My job is to protect the safety of the public.”
    “Sure,” Richie said, accepting the ticket without looking at it. “I understand. You’ve been very nice, Officer.”
    “Now just pull your vehicle over to the curb there while you wait for the wrecker, if you can,” said the policeman. “Does it run, or do you need a push?”
    “No problem here,” Richie said.
    The cop looked across toward the car that had been in front of the doughnut shop—that which he thought belonged to

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