Page 43 (1/2)

He looked over at Molly He could see that she was hu She looked as if it was nothing out of the ordinary

He bought the piano The saleswoular piano She’s quite talented How long has she been playing?"

Molly answered "Since she was just three We’re vacationing here and forgot to bring her portable piano We’ll ," the saleswoot a lovely, talented little girl"

Ra"

He felt E, which was feeling nearly back to norain He was down to about four aspirin a day He wondered if Ehtht better of it No, they needed to talk to a professional He realized he could call and get a reference

He said low to Molly when he opened the car door, "Do you think E okay?"

"I don’t know I haven’t asked her After last night, I’m more afraid than before"

"I could probably find out the name of a local shrink, one who deals only with children What do you think?"

She chewed on that so hard he could practically see her thinking Finally, she shook her head "We don’t dare take a chance I think that for the ti we should just keep her close and let her know she’s safe"

But she knew E dreams Molly forced a frown because she wanted to cry

He nodded, still uncertain He looked into the backseat of the Toyota E box with her piano inside really close Her eyes were closed What was she thinking? Or was she just playingelse, at least for the ti

He noticed the Honda Civic a halfcenter There weren’t many cars on 89, the only road to Lake Tahoe froive or take a mile, to Alpine Meadows Road, their turnoff He didn’t say anything, just kept checking every couple of minutes in the rearviewfollowed, he said quietly, "Molly, look back and see if you can get the license plate number on the Civic two cars behind us It’s fairly new and gray Be as discreet as you can We don’t want thee expression, but he saw the panic in her eyes, followed by a hard coldness, the look she’d given hi

She looked back at Eed to her chest She didn’t appear to have overheard them