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“Well, let’s take a look” He forced a s under the hood that et inside and release the latch?”

She did, and he peered into the engine like a soothsayer reading chicken entrails After a couple of seconds, he shook his head

“Nothing seems out of place or broken”

“I don’t suppose you have your cell phone with you…?”

He didn’t He could alht where he’d left it, but he slapped his pockets just to make sure

“No such luck How about I get behind the wheel and try the engine?”

She nodded and stepped out of the car He got in and turned the key The engine stuttered, coughed and died

“Come on,” he muttered, “catch” But it wouldn’t, and as soon as he checked the gauges on the dashboard, he knew the reason “Well,” he said, sitting back and slapping the heels of his hands against the wheel, “I know the problem”

“The ballast resistor thing? That’s what it was the other day”

He shook his head “Nothing so coas”

“What?” Dawn leaned past him and stuck her head in theHer hair brushed his cheek It smelled of sun and of the desert, and he closed his eyes as he inhaled the scent “That’s impossible! I filled up—I filled up—”

Today, she’d almost said But it hadn’t been today It hadn’t even been yesterday She’d filled the tank just before her world started to come apart, the day she’d had drinks with Gray and he’d asked that terrifying question about her liking children

Of course she was out of gas She’d been back and forth to Rocking Horse Ranch since then; she’d gone straight there from the Oasis bar She’d phoned first, to make sure Tommy was okay Mrs Wilton assured her that he was but she’d driven there faster than she ever had before because she needed to see for herself He was asleep when she arrived and she didn’t wake hiht to explain her presence to Mrs Wilton, who nodded and sighed as if she heard such things all the time

“From now on, no one’s to be allowed to see Toain and said she understood

Everybody understood, or thought they did, but how could they when they didn’t know Harman, or what he was capable of? If he found her, there would never be a legal fight over Tommy Harman would just take him, and if he had to beat her to death in the process, he’d do it