"Pike, Christopher - Whisper Of Death.(1991)TXT" - читать интересную книгу автора (Pike Christopher)

couldn't see his expression-I could only glimpse him
out of the corner of my eye. I had my eyes on the road.
We seemed to be the only ones leaving Foster that
morning.

"How do you know it's a girl?" he asked again.

I chuckled. "I'm not sure-I just know."

"Nothing I say will make any difference?"

"Nope."

He sighed, settling himself in the seat as if he were
about to take a nap. "Then I won't say anything,
except that I'll see you through this."

I glanced over at him. "That makes a difference," I
said.

Pepper nodded, and then fell asleep. Men, boys-
they could sleep through the end of the world. Of
course we had been up the entire night before. I never
knew Pepper snored. I thought it was cute.

When the sun came up an hour later, Pepper was
still asleep. The sun peeked over the horizon directly
in front of me and burned bright into my brain. It was
at that exact moment that I saw a hitchhiker at the
side of the road about half a mile in front of us. It
looked like a girl, but I couldn't have sworn to it. It
might have been a guy with long, red hair, brighter
than mine. The person had on a long dark cape, but
framed against the light of the sun, she was little more
than a silhouette with flaming hair. I debated whether
I'd pick her up. I usually did pick people up.

I assumed the person was hitchhiking. But as I
raised my hand to shield my eyes from the glare, she
disappeared. There was a cluster of cactuses just off
the road. I assumed she had seen us coming and
ducked behind them. I wasn't going to worry about it.
I had enough on my mind. I drove by the spot she had
been standing without slowing one bit.

An hour later, about five miles outside of Salem, I
came to a familiar gas station. I glanced down at my
gauge. I was on my last half gallon. I decided to stop
and fill up. Pulling into the station beside the pump, I
reached over and shook Pepper gently. He hadn't