Chance Of Rain Read online

  Chance of Rain

  Laurel Veil

  Copyright © 2013 Laurel Veil

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN: 1492225401

  ISBN 13: 9781492225409

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2013920591

  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

  North Charleston, South Carolina

  For Mama who said I could.

  And, for Dylan who said I should.

  Contents

  Prologue

  I No Chance

  II 20 %

  III 25 %

  IV 30 %

  V 35 %

  VI 40 %

  VII 45 %

  VIII 50 %

  IX 55 %

  X 60 %

  XI 65 %

  XII 70 %

  XIII 75 %

  XIV 80 %

  XV 85 %

  XVI 90 %

  XVII 95 %

  XVIII 100 %

  XIX Downpour

  XX It’s Happened

  XXI Don’t Panic

  XXII Something’s Wrong

  XXIII Phone Home

  XXIV Something of Yours

  XXV My World Went Black

  XXVI Bri

  XXVII Wednesday Morning

  XXVIII High-School Address

  XXIX Anthony and Jessie

  XXX Suspects

  XXXI Here Goes Nothing

  XXXII Regret

  XXXIII I’m Fine

  XXXIV Wednesday Afternoon

  XXXV Wednesday Midafternoon

  XXXVI Wednesday Night

  XXXVII Thursday Morning

  XXXVIII Thursday Midmorning

  XXXIX Now or Never

  XL Business as Usual

  XLI Room 471

  XLII The Hunt

  XLIII Worth a Shot

  XLIV Cat and Mouse

  XLV Showdown

  XLVI Safe at Last

  Epilogue The Big Day

  Prologue

  The icy, hard barrel of the gun was pressed to the center of my forehead. I was seconds away from paying the ultimate price for something that never should have involved me.

  A lifetime of memories flashed at warp speed through my mind as an explosion suddenly tore through the silence. It echoed high above the treetops, sending frightened birds into flight and leaving our faces speckled with blood.

  I

  No Chance

  I flinched every time a vehicle passed and lit up the inside of the car. I felt as if everyone knew we were up to something.

  “Thanks for doing this, Bri.” My voice was shaky.

  “No problemo, babe. Hopefully you’ll get to see him.”

  I nodded nervously. “He’s definitely here. I saw his truck over there.” I motioned with a flick of my eyes.

  Brianne turned the radio volume down to zero as she eased through the parking lot. The silence made everything feel more serious. I suddenly got a bad case of the jitters and dropped my fake ID.

  Bri reminded me to breathe.

  My confidence was gone.

  She switched off the ignition. “Ready?”

  Other than a blue neon sign that flashed Open, the bar was windowless and dark.

  Bri and I walked slowly to the entrance. Along the way we passed two guys who were trying to keep their voices low, but I could tell things were getting heated. They stopped long enough to yell something perverted at us then continued to argue.

  I seriously didn’t know what they were talking about. We weren’t trying to look hot, more like business casual. We didn’t want to draw attention, just look old enough to get inside.

  Sure enough, someone was sitting at the door checking IDs, and we wouldn’t be able to slip in unnoticed. I began to tremble; I couldn’t believe I was doing this, but I was desperate.

  “Ashley. Keep it together, Ash,” Bri whispered out of the side of her mouth.

  “I-I am. I’ve just got a chill is all.”

  Bri knew better. She strutted up to the bouncer and confidently handed him her ID. He glanced at it then waved her through as he watched her rear end the entire time.

  I would have been offended, but he was so distracted that he barely knew I was there, and I wanted to keep it that way.

  As I reached to take my license back, he hesitated. My heart was no longer beating; it was vibrating!

  He squinted as he studied my ID.

  Come on. Come on, I thought anxiously.

  Of course I had memorized all the info on it in case I was questioned. But at the moment, I couldn’t even remember the name on the ID.

  Bri stepped back through the doorway and gave a flash of her pearly teeth outlined in pink gloss. Her lips looked like she had just finished gnawing on a greasy pork chop.

  She smiled. “Is something wrong?”

  The bouncer looked up and grinned at her, but he didn’t seem quite as mesmerized this time. “Actually—” He started to respond, but then he shoved my ID at me as he suddenly leaped from the stool where he’d been sitting.

  He quickly raced to pull apart the two men who were arguing in the parking lot. They now had each other in headlocks. Bri took advantage of the commotion to sneak me into the smoky atmosphere, and I let the door close quickly behind us. We pressed ourselves against a wall and hid in the crowded darkness.

  “There he is,” said Bri. “He’s sitting at that table.”

  I was both happy and afraid.

  “Well, go on,” she coaxed. “This is what you’ve been waiting for. Go talk to him.”

  I nodded and held my breath as I walked toward him then sat down on the other side of the table.

  “Hi.” I gave a small, nervous wave as he looked up.

  The lines on his face looked a little deeper – a sure sign of too much worry and stress, I thought. His eyes were as blue as ever, but they were tired and his new scraggly beard made him look older than he was.

  For a split second, I could have sworn he was happy to see me too—but only for a second. He pulled the bill of his baseball cap lower. His sandy blonde hair curled up around the edge of it.

  “What in the world are you doing here? How did you even get in?” he demanded, as his eyes flitted around the room.

  Even though he was livid, this was the first time I’d seen him in weeks, which made it worth it.

  “I know you said you were fine on the phone,” I told him, “but…I don’t know. I didn’t believe you. I just wanted to see you with my own eyes…to make sure you’re OK. That’s all.”

  He didn’t look as upset anymore. “It may not look like it, but you know I’m working, Ashley. I’m not in this stink hole because I want to be. Drug deals don’t usually take place in tearooms. I don’t want anyone seeing you with me. It could be dangerous for you. I’m just trying to keep you safe.”

  “But…Dad…”

  “My assignment will be over very soon. We’ll do something then. I promise.”

  “We’ll…as in Mom too?”

  “If she wants to be around me, sure.”

  “Maybe we can go to the range for target practice. We always have a good time when we do that. Loser buys pizza and a movie.”

  “I’m sure going to the range is just what your mom has in mind for a fun evening out.” He chuckled softly, but his eyes looked weary. “I’m going to step outside now. I’ll be watching to make sure you leave.”

  “You promise you’re OK?”

  “Yes. I love you, Ash. Please be careful.”

  As soon as we got back in the car, Bri asked, “Feel better now?”

  “No.”

  “Why? Your dad looked fine to me.”

  “My dad’s worked undercover a zillion times. But this is different somehow. Something’s wrong.”

  �
��How do you know?”

  “Just a hunch. I feel it in my gut.”

  “You and your gut—you’re just like your dad. Forget about being a weather girl.”

  “Meteorologist.”

  “You should be a cop too,” Bri said. “Y’all can be partners and drive around in a squad car all day. When a call comes in, you can answer, ‘Ten-four. We’re on it!’ No…wait. I know—you could open your own private detective agency. Devoe and Devoe. Or you could…”

  Bri and I met in junior high. We both had Coach Rye for PE. Our class was playing soccer when Lacey “the Witch” Sanders elbowed me in the stomach. I fell to my knees in pain. Bri helped me up then nailed Lacey with a swift kick to her shin. We’d been best friends ever since.

  “I’m leaving, Mom!” I shouted as I stepped outside a couple of weeks later.

  She said something in response, but I pretended not to hear and quickly closed the heavy door behind me.

  Since my parents had separated, my mom had become a bit overprotective and was getting on my nerves. I loved her, but I needed her to back off and give me a little more space.

  I inhaled a lungful of crisp air. It already felt like fall was nipping at summer’s heels. I stuffed my hands deep into the pockets of my light cotton jacket and pulled it snugly around me. Then I sat quietly on our large wooden swing and looked across the overgrown field and into the dense forest that surrounded our little house. Lost in thought, I rocked back and forth, hypnotized by the squeak of the rusty chains. Now and then the barking of the neighbor’s dog pulled me back to earth.

  I gazed up at the aquamarine sky. Cumulus clouds were thickening and closing in on one another. Sadly for me, though, there wasn’t a sign of a single drop of rain.

  Bri thought my fascination with weather was weird. “Why do you like the rain so much anyway?” she had asked me shortly after we’d first met.

  “It’s not so much the actual rain,” I’d told her, “as it is the chance of rain and all the possibilities that could come along with it. Ya know?”

  “No. You’re strange, Devoe.”

  “It’s just that I enjoy a good thunderstorm over boring blue skies and sunshine any day.”

  Once in a while, a car passed along our quiet street, and I looked to see if it was Brianne. I was spending a considerable amount of time these days sitting on the front porch waiting for Bri to pick me up. I had a license but not a car.

  Brianne and I worked part time at the Star-Lite Theater, and I loved it. The hours weren’t too bad, and we got to see a free movie occasionally. My favorite was when my boss, Mack, had retro movie nights. The theater was a two-hour time machine. Just last week Bri and I watched Gone With the Wind. We really liked it. It took Bri an entire day to quit imitating Scarltett O’Hara. Bri must have said fiddle dee dee at least a hundred times. I didn’t think she was ever going to get it out of her system.

  I had saved almost every dime I’d earned and had more than a thousand dollars. I wanted to buy a car but was putting that on hold for a while.

  Honk! Honk! Honnnnk!

  Finally. I looked to my right and saw Bri waving.

  Yes, Bri. I see you. The whole world sees you.

  She’d be hard to miss even if she weren’t laying on the horn. She had the top down on her ’64 Chevelle. It was mostly black, with a little Bondo peppered here and there. Its exterior was dull and faded from too many decades in the hot Texas sun. The interior was still in pretty good shape, though. With a decent paint job, it would be a dream.

  “Hey, Thelma!” Bri called out from behind the huge, dark, Hollywood glasses that took up half her face. She was such a diva. Her thick locks of auburn hair added to her movie star persona.

  “Hey, Louise!” I played along as I threw my gym bag into the backseat.

  “One of these days, we’ll take a road trip just like them—minus robbing convenience stores,” Bri said with a laugh.

  “And the whole driving-off-the-cliff thing would really bite too,” I added.

  Today we were on yet another quest to help Bri trim down and firm up.

  “You ready to shake it, girrrl?” she asked.

  “I guess,” I said with zero enthusiasm.

  We had signed up for a trial class that was meeting for the first time at the gym we just joined. It was supposed to be a small group of beginners. And the best part was that it was for women only. Bouncing around in front of a class full of men—yeah, I don’t think so.

  Bri glanced at the large plastic mug that was squished between her meaty thighs. It was a gift from the hospital when she’d had her appendix removed a couple of summers ago. “See that? That was thirty-two ounces of water. In the next few minutes, it’ll be like Niagara Falls over here if I don’t get to a restroom!”

  “I take it this is part of your latest diet?” I asked, smiling.

  “Sixty-four ounces a day.” She smiled and turned the radio up as loud as it would go when she realized her favorite song was on then began to sing along.

  Reluctantly I joined her.

  I was like a teapot screeching on the stove. Instead of releasing steam, though, with every chorus I let go of a problem, like my parents’ separation and Chase’s new interest in my mother. As quickly as the thoughts entered my mind, they blew away with the fifty-five-mile-an-hour wind. Bri had done it again. I felt like my old self; I was happy. My insides were smiling, even if it was only temporary.

  A few minutes later, we grabbed our bags from the backseat and headed into the massive gym. It was freezing inside.

  “Do they hang meat in here or what?” I asked. Luckily it still smelled new inside. I couldn’t stand how our gym at school reeked of body odor and sweaty feet.

  “Speaking of meat…” Bri whispered to me.

  I followed her eyes to several young men who were wearing tight T-shirts and standing at the free weights. Their bodies were covered in hard, wet muscles.

  “Dare me to walk up to Mr. Big Pecs in the corner and tell him you’d like his number?”

  “Uh…no.”

  Bri took off. I wanted to die. I looked around for a place to hide.

  Just as she reached him, she turned around and smiled at me. She then cut past Mr. Big Pecs and headed into the women’s locker room. I exhaled. She was going to be the death of me.

  On the way back to my house, I tried to distract Bri from noticing that we were about to pass Freezie Treetz. Who was I kidding?

  “I’ll just get a small vanilla cone,” she said, as she pulled up to the menu in the drive-through. “No chocolate shell,” she added, as if that made it OK.

  I rolled my eyes and tried to hide my grin.

  “I bet I lost two pounds with all that sweating I did. I’ve earned this.”

  Crunch! She bit into the crispy cone as soon as the cashier handed to her.

  After a few more bites, it was as if it never had happened.

  “Too bad we didn’t join the gym sooner. That place is a market,” she said as she drove.

  “We’re not going back to that class, are we?” I whined.

  “The class—no. The gym—definitely.”

  I frowned.

  “We’re going, Ash! You can thank me later.”

  “Let’s take it easy next time, though,” I said, “and do the treadmill.” I made her promise.

  Bri let her Chevelle coast down my long driveway.

  My house was small and old but charming. It was made of stained cedar and large round rocks. It also had lots of windows and a covered front porch. A cobblestone path ran from the driveway to the door, and woods surrounded the house; it looked like a cottage. I often thought Snow White and her seven little friends would have liked it here. I used to love it here. Now when I came home, I cringed.

  Chase was a family friend who worked with my dad. I’d known him forever. I thought he would have stopped coming by when my dad had moved out, but it had gotten worse recently. I didn’t know if he had a thing for my mom or what. It was like he was tr
ying to impress her by being overly helpful and nice to me. “I’ll drive Ashley to the mall.” “I can take Ash to work.” He was so annoying; I avoided him like he was contagious.

  His obnoxiously large truck was parked in the middle of the driveway like he owned the place. No consideration for anyone else who may have wanted to park there as well. So what if my mom’s car was parked in the garage and I didn’t have a car? It was still rude, I thought.

  Bri knew how I felt without my having to say a single word. “Do you want to come stay at my house tonight?”

  “It’s OK. Go spend time with your mom. You’ll be back for me a little later, though, right?”

  “Do you have to ask?” Bri smiled then quietly backed out.

  I walked as slowly as I could, trying to put off the inevitable. I even grabbed the mail to stall a little longer. I sneaked inside the house as silently as a ninja. I saw my mom and Chase relaxing in the den. She was reading on the sofa, and he appeared to be listening to the TV from the recliner while staring intently at something on his BlackBerry.

  Chase was huge—not fat, just big. He was sitting with his long legs spread far apart, all sprawled out and comfortable, again like he owned the place. It was like having his F-350 parked in the living room. He took up more space than his fair share. He had thick brown hair that he wore in a short buzz cut that never moved, and he was always clean-shaven.

  I almost made it to my room. “Ashley, is that you, hon?”

  Busted! “Yeah…it’s me.”

  My mom met me in the kitchen. “You’re back early. Did you and Brianne have fun at your class?” Looking at my mom was like looking into a mirror twenty-five years from now. I could also see how my hair would boing about if I ever decided to chop it off at the top of my shoulders.

  “We decided not to join.”

  “Why not?”

  “It almost killed Bri, and the classroom has a giant window for a wall.”

  “Yikes!”

  “No kidding. Everyone in the gym could see us. Some people even stopped to watch!”

  “That’s too bad.”

  My mom looked at the envelopes in my hands. “Oh, yeah, here,” I said, handing her everything. “I got the mail for you.”

  “Ashley, I told you to let me do that!” she snapped. “I have so many things to keep up with, and I don’t want anything getting lost.”