Search is loosely based on a real incident. The incident remains, the story is greatly different.
Enjoy. And remember, it’s still a work in progress. These chapters are rough drafts. I’ve completed twenty-seven chapters so far and it seems I’ll complete the novel this time. We’ll see.
Read Search Chapter 6
Search Chapter 7 – Friday, 11 Jan 1974
Gio drove north on I-95, Jeri beside him and Stephanie filling out the Comet’s front seat by the passenger door. Jeri caught him staring at the Sheraton Inn off Maine Mall Road in South Portland.
“Never been this far into Maine before?”
“My grandfather brought me up here sometimes. To visit friends.”
“Most people coming to Maine on business never get further than Portland. They get as far as the Sheraton and have people meet them there.”
“Looks like a satellite, doesn’t it? Big cylinder, all black with silvery edges and lines, and antennae sticking out of it? Never saw a round building before. Except in pictures.”
Stephanie chuckled. “Yeah. Maine’s an education for everybody.”
Jeri pointed at the approaching four lane divide. “Take 295. It’s quicker.” She checked the speedometer. “About an hour.”
“You drive this road a lot?”
Stephanie pointed at the mall on the right. “Maine Mall’s the only real mall in the entire state. You want to go shopping, you shop there, and we know all the ways to get there.”
“Don’t tell me you two played hooky your senior year.”
Stephanie brushed one hand over the passenger side dashboard. “It was either that or Pin-the-Tail on the bucktoothed moron.” She checked her hand for dust. “I told my parents you’re coming up this weekend.”
The odometer clicked a mile.
“Do you think you can help? Jeri said you could help.”
“I said he might be able to help.”
Stephanie sat forward, her eyes on Gio. “Well can you? Jeri said you’re some kind of psychic.”
Jeri spun towards Gio. “I never said that. I swear I never said that.”
He patted her thigh. “I believe you, Sweetcheeks.”
Stephanie slumped back in her seat. “I-95’ll get you there, too. More buck-toothed morons that way.”
Gio eased up on the accelerator. He sat up and moved his head back and forth slowly, a cow lowing in a field. A moment later he smiled and sat back.
Stephanie watched him over Jeri’s shoulders. “What’s going on?”
Jeri scanned the highway. “There’s a police car up ahead somewhere.”
A half-mile further a state police cruiser hid behind some trees off the side of the highway. A Statey stood out from the trees, his hat pulled forward and down so the brim sheltered his eyes, which were further protected by dark-tinted wraparounds. He held with a radar gun in one hand and a mike in the other.
When the Statey was no longer visible in the rearview, Gio tromped the accelerator. “We can still make it in about an hour.”
Jeri looked at Stephanie out of the corner of her eye and smiled.
Continue reading “Search Chapter 7 – Friday, 11 Jan 1974”
