Knight In Black Leather by Gail Dayton (ebook reader ink .txt) 📕

different. Something that hasn't been seen in Flash's part of town."

"Oh." Marilyn stopped her pacing and sat in a dining chair, biting her lower lip. "You really think--?"

"No." He didn't. Flash didn't operate this far out in suburbia and he only had the kids he controlled and an occasional girlfriend to help him. "But there's always that one wild, quirky outside chance and I don't want to risk it."

She chewed on her lip some more. Eli wished she wouldn't do that. It made him want to come over there and pull her abused lip into his own mouth, and he didn't think she was in the mood.

"We could swap it out for my car, couldn't we?" she said after a minute.

"You mean that isn't your car we've been driving?" It couldn't be stolen. Marilyn didn't do things like that. "Whose car is it?"

Her cheeks turned a pretty pink. "Well, it's mine too. I mean, I own it--it was Bill's car. He was in his work truck when he had the wreck. Julie took my car--the one I usually drive--to college with her. It gets better mileage. I guess I was thinking she'd come home more than she has. And even if it is a 'mom car,' it has a higher cool quotient than the Barge."

"So we drive up to her college and swap out cars, is that what you're saying?"

Marilyn bit her lip again. "I need to see Julie. Talk to her face to face. I know Mom's bound to have called her, and I have no clue what her reaction will be. Maybe if she meets you..."

Eli blinked. Marilyn actually wanted him to meet her daughter? Most moms tried to keep him as far away from their daughters as possible, preferably a state or two over. Look at how Marilyn's mom was acting.

But then Marilyn was the one he was having this... He didn't know what to call it, this thing between them. Whatever it was, if it meant he had to meet her whole family, then he'd do it. He'd do whatever he had to. "Okay. Let's do it."

Marilyn called and left a message on her daughter's answering machine--her busy social life had apparently brought about the need for it--and they took off. The road to State College was four lane most of the way, and snow free, including the last two-lane stretch into town.

Eli waited by the car while Marilyn went in the dorm to look for her daughter. He felt a hundred years old, watching all the fresh-faced college kids, male and female, walk past. Eventually Marilyn came back, her cheeks red with the cold. Eli leaned forward and kissed her on one of them, unable to stop himself.

"Did you find her?" he asked.

"No, she wasn't in. I went up and knocked. The stereo was on, but that doesn't mean anything. It probably plays twenty-four/seven. I left keys to the Barge in her mailbox in the lobby." Marilyn clutched her coat closer together at the neck, huddling against the cold. It was considerably colder here than it had been when they left Pittsburgh that morning. "We can go, I guess."

"Don't you want to wait? See if she comes back?"

Again she did that lip-biting thing. "I would like to talk to her."

"So we wait. No problem. We don't have anywhere else to be, do we?"

"Let's get the cars taken care of first. If I know my daughter, we'll have to clean it out before we can stand to get in it."

Eli nodded. "Fine by me. You know where it's parked?"

Marilyn spread her arms wide to indicate the massive parking lot surrounding them. "Somewhere in this lot. It's the only lot she has a permit for."

"Great." He reached in the back seat of the big car and pulled out his crutch. His leg would ache too much if he went on a search without it. "Let's go."

The gold mid-sized sedan wasn't as hard to find as he'd feared, among all the sports cars. There was the occasional barge, too, the general size and vintage of the one they were leaving for Julie, so she wouldn't feel too out of place.

Marilyn was hauling a load of empty drink cups and fast food bags to the trash can while Eli cleared the CDs out of the glove compartment when the inevitable happened.

"Keep your hands where I can see them and step slowly from the car."

Eli glanced over his shoulder to see a campus cop holding a gun leveled at his head. He swore under his breath, not loud enough for the cop to take offense, and did exactly what he'd been told. He wobbled a bit as he stood up but didn't dare reach for his crutch. The officer might misconstrue the action, and Eli sure as hell didn't want to get shot on top of everything else. He'd never been shot and didn't want to ruin his record.

Playing up the broken bones, Eli hobbled to the front of the car and assumed the position. He got patted down and hand-cuffed, partially. The cuff wouldn't reach around the cast on his right arm, nor would the arm go behind his back the way the officer wanted. He settled for leaving Eli's hands in front of him.

"Whatchadoin', huh?" the officer said, as he jury-rigged something to hold the cuff closed around the cast. "Figure you'll clean out the car? Get you some new tunes?"

Was it any use to answer? Probably it wouldn't hurt. The guy had put his gun away.

"I was helping a friend trade cars with her daughter," he said.

"Sure. That's why we got a call that someone was stealing a car. Your 'friend' into grand theft auto?" The cop reached into Eli's hip pocket for his wallet and ID.

"She owns the car." Eli leaned against the hood, trying to look helpless since he knew he couldn't do innocent. "Would you mind handing me that crutch?"

"Hey!" Marilyn shouted from a few lanes away and broke into a run. "What