Miss Trailerhood by Carina Taylor (the top 100 crime novels of all time .txt) 📗

She had a good head start—she’d always been athletic, so even the flip-flops weren’t much of a hindrance for her.

The parking lot was empty by the time I got outside, but then I spotted her running down the sidewalk and disappearing onto a side street toward what looked like a trailer park. I sprinted after her. She had probably panicked since it had been so long since I’d seen her.

And now she was running through a sketchy trailer park just to get away from me.

She was determined. I knew that for a fact. But so was I. I wanted to know where she’d been for the past two years.

I’d expected to hear from her someday—not accidentally bump into her at a Quik Mart after I’d finished a job.

When I reached the entrance to the trailer park, I saw a strange sight. Riley was waving and greeting the people who were outside their homes—a man working on his lawn mower, another man with a camera pointed at a Corvette parked in front of a single-wide, a few kids riding bikes down the street.

It was almost like she knew them.

Weird.

I stood back and watched, unsure of what I was seeing.

Then, something even stranger happened. She reached the first ninety-degree corner of the trailer park and walked determinedly up a short—very short—driveway toward a trailer.

Riley climbed a narrow set of steps and walked inside an Airstream trailer. She acted as if she owned the place.

Who could she know in a trailer park like this? I knew her mom was firmly out of the picture. I knew it couldn’t be Riley who lived here. She’d always sworn that she would never live in a trailer park again.

She didn’t want to speak to me. She’d made that clear when she ran away screaming a few minutes before.

Was this the part where I left and admitted defeat? Or would I go knock on that door and demand answers?

There really was no debate in my mind. I wasn’t exactly the person to let things be. I needed answers.

Why had Riley disappeared without a word? Not even a note. She hadn’t even bothered with a text to my sister.

Nothing like, Hey, I know we’ve been best friends for over ten years and roommates throughout college, but I figured I’d try my hand at the disappearance act. Ciao!

She’d left without a trace. Nola and I had searched high and low for her. I glanced around the trailer park. Apparently, we hadn’t searched low enough.

I stalked forward with determination.

I tried to ignore the hair standing up on the back of my neck. I hated that feeling. It could mean anything. A threat. A stalker. A sense of doom. Static electricity because I forgot fabric softener when I did my laundry...the options were endless.

But there was one thing I knew: Riley was going to have to face me.

I climbed the narrow steps and pounded on the trailer door with an open palm.

A couple seconds later, I heard someone shuffling around inside. I climbed down to the bottom stair in case the door hit me when it swung open.

When it finally opened, I still wasn’t ready. Riley stood on the other side of the door, staring at me with wet hair hanging against her cheeks and an open-mouthed gasp.

She’d kicked off her flip-flops and held a bandage in her hand. She still looked as surprised as she had in the convenience store. The green goo was gone, as well as the towel.

“Is that really you?” I asked to remind myself that this wasn’t a dream. I knew it was her. It was surreal to see her in person after all this time.

Over two years.

We had all expected the worst had happened to her. Whatever the worst may have been. The worst was different for each person and especially different for those who’d had to live through the worst.

But as Nola and I had discussed repeatedly, the only thing that would have driven Riley away would have fallen into the category of the worst.

Facing her now, I couldn’t think of any questions to ask. I wish I could’ve been eloquent and eased into the conversation with natural charm. Something that would show her how much I missed her, yet not make me look like a pathetic young boy who’d had the biggest crush on her.

But all thoughts of tact disappeared. I wanted to know where she’d been, why she hid, why she’d stayed so close to Riverly where we’d grown up.

“Where have you been?” I demanded. She immediately tried to slam the door. I caught it with my left hand and wrenched it open; it wasn’t difficult to do because it was a trailer, and the door was light.

As was Riley.

She was a scrappy little soul. I knew that from all the times she'd tackled me to the ground during high school. But the years had been good to me. I’d finally filled out and put on some pounds of muscle. It took a lot of sandwiches, chocolate milk, and protein shakes. I was no bodybuilder, but I finally looked like I might survive a light breeze.

I held the door wide open and clenched my jaw as I waited for her to answer. The muscles on my forearm pulsed as I pulled myself up the steps to her eye level. She was wearing shorts and a T-shirt, and her feet were bloody and bare.

Forgetting my anger at her desertion and silence, I pointed to her foot.

“What did you do? Are you all right?”

Riley nodded but didn’t speak. She stared at me with what I was beginning to think was a permanently surprised expression.

I couldn’t tell if she was happy to see me, angry, or wanted me to go away. Slamming the door could have been a reflex rather than a thought-out action. I would pretend that her flight from the grocery store was a reflex as well. Of course she would be thrilled to see me. I mean, it had been two years.

I brushed past her into the trailer. It was light and bright