"Thomas, D C - Double Cross" - читать интересную книгу автора (Thomas D C)

She gazed after the retreating figure. "He didn't stop and introduce himself."

I heaved a mock sigh. "You're hopeless. He's got the wrong wheels. With that
beefy build and the tattoo on his arm, he looks like he belongs on a
Harley-Davidson motorcycle, not a mountain bike. Besides, he's not your type."

She turned to me with a wicked grin. "Yes, he is. He's male."
We rode back into the tunnel of trees, which opened up again at the Antietam
Creek camping area. A short distance beyond the campsite, the towpath narrowed
to cross an aqueduct built of massive limestone blocks. The aqueduct channeled
the canal over Antietam Creek, which joined the Potomac on our right.
A little farther on, I saw something red in the bushes. "Hey, Bridget, look.
That guy's poncho must have worked loose."
"You'd think he would have noticed. I wonder why he was in such a hurry?"
I shrugged, not an easy feat on a bicycle. "Who knows?"
We continued for another half mile or so before Bridget stopped at the side of
the path for a drink. "We should probably turn back now. This is fun, but I
need to run some errands before it gets late."
"Yeah, and I have a deadline to meet."
Bridget executed a graceful figure-eight while I got off and walked my bike
around to head the other way. As we approached the red poncho again from the
opposite direction, a flash of light caught my eye and I slowed for a closer
look.
"Hold up, Bridget, there's something else here."
Parking my bike on the edge of the gravel, I lifted the corner of the poncho
and peered under it.
"Kellie? What's wrong?" Bridget's voice sounded odd, like she was talking into
a trash can. She touched my arm and froze, staring down at the body of the
biker, sprawled in a tangle with the shiny red bike, his face covered with
shiny red blood.
I pulled myself together enough to drop the poncho, covering the grisly scene.
"We have to get help. Do you know where the Antietam ranger station is?"
Bridget nodded, her eyes wide with horror.
"I'll stay here with...him while you go get the ranger. Okay?"
She stared at the poncho a minute longer and then came to life. "Yeah, okay.
Are you sure you'll be all right?"
"I'll manage. Get going."
I didn't see another soul until the ranger arrived half a lifetime later. He
lifted the poncho, took a quick look and turned kindly eyes on us. "Would you
ladies wait over by the aqueduct? I'll call for reinforcements and then you
can tell me what you know about this."
As we sat on the stonework overlooking Antietam Creek, the peaceful flow of
the water helped me reassemble my wits. "I keep trying to tell myself he lost
control and hit a tree or something."
Bridget stared out at the creek. "Yeah, I know what you mean. I don't want to
think someone did that on purpose."
A siren coming up the road across the canal announced the arrival of
reinforcements, and a few minutes later the ranger joined us, took our names
and addresses and said, "Tell me about it."
I pulled my eyes off the water and faced him. "We saw the man on the bike