Dead Woman Crossing J.R. Adler (early reader chapter books txt) 📖

Focus. Kimberley got to the driver’s side first. The airbag had gone off, and a woman with long blond hair that looked both dry and oily sat dazed in the passenger seat. Kimberley yanked open the door.

“Are you okay?” she asked, examining the woman.

She was thin, dressed in blue jean shorts and a white tank top. Scrapes and cuts covered her bare thighs where tiny shards of glass were sprinkled all over her. The woman looked up at Kimberley, her face a mix of a blank stare and confusion. A dark bruise wrapped around her left eye like a coiled black snake. That couldn’t have formed that quickly, Kimberley thought to herself.

Sam stood behind Kimberley. “Sarah, let’s get you out of the vehicle slowly,” he said.

Kimberley glanced at Sam and then at the woman in the car… Sarah. He knew her. She reached her hand out to help. Sarah hesitated, but allowed Kimberley to assist her. With one foot on the pavement, Kimberley pulled her out, so she wouldn’t slide against the broken glass that had fallen between her legs. She gently brushed the remaining glass off of herself.

“Sarah, are you okay?” Sam asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just rattled,” she said. “I don’t know how I didn’t see that deer.” Sarah looked out at the fields on either side and then back at Kimberley and Sam.

“We almost hit one too,” Kimberley said.

Sam leaned his head toward his radio clipped on the front of his shirt and spoke into it. “Sam, here. I’ve got an 11-81 out on E1000, east of N2440. Send a couple of deputies, a tow truck, and an ambulance, please. Over.”

“Bearfield here. Burns and I are on our way. Over.”

Sarah pulled a cell phone from the back pocket of her jeans.

“Do you wanna call your husband?” Sam asked.

Sarah looked up at him and nodded.

“Go on ahead. We’ll take care of the deer and wait here until the other deputies arrive.” Sam nodded, walking past the damaged vehicle to the back of it.

“What do you mean we’ll take care of it?” Kimberley asked, keeping pace with Sam’s slow walk.

As they neared the trunk of the vehicle, she could hear a muffled moan. In the ditch lay the bloodied, broken deer. Its tongue hanging out, its head swaying side to side, and then that awful muffled groan emitting from its open mouth. Its black eyes stared at Kimberley, a shred of life still in them, begging for help.

“We can’t let it suffer,” Sam said, pulling his revolver from his holster.

“You’re just going to shoot it? Isn’t there an animal hospital you can take it to?” Kimberley asked, knowing full well her question was ridiculous.

Sam glanced over at her. “It’s the compassionate thing to do.” He raised his gun, aiming at the deer’s swaying head. Sam squeezed the trigger. Bang. The deer’s head hit the ground with a thud. Its black eyes still stared at Kimberley, but there was nothing left behind them. Shooting animals was new for her and not something she ever thought she’d get used to. At least with humans, the really bad ones, she could wrap her head around the idea that the world was better off without them, that justice was served, that they deserved it. Kimberley found humans were more like animals than animals were. She took a deep breath, inhaling the dry, dusty air. It scratched the back of her throat, causing her to cough several times.

“You alright?” Sam drew his brows together.

“Yeah.” She cleared her throat and glanced over at the woman, who was in a hushed conversation on her phone, pacing back and forth on the country road. “You see the bruise on her left eye? That couldn’t have happened during the car accident?” Kimberley’s voice was full of concern.

“You’re right. It didn’t. That’s Deputy Craig Lodge’s wife.” Sam raised an eyebrow.

Sarah ended the call, sliding her phone back in her pocket.

Kimberley shook her head and clenched her fist. She wasn’t sure she’d be able to stop it from connecting with Lodge’s face when he showed up.

“He’s on his way,” Sarah said, looking at Kimberley and Sam and then down at her feet, almost as though she was ashamed to say it.

“Looks like I’ll be meeting Lodge sooner than I thought I would,” Kimberley whispered to Sam.

“Be nice. We all want to clock the guy, but there’s a right way to do things around here,” Sam warned.

A black lifted Dodge Ram came speeding down the country road toward Sam, Kimberley, and Sarah. Dust and dirt encircled it as it kicked up everything loose on the ground. The exhaust emitted a blaring roar, which was rather annoying. Oh great, Sarah’s knight in shining armor. Kimberley rolled her eyes. The truck came to a screeching, dramatic halt with Deputy Craig Lodge jumping out of the truck and running to his wife. He was dressed in ratty jeans and a wife beater, but he was shorter than Kimberley had pictured him, coming in at around five foot nine. It was clear he tried to make up for his lack of height with lifting as his arms were thick, veins wrapped around them like ropes. He sported a buzzed military cut, despite never being in the military, and a crooked nose, which suited him.

“Are you okay, sweetheart?” Craig wrapped Sarah in his beefy arms.

She nodded. “It came out of nowhere. Sam said they almost hit one too.”

Sam walked toward them, and Kimberley followed behind. She raised her chin and shook out her clenched fist. Walker was right. There was a right way to do things.

“Deputy Lodge.” Sam tilted his head.

“Hey, Sam.” Craig released Sarah from his bear hug and stood beside her. “Thanks for being here to take care of my wife.”

Kimberley expected him to be a huge dick, but he was being pleasant, nice. A wolf in sheepskin. Sam nodded.

“This here is Chief Deputy Kimberley King. She’s new to the force from the NYPD, but you’ll be working under her when your suspension is up.” Sam