Road Test David Wickenhauser (the top 100 crime novels of all time .TXT) 📖

“Climb on up. And thanks for these. We can have them for a lunch break,” Hugh said. He took three of the sandwiches and the extra coffees and put them in his little refrigerator. Charlie ate her sandwich and drank her coffee.

“Thank you, Hugh, for the hotel room. It was just what I needed,” Charlie said.

Roly said, “Well, ya’ll, I need to get on the road. Keep us updated on how things are going.”

“Thanks again, Roly,” Jenny said. She gave him a hug.

Roly climbed down from the truck, waved goodbye and walked toward his car.

“OK, Charlie. You hang here for a bit. Jenny and I need to use the facility, and then we’ll get to making my deliveries after I fuel up,” Hugh said.

When Hugh pulled into the fuel island, Charlie watched as Jenny jumped down on the passenger side, put on her gloves, grabbed the satellite pump nozzle and waited for Hugh to tell her to begin filling the tank on that side of the truck.

Charlie would never admit it out loud, but she envied Jenny’s youthful appearance, her vitality, and her having won the love of a man like Hugh.

She knew it was too late for her to ever recapture those first two attributes for herself, and in her experience she knew she probably never would enjoy a faithful love of the kind she had seen existing between Hugh and Jenny.

Jenny had not spoken more than a couple dozen words to Charlie in total since the first time they had met.

Charlie understood. At first, she had assumed an attitude of superiority and held herself above Jenny. But, the time she had spent with Hugh made her realize only someone very, very special could earn the love of a man like him.

It was shattering for Charlie to realize she, herself, was a person of low station compared to Jenny. Charlie intended, when she would finally be able to get some time alone for reflection, to make a deep examination of the synergy of Hugh and Jenny that has made the two of them together greater than the sum of them separately.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Seating arrangements for the three of them was a bit awkward. As big as a Freightliner Cascadia semi-truck was, it was still only a two-seater.

Hugh solved the problem by installing the restraining netting that had come with the bunks. It was similar to the web strapping used in the cargo holds of airplanes. In truck sleepers it was used as safety restraints, like seat belts, for the off-duty team driver who slept while the truck was in motion.

Jenny took the passenger seat, and Charlie sat in Hugh’s bunk behind the netting.

Hugh made his three multi-deliveries fairly quickly, as they were located close to each other in the original Silicon Forest area of West Portland.

His next load order came in on the Qualcomm.  He just had to do a drop and hook at the nearby large grocery distribution center where a trailer was destined for a Costco distribution center. Drop his empty and hook up the loaded trailer.

Freight to Costco DCs can range from a whole trailer load of one item, like toilet paper, to a trailer full of miscellaneous items. It was the latter Hugh was hauling down to the massive Costco DC in Tracy, California.

“OK. On the road, finally,” Hugh said, as he caught the onramp to Interstate 5 South.

“ETA at the Indian casino is about seven and a half hours from now, give or take.”

It was mid-morning. Hugh expected them to be rolling in around six-ish, allowing for breaks.

“Jenny, can you text James and give him our ETA?”

To Charlie he said, “You’ve been quiet. Are you OK?”

“Yeah. Sorry. It’s just that sometimes all this can be kind of overwhelming. Less than a week ago I was sitting at my desk in Boise wondering what my next big investigative story was going to be, and here I am strapped in like cargo in the cab of a semi-truck, riding down the highway, and getting ready to bunk in a different truck with a total stranger.”

Hugh and Jenny both laughed at that.

“I admit it does sound kind of funny,” Charlie said.

“By the way,” Hugh said. “For the ease and comfort of all aboard this cruise liner we will make as many unscheduled stops as necessary to meet everyone’s bathroom needs.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Jenny said, and Charlie nodded.

“We’re in good shape time-wise, and we’re on a major freeway with a lot of rest areas and truck stops. So, no problem,” Hugh said.

A couple of hours down the road, Hugh changed lanes to pass a pig-hauler. As he drove alongside, they could see the pigs’ little, curly, pink tails sticking out through the holes of the trailer’s metal punch panel side wall.

Some of the pigs were also sticking their little pink snouts through the holes, sniffing the air. These pigs were in the three-months-of-age range. Hugh knew they were being shipped to a feedlot to be fattened up.

“That is so cute,” Charlie said. “How adorable. Like Babe.”

Hugh looked at Jenny, and winked.

To Charlie, he said, “You do realize these little piggies aren’t going to California to visit Disneyland?”

“Well, yeah. I guess. That’s so sad,” she replied.

“If you want to see something that will really break your heart, there are long stretches of I-5 in California with huge fields where the spring lambs are born. You can see them running, playing, and jumping all around the mother ewes,” Hugh said.

“There are even babysitter ewes that have a dozen or more little lambs under their charge. It really is fun watching them. It goes on for miles.”

“Let me guess,” Charlie said. “Lamb chops? Rack of lamb?”

“Yup, you got it,” Hugh replied.

“Speaking of which,” Jenny said. “Maybe