For Whom the Minivan Rolls (Aaron Tucker Mysteries)

223 Pages·2002·0.97 MB·English

by  Jeffrey Cohen

For Whom The Minivan Rolls
An Aaron Tucker Mystery
Jeffrey Cohen
Baltimore, MD
Copyright 2002 by Jeffrey Cohen
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by electronic means, including information storage
and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote
passages in a review.
The people and events depicted in “For Whom the Minivan Rolls” are fictional. Any resemblance to people,
living or dead, or to events is unintentional and coincidental.
Published by Bancroft Press (“Books that enlighten”)
P.O. Box 65360, Baltimore, MD 21209
800-637-7377
410-764-1967 (fax)
[email protected]
www.bancroftpress.com
Jacket Design: Stephen Parke/What? Design [email protected]
Book design by Theresa Williams, [email protected]
1-890862-18-5 (cloth)
1-890862-19-3 (paper)
Library of Congress Card Number: 2002109251
Smashwords Edition
To Jessica, who knows the only thing I haven’t exaggerated is how much I love
her.
Contents
Prologue
Part One: Searching Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Intermission Part Two: Finding Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Epilogue
Praise for Minivan Author’s Note About the Author
Prologue
Eeeeuuuuurrrppp!
The noise—wherever it was coming from—woke Madlyn Beckwirth, and
she nudged Gary, who was snoring beside her. Every few seconds, eeeuuurrrp!
If she just lay there and listened, it was enough to drive Madlyn crazy. That’s
the way things are at two in the morning. So she got out of bed and went
downstairs to investigate.
Madlyn carefully checked the living room and the kitchen, but no one was
there. She realized now the noise was coming from somewhere outside the
house.
Nothing else to do. Madlyn took the chain off the front door, checking to
make sure she had unlocked both the dead bolt and the lock in the doorknob. The
last thing she needed was to be locked out of her own house. Especially with a
man upstairs who wouldn’t wake up if you bounced him out of bed and
screamed at him through a bullhorn.
Nothing on the doorstep, nothing on the lawn. Where the hell was that sound
coming from? A-ha! There at the curb. Madlyn let the air out of her lungs, just
now realizing she had been holding her breath.
Somebody’s car had lost a hubcap while riding past her house. When the
stupid thing had stopped rolling, it had come to rest on a sewer grate, and
wedged itself there. Every time the wind blew, it made a metallic scraping sound
—eeeeuuuuurrrppp!—trying to break free.
She’d never get back to sleep with that racket going on. So, resigned to
venturing even farther outside the house dressed in her bedclothes, Madlyn
headed toward the curb and reached down. Even with both hands, she couldn’t
pull the hubcap out—it was stuck too tight.
Madlyn looked up the street. All the usual cars were parked in front of their
owners’ homes, though a blue minivan she didn’t recognize was parked a couple
of houses down, in front of Diane and Bill’s.
Well, she couldn’t bear that noise anymore, so she decided on a new strategy.
She picked up a stick lying near the curb, wedged it in under the hubcap, and
pried. Sure enough, after a few tries, the hubcap came loose, but the Herculean
effort caused her to stagger backward a few steps into the street.
It was at that moment that the blue minivan, its headlights now on, started
down the street with a squealing of brakes and the smell of burning rubber.
Madlyn didn’t realize at first that it was headed directly at her, and by the time
she did, it was too late to even put up her hands or scream.