The Edge of Nowhere by Elizabeth George Page A

Debbie had been more or less right about the ride. No matter the route, there were plenty of hills.
    The way he chose was straight out Second Street and onto a road called Saratoga. This flashed in and out of the woods, passing meadows and wetlands, and curving high up along the passage between Whidbey and Camano Islands.
    When they reached Goss Lake, Becca saw only a slice of it through the trees. It seemed protected from all wind, hidden away in a cavity of land.
    There were kids everywhere. Most of them were whizzing in one direction on the road that ran around the lake. Others stood along the road with stopwatches, yelling out times. Becca said to Seth, “Wow. It’s supposed to be a time trial for something. I didn’t think there’d be so many kids. What d’you think’s going on?”
    Seth watched them for a minute, resting his hands on the top of the steering wheel as he idled Sammy at the stop sign just at the edge of the route the bicyclers were following. “Looks like they’re getting ready for a race, doing laps around the lake,” he said. “It’s probably a fund-raiser.” He went on to say that there was always a fund-raiser for one cause or another going on on the island. She’d get used to that.
    They watched the kids for another minute, with Seth concentrating on every rider that went by. Becca finally said to him, “Are you looking for someone?”
    He said, “Who me? Nah.” He waved off the idea. “What about you? Who’re you s’posed to meet?”
    “Some kids,” she said.
    “That’s helpful,” he joked.
    “Derric Mathieson,” she told him.
    Becca wasn’t ready at all for what came next. The air in the car went completely dead, as if life itself had been sucked right out of the old VW. In its place Becca heard prick . . . did not . . . oh yeah right . . . like I really believe . . .
    Warily, Becca glanced at Seth. She felt uneasy when she saw that his eyes had gone flat.
    Finally, he spoke. His voice sounded careful and a little cagey. “Can’t take you any farther than this. Too many bikes. Everyone’s probably hanging around the boat launch. That’d be the logical place to start the ride.” He pointed to the right. The launch was just along the road a ways, he told her. Someone would be there who could take her back into Langley later. “I can’t stay,” he said. “You’ll ask someone for a ride, right?”
    He sounded concerned, sort of sorry to be leaving her on her own. But no way no way . . . just what I need . . . jerk-off buttwipe was on his mind and his expression remained what it was. Becca had the feeling that she needed to get away from him. She needed to do it quickly, even if it meant that she would have to walk the entire distance back to Langley later.

    BECCA MADE HER way along the narrow road in the direction that Seth had indicated. The bikes whizzed by. Kids along the road called out times and encouragement. As the riders flew by her, Becca caught some of what was going on in their heads. She couldn’t, of course, attach the thoughts to anyone because the thoughts were like leaves in the wind. There were the swear words of someone getting tired of riding. Along with them were the words that told her some boys were admiring the butts of some of the girls as they rode. Someone was hot, and a whole lot of kids were thirsty. But it all felt friendly and innocent. Nothing like those final moments with Seth.
    Becca found the boat launch. A table was set up at the top of the driveway down to a parking lot, and at the table there were three kids sitting with a stack of paperwork while two other kids were recording times being reported by stopwatch holders. One of these latter kids was Derric. He saw Becca and smiled and waved.
    “You made it!” he cried. “Come on over. Watch out for the bikes.”
    As she crossed carefully, she saw him hand off a clipboard to one of the kids at the table. He came up to her and flashed his high-wattage smile.
    He