by Kathi Daley
He was back to the car just as Bosley finished his business. She put him back in the SUV, then climbed back in as well.
“We’re around back.”
Michael had booked two rooms with a connecting door. Harper laid Princess on the bed and looked around the room. Modest but adequate. A queen-size bed, an adjoining bath without a tub but an adequate shower, and an old but functioning television. Michael brought in the diaper bag, and she got to work taking care of the baby’s needs.
“I’m going to leave the connecting door open if that is okay with you,” Michael said. “I’d hoped they’d have a suite like the one we had at the hotel, but no such luck.”
“That’s fine.” She glanced at the old TV. “I slept in the car, so I was going to watch TV for a while after we’d eaten. I don’t want to disturb you.”
“I’m sure I’ll be fine. I can pull the door mostly closed, leaving it open only a crack. I spotted a café down the way a bit. I can’t see any way that anyone who might be looking for us would ever be able to find us here, so I think it will be fine for us to both go out rather than my bringing food back here.”
“Sounds good to me. Just let me finish feeding Princess.”
“I’ll feed Bosley and take him out for a longer run while you do that.”
After changing the baby, Harper warmed a bottle and snuggled up against the headboard to feed her. She would miss this quiet time together with the baby once they met up with Ben, but she knew that handing her off to him was the smartest thing to do. She’d heard Michael on the phone with Ben discussing the map and cryptic clues they’d found. From what she’d overheard, it seemed as if she and Michael were heading to New Mexico after they’d met with Ben. She’d never been to New Mexico before but had always wanted to. She’s seen photos of the miles and miles of high desert and found them to be both haunting and beautiful. Of course, she doubted, given the circumstances, they’d have time to do much if any sightseeing.
After the puppy and baby were fed, they drove back to the coffee shop, which was small but cozy and clean. The waitress had called out to them to sit anywhere, so Harper slid into a booth, setting the infant carrier on the seat next to her. They’d had to leave Bosley in the car and Harper felt bad about that, but Michael had done a good job of tiring him out, so she imagined he would sleep the entire time they were gone. Harper was glad that she could see the SUV through the window close to where they were seated. She agreed with Michael that there was no way anyone could know where they were at this point, but it still made her feel better to keep an eye on things.
“Coffee?” the waitress asked.
“Please,” both Michael and Harper replied at once.
“Special is sausage gravy over biscuits with two eggs for two ninety-nine, or we have a full menu.”
“I’ll have the special,” Michael answered.
“I’ll just have two eggs scrambled with sausage,” Harper informed the woman.
“It looks like it is starting to snow again. Any word on the road north of here?” Michael asked as the waitress jotted down their order.
“It’s clear for now, but it doesn’t take much to close it. Best to keep your eye on the IDT website if you plan to travel north in the next twenty-four hours. Your order will be right up.”
“Do you think we’ll be okay?” Harper asked after she walked away.
Michael took out his phone and pulled up the app for the Idaho Department of Transportation. “I think so, but I don’t think we should wait until dark to head out. After we eat, I’ll grab a few hours of shut-eye and then we’ll hit the road again. As soon as we get over the mountain, we’ll look for a place to spend the night.”
Harper took a long sip of her coffee. This had been the craziest driving trip she’d ever taken. She thought about the clues to the ledger that Isabella had left behind and realized, in all likelihood, that the truly insane part of it was most likely still ahead of them.
After breakfast, they returned to the SUV. She strapped the baby into the car seat and then left the infant carrier on the seat next to her. Then she placed the diaper bag into it, while Michael greeted the excited puppy, who had been sleeping in the cargo area. It was only about a mile back to the motel, so it might have been okay to leave the sleeping baby in the carrier, but as far as Harper was concerned, it was better to be safe than sorry. The last thing she wanted was for the baby to become injured on her watch.
Michael slowed as they approached the motel. “Did you leave anything in the room?”
She stopped to think about it. “No. All we brought into the room were the baby and the diaper bag. Oh, and the dog bowls and food. But we packed everything up when we headed to the coffee shop. Why do you ask?”
Michael drove past the motel before pulling onto a side street. “Did you see that black sedan with California plates in front of the motel?”
“I saw a black sedan. I didn’t notice the plates. Do you think someone followed us after all?”
He frowned. “Honestly, I doubt it, but I’m not willing to risk it. I think we should drive on.”
“You’ve been driving all night,” Harper protested. “Are you sure you’re all right to go on?”
Michael nodded. “I’m okay. Let’s get over the mountain and then take a look at the map. It may be time to adjust our route.”
She turned and looked back toward the motel. “I really don’t see how anyone could have followed us. Maybe the person in the dark sedan was just traveling the same route we are.”
“Maybe. Call Ben and ask him to run the plates.” Michael rattled off the license number he’d noted when they’d driven by.
She called Ben, who promised to run the plates right away and call them back.
“No one even knows I’m with you,” Harper pointed out. “I think you’re being overly cautious.”
“I did pull into the motel where you hid that first night and I did send the cop I encountered on a fake disabled vehicle call. I didn’t notice him take down my plate number, but he might have. Especially given the fact that I have Minnesota plates and he would eventually have found out that the woman driving the car left abandoned at the scene of the accident was originally from Minnesota, I should have known better and dumped the car. At the very least, I shouldn’t have used my credit card. If the cop I encountered made the connection between us, it would have been easy enough for someone to follow the money trail. I used my credit card both times we filled up the tank and when I rented the motel room here, as well as the hotel room in Oregon.”
She supposed what he was saying was true: using his credit card probably had not been the best idea. “So, what are we going to do now? We’ll need money for food, fuel, and lodging, and I don’t have any cash.”
“I don’t have a lot of cash on me either, but we have enough fuel to get over the mountain. We’ll have to figure things out from there.”
Michael waited for twenty minutes and then pulled out onto the highway. He drove back past the motel only to find the black sedan now parked in front of a room two doors down from the rooms they had rented. He turned around and headed out of town as quickly as the road conditions would allow. If the person in the black sedan believed they were planning to stay in the rooms they’d rented, hopefully they’d wait there for them to return, giving them a significant enough lead to lose them.
Ben returned her call shortly after they merged onto the open highway. Michael put it on speaker. “The plates you had me run belong to an official DEA vehicle. I can’t say yet who the vehicle has been checked out to.”
Michael pursed his lips. “I figured as much. I guess the CHP officer I encountered that first night must have run my plates. I’m afraid I’ve left a pretty easy trail to follow with my credit card purchases.”
“Do you have cash?” Ben asked.
“Not enough.”
“I’ll bring cash with me to our rendezvous and we’ll change out the car you are driving then. In the meantime, try to keep a low pr
ofile.”
“It’s snowing pretty hard and the guy following us doesn’t have four-wheel drive,” Harper informed him. “Chances are he’ll be waiting for us to get back to the motel at least for a while.”
“Let’s hope so. Call me after you get over the mountain,” Ben instructed.
Once they began to climb in altitude again, the trip became increasingly difficult. Not only was the snow coming down so hard that visibility was minimal, the snow was beginning to build up on the road. Thankfully, Michael’s Range Rover had decent four-wheel drive and adequate tires. He assured her that as long as they took it easy, they should be fine.
“It’s really coming down,” she said nervously.
He slowed down just a bit. “Yeah. The road up ahead narrows, and it is going to get dicey as we climb up the summit. I suppose the good news is that there is no way the guy in the sedan is going to be able to follow us, if that’s what he has in mind.”
She felt her pulse quicken. Having grown up in Minnesota, she was used to traveling in the snow, but she wasn’t used to traveling in snow bordered by a mountain on one side and sheer drop-offs on the other. “I’m surprised they haven’t closed the road.”
“I noticed an IDT truck on the side of the road when we passed the point where they usually close it. My guess is that we were the last vehicle to get through.”
“Maybe we should have pulled over.”
“If I didn’t think we were being followed, I would have.”
Her stomach knotted up as she looked out of the window at the sheer drop-off beside them. There was a guardrail, but she wasn’t certain it would stop a heavy vehicle from plunging over the side should they lose traction. Michael was taking it slow and he had the vehicle in low four-wheel drive. He’d assured her they’d be fine, and she’d chosen to believe him. The snow was coming toward the windshield in such a way as to make her feel dizzy, so she turned her head and looked at the man beside her instead. Tall, broad-shouldered, and masculine, with dark hair and dark eyes. She knew he spent a good part of his life sitting at a desk manipulating a computer, but given his firm build, she suspected he also spent time either at the gym or involved in athletic pursuits.
“So, tell me more about Michael Maddox,” she said to divert her attention from the road that she could no longer see. “Do you ski?”
“Of course.”
“Water, snow, or both?”
“Both. I also kayak, mountain bike, and rock climb. What about you? Are you a fan of the outdoors?”
“You do remember that my fiancé and I were treasure hunters, right?”
“That’s right. I remember you telling me that. Tell me about some of the places you’ve dived.”
“The first trip I took with Eric after getting certified was to the Bahamas. He’d hired on as a diver for a salvage operator who’d already discovered and begun to salvage a wreck. I wasn’t experienced enough to actually join in on the operation, but I helped out on the boat and was able to participate in recreational dives in the area. The three months we spent in the Bahamas sealed my love for the sea.”
“I’ve never tried scuba diving, but I’ve always wanted to try it. I bet it is incredible.”
She thought about the clear blue water, colorful fish, and warm sand beneath her feet. “It’s really something. You definitely should learn. I’m sure there are classes in Minneapolis.”
“I’m sure there are. Go on. Where did you do after the Bahamas?”
“Eric got a job as a dive master for a tour company. In the next eighteen months we traveled to Costa Rica, Australia, Belize, and Nicaragua. Eventually we signed on with a salvage operation in Australia. It was pretty exciting, but then Eric got wanderlust, so we moved on. After hopping around from continent to continent for a while, Eric met this guy in Puerto Rico who told him about a wreck he’d heard about off the coast of Cozumel. Eric had always wanted to go after his own treasure, so he quit the company we were working for at the time and we took off for Mexico.”
“Did you find the wreck?” Michael asked.
She nodded. “We did. Unfortunately, it was that wreck that led to Eric’s death.”
Michael took his hand off the wheel for a moment and squeezed her hand. “I’m sorry.”
She shrugged. “It’s okay.” She looked out the window. “I can’t even see the road.”
“Yeah, the lines are totally buried. We’ve reached the summit and will begin to drop in elevation. I might be able to make it off the mountain, but to tell you the truth, I am exhausted, and my eyes are beginning to blur. There was a sign a half mile back for a camp coming up. It looked like they had cabins. I think we should stop.”
“They’d be seasonal cabins, wouldn’t they? They’d be closed now,” she pointed out.
“Still better than napping in the car. Keep an eye out for the turn off. If the cabins have fireplaces, we’ll stop and rest up a bit. Not only am I about to fall asleep, but Princess must need to be changed and fed by now.”
She realized that Michael was right. They all needed to take a break. “There,” she said, pointing. “There is a road just beyond the sign advertising the cabins.”
Michael pulled off the highway. The driveway hadn’t been plowed, so he stopped shortly after pulling onto the private road to avoid getting stuck. “Wait here. I’ll check it out. If it looks like an option, we’ll hike in.”
She turned to speak to the baby, who had begun to cry once Michael disappeared into the storm. “It’s okay, Princess. I know you need to be changed and fed; it won’t be long now.”
Bosley stuck his head over the back seat from the cargo area. He began to whine as well. The time to take a break really had come and gone for everyone.
“There is a cabin not far from here,” Michael came back and informed her. “We’ll grab what we need and walk in. I’d try driving, but I’d hate to get stuck. You grab the baby and I’ll grab the diaper bag and the bag of snacks I picked up at the last gas station we stopped at. The cabins are locked, so we’ll need to break in, but I seem to remember that you are fairly proficient at doing just that.”
“I can get us in.”
The closest cabin was small. Really only a single room with a small bathroom in the rear, and the water was turned off. There was a fireplace, however, and dry wood stacked in a wood box on the covered porch. Michael scooted the sofa, which pulled out into a bed, over in front of the fireplace and then started a fire while Harper quickly changed the baby’s diaper. She mixed up a bottle with some of the bottled water she had left, and Michael filled water he’d obtained from melting snow in the pan they’d found in a cupboard over the fire.
Michael gathered all the pillows and blankets in the cabin while Harper lay down on the pulled-out bed before the fire with the baby and the bottle. The puppy had taken care of his bathroom needs as they’d hiked up the road, so Michael saw to a meal for him and then he too snuggled under the covers with Harper and the baby.
“This is actually kind of cozy,” she said.
“It is,” Michael agreed.
“Should we be worried that the man following us will catch up with us?”
“He won’t. I’m sure the road is closed now, and it won’t be reopened until the snow has stopped and a plow has been through. By the time that happens, we’ll be long gone.” Michael adjusted a pillow behind his head as Bosley jumped up onto the sofa and snuggled in his lap. “We’ll grab some sleep and then get back on the road. As I said, we are over the summit now, so everything from here to the valley is downhill. As long as we take it slow, we’ll be fine.”
Harper wanted to point out that they were a lot more likely to lose control of the vehicle on the downhill side of the mountain, but she didn’t. “I’d say we should check in with Ben, but I suspect there is no service up here.”
“There isn’t,” he confirmed. “I checked when we first arrived. Are you hungry? I have potato chips, beef jerky, and a couple of candy bars.”
“I’m fine,
but you go ahead.”
He opened a bag of chips. “Are you warm enough?”
“Getting there. The fire is nice, but my feet are frozen after the hike from the road to the cabin.”
“Let’s take off our shoes and I’ll put them near the fire. Socks too. They should be dry by the time we leave. Before we go, I’ll look to see if there are any plastic bags in the cupboards. They aren’t as effective as snow boots, but they’ll help to protect your shoes in a pinch.” Michael yawned. “I’m going to try to get some shut-eye. I’ve stacked enough wood near the fireplace to see us through the night. I intend to keep an eye on it, but if I fall asleep and you notice the fire has burned down, wake me. We’ll want to keep it going or it will get awfully cold in here.”
“Go ahead and grab some sleep,” she said. “I’ll keep an eye on the fire. I know this is a bit odd, but I’m kind of wound up.”
Michael was stretched out next to her. The puppy curled up next to his stomach. Harper snuggled the baby close to her chest and promptly fell asleep. It wasn’t until she woke up hours later and the cabin was freezing that she remembered her promise to watch the fire. Settling the baby on the sofa bed next to where she’d been laying, she climbed out and padded barefoot across the icy floor. Michael was snoring softly and she didn’t want to wake him, so as quietly as she could, she stirred the coals, then layered several pieces of wood on the smoldering fire. She was about to climb back into the bed when she heard a scratching at the door. She looked toward the puppy, who was still fast asleep. She didn’t think the noise sounded as if it had been made by a person, but she figured she should be sure. She tiptoed to the window at the front of the cabin and pulled back the curtain to find a face staring back at her.