Harper

by Kathi Daley

  “I noticed a mountain outfitter when we passed through. I don’t know if they are still open, but we can check it out on our way to the restaurant.”

  Luckily for Harper, they were still open and had a fair selection of jeans, sweaters, blouses, and even socks and underwear. She picked out three pairs of jeans, two heavy sweaters, two sweatshirts, two blouses, and three T-shirts. Tossing one package each of socks and underwear on top of the pile, as well as something to sleep in, she headed to the footwear section in search of warm and waterproof boots. Michael grabbed a few items as well, although he already had several changes of clothing that he had brought with him. Once they felt they had what they needed, they headed toward the restaurant.

  “Oh look, there is a table by the fireplace. Let’s grab it,” she suggested as she headed for it. “I wasn’t expecting a lot, but this is really quaint. I love the log walls and the river rock around the fireplace. It feels very mountainy.”

  He picked up a menu. “The selection of food looks good as well. I think I am going to have a steak. It’s hard to know what our meals will look like once we hit the road again tomorrow.”

  “It does seem like we will probably be driving through some pretty barren country tomorrow, no matter which route we decide to take. We should find a store and stock up on water and healthy snacks for the road. A lot of these little touristy-type towns close down for the winter, so there might not be a lot of dining options available.”

  “I noticed the gas station near the motel had a minimart. We’ll fill up and grab some snacks before we set off in the morning.”

  The waitress greeted them then, and Harper picked up the menu. She chose grilled salmon with rice and mixed veggies, while Michael ordered the sirloin with a baked potato and broccoli. They each ordered a cup of the clam chowder to start, which the waitress brought with a loaf of bread hot from the oven. In another situation, Harper might have ordered wine, but with the importance of the journey they had committed to, she thought she’d better stick with coffee.

  “So, did you make your travel arrangements for your parents’ anniversary party?” she asked after their soup had been served. Not that she was the sort to ask that sort of question under normal circumstances, but a family party seemed to represent a neutral topic appropriate for the time and place.

  “Not yet. But I will.”

  Harper raised a brow.

  “I will,” he repeated firmly. “We’ve just been a little busy. I know that Megan is worried that I won’t be able to get a flight if I don’t plan ahead, but a single person traveling to a major airport can almost always find a seat somewhere.”

  “I suppose that’s true. I traveled standby a lot of the time when I was in the Army. It was a pain, but I always ended up getting where I needed to be. I guess at this point the bigger problem is us completing this mission before the party rolls around.”

  “We have time.” Michael took a sip of his coffee. “If not, I guess we can take a break from our search for the ledger so I can fly home for the party and then pick it up the following day.”

  “I would be willing to bet that your sister will want you to be home for more than a day.”

  “Now that my parents have decided to downsize and have moved from New York to the Cape, there really isn’t a home to go home to. Everyone has spread out and any semblance of a family home is gone. Meg lives in a tiny apartment in Boston, and as I’ve said, Macy lives in Alaska and Marley is in Italy. Even Matthew moved from New York to New Hampshire. In my mind, attending the party is a one-day obligation, and one day is exactly what I plan to commit to it.”

  Harper thought about her own family home. The huge farmhouse with eight bedrooms, five baths, and a large living area, had once been lived in by the members of a commune who had first settled on the property. After Denver bought them out, it was just her grandmother, grandfather, and mother in the huge house for a time, but then her mother met her father and they filled the bedrooms with five daughters. Harper couldn’t imagine the family farmhouse no longer being in the family. Sure, she hadn’t visited in fourteen years, but she knew that her room would be waiting for her, just like Hayden’s room was waiting for her when she visited from Minneapolis.

  Haven was the only daughter to actually still live in the house. Haley had converted the old barn on the grounds into a home that Harper had never seen but had heard was very nice, and Harlow lived in a small apartment above the bookstore she owned. Harper supposed that the house was somewhat large for just her mother, grandmother, and youngest sister, but in her wildest dreams it had never occurred to her that her mother might want to sell the place and downsize in the future.

  “Do you miss it?” she asked. “The house you grew up in?”

  “Sometimes,” Michael admitted. “I guess what I really miss are the memories, both good and bad, I feel as if I left within the walls of the old place. When I moved out, it never occurred to me that my parents would sell it. I figured that I could go and live my life and it would be there waiting whenever I wanted to visit.”

  “Do you think you would have visited more often if your parents hadn’t moved?”

  Michael shook his head. “No. Not after what happened with Matthew and Julia. I love my brother, and I guess in some way I still love Julia. I want what is best for them, and from what my sisters have told me, they appear to be happy. But the fact that I wish them well doesn’t mean I want a front-row view of their happy life together. A life that part of me still feels should have been mine.”

  Harper put her hand over his. “I’m sorry. It must have been such a brutal betrayal for you. But I’m sure that in time you will find someone who fills the void in your life Julia left behind.”

  Michael sighed. “Yeah. I know. I guess now that I’ve had a chance to gain some perspective, I can see that we weren’t right for each other and most likely wouldn’t have been happy even if we had married. I’m not even sure my feelings have as much to do with Julia’s desertion as they do with Matthew’s betrayal. He was my twin. My best friend. We’d shared everything in the past, but sharing Julia was not something I was prepared to do.”

  The conversation paused as the waitress brought the main course. Harper couldn’t imagine how hard it must have been on Michael when the person he loved most betrayed him at the deepest level. She’d suffered loss in her life, and while Eric’s death had left a huge hole in her life, she didn’t have the pain of betrayal to deal with.

  Chapter 13

  Michael woke early the following morning. He could hear the shower running in the room next door, so Harper must have awakened early as well. The rooms didn’t have coffee makers, but he’d spotted a coffeepot in the motel office, so he bundled up and headed in that direction. The desk clerk was watching the Weather Channel, so he paused to catch the latest update.

  “Looks like we are going to have stormy weather for another week,” the young man behind the counter said.

  “Yeah.” Michael poured coffee into the first of two paper cups he’d taken from the stack on the table. “It looks that way. We are heading south, so hopefully the snow will turn to rain at some point.”

  “I’m sure you’ll hit rain eventually, but you’re going to have to deal with snow for another day at least. The route through Denver is longer, but the roads are somewhat better during a heavy snow than the one through Salt Lake. You might want to call ahead about closures over the passes.”

  “I’ll do that.” Michael slipped a lid on the first of the two cups, then poured coffee in the second. “Do you know where we can grab some breakfast?”

  “Marie’s Diner is open during the off-season. Just hang a right after pulling out of the parking lot. The diner is about a half mile down on your left. Marie has a full menu, but I’d order the biscuits and gravy. They are the best you will find anywhere.”

  “Thanks for the tip. I’m also looking for road maps. Paper maps, in case we lose cell service.”

  “Toby’s Gas Station on the w
ay out of town has a good selection of maps. He’ll be on the right after you leave the town limits. Best pick up some gas as well. Not a lot of stations open around here this time of the year. If you don’t have chains, you might want to buy a set before you head out. A lot of folks with four-wheel drive vehicles don’t think they need chains. A lot of them wind up getting stuck.”

  Michael nodded. “Thanks for the suggestion. I don’t have chains, but there were a few points along this trip they would have been welcome. I guess it is a good idea to carry some just in case.”

  “Seems to me there are a lot of motorists who die in these parts every year because they head out unprepared for the worst. My motto is to prepare for the worst but hope for the best.”

  Michael thanked the clerk again and then left the office with his two cups of coffee. He hoped Harper was ready to go. Biscuits and gravy were sounding better and better the longer he was outdoors, where the predicted high temperature for the day was a whopping eleven degrees.

  ******

  Harper could hear Michael moving around in the adjoining room. She hadn’t slept well and was at the point where she’d give her left arm for a cup of coffee. She’d looked around, but there wasn’t a coffeepot anywhere. After she dressed and dried her hair, she knocked on the door between them. She hoped Michael was up and that he was ready to hit the road. She was sure there was coffee to be found somewhere in this town.

  “Oh good, you’re ready.” Michael handed her a cup of coffee after opening the door. “I found out where we can get breakfast, fuel, maps, and other supplies for the road.”

  Harper took a long sip of the really terrible coffee. “You are a god.” She took another sip despite the taste. At least it had caffeine. “The sky is looking particularly ominous this morning. I hope we don’t end up getting snowed in somewhere.”

  Michael frowned. “Yeah. It isn’t the best day for traveling, but I don’t want to waste a day. We have blankets in the car and I’m going to buy some tire chains. I figure we’ll stock up on snacks and water as well. If we end up in another seasonal cabin, I think we’ll be fine. Be sure to wear the heavy wool socks you bought last night. It’s freezing outside.”

  Harper pulled on her heavy socks and lined boots. “I would think you would be used to the cold by now.”

  “I’m not sure this is the sort of cold you ever get used to.”

  “I don’t remember Moosehead winters being terribly awful, but I did leave when I was eighteen, and I have been living in locations where a cold spell means the temps have dipped below sixty since then. I’m sure I’ll need to reacclimatize a bit. If I decide to stay, that is.” Harper grabbed her new down jacket and fuzzy brown hat and mittens.

  “Do you think you will stay in Moosehead? For a while at least?”

  Harper stepped out onto the walkway and closed her door behind her. “For a while, yes. Definitely until Princess is settled with a family she can grow up with and have a good life. I know that would be what Isabella wanted for her. What she risked everything to ensure. It’s what I want for her as well.”

  Michael took Harper’s gloved hand in his own. “Yeah. Me too. Don’t worry, we’ll figure this out one way or another.”

  ******

  Breakfast was adequate, although Harper didn’t think the biscuits and gravy were quite as good as the desk clerk had assured Michael they would be. They ordered an extra coffee each for the road and then headed toward the little convenience store and gas station where they stopped to buy maps, snacks, tire chains, and water. After Harper picked out both some healthy choices and some junk food for the road, she went to wait for Michael in the SUV, while he fueled up and paid for everything. If this road trip hadn’t been so important, and if Princess’s life hadn’t been on the line, she might actually be enjoying herself. She’d never taken a long trip cross-country and she found the landscape to be gorgeous despite the snow.

  “I’ve been thinking about the map,” Harper said after they got underway.

  “What about the map?” Michael asked.

  “The clues that are provided with the topographical map are clearly encoded. Based on what we know of Isabella, she was just a teenager when she hooked up with a much older, dangerous man. While we can assume that she was street smart given the fact that she managed to escape the compound in New Mexico after traveling to the United States with Garcia, she most likely was not highly educated.”

  “Which means that she had help with the code,” Michael responded. “Which also means that at least one person other than Isabella knows or knew of the location of the ledger.”

  Harper nodded. “Exactly. If it was Agent Beaverton who helped her and he didn’t pass the information on to anyone else, the location may have died with him. If, however, it was someone else who helped her, or if Beaverton shared the information with someone before he knew about the mole, we should expect that we may not be the only ones looking for the ledger wherever it is most likely hidden.”

  Michael frowned. “I was hoping we wouldn’t need to look over our shoulders for this entire trip.”

  “A smart soldier always looks over their shoulder.”

  Michael blew out a breath. “Okay, I guess that we will continue as planned but take extra precautions, especially when we get into New Mexico. I was actually thinking we ought to be extra careful once we crossed the border from Colorado anyway, because we really have no way of knowing if Garcia is still at his compound or if he knows that there may be someone other than him looking for the ledger.”

  “If Isabella took the ledger from the compound, it is likely that it is hidden within a few miles of it. The thought of having to get that close to the place where Princess’s father might very well be hiding out doesn’t thrill me, but I suppose there are a lot of assignments I have been less than thrilled with that worked out fine in the end.”

  He glanced at her. “I have to admit that I am having a hard time picturing you in a combat situation. It must have been intense.”

  Harper paused before she answered. She felt a tug in her chest at her memories. “They were intense, but somehow in the moment when you penetrate enemy lines and are staring the person who has been tasked with killing you in the eye, everything is just a bit too real to worry about being scared. It is almost like the primal part of your consciousness knows that fear has no place in the situation, so you do what you’ve been trained to do and don’t worry about the rest. At least, that was the way it was for me. I’m sure different people experience intense situations like the type my team were assigned differently.”

  She turned around and grabbed a bag of potato chips out of the grocery sack on the seat. She opened the top and popped one into her mouth. She offered the bag to Michael, but he declined. They hadn’t gotten much exercise since they’d been on the trip and she probably should have passed on the chips, but she was hungry. Okay, she wasn’t exactly hungry, she was just a bit agitated by their discussion of her time in the Army, and wasn’t being agitated much the same thing as being hungry?

  “We just passed a sign for a rest stop,” Michael said. “I think we’ll take a short break. Maybe walk around a bit and stretch our legs.”

  “Sounds good. I could use a walk. Do you think we should call Ben? See how he is doing with Princess and Bosley?”

  Michael pulled onto the off-ramp to the rest stop. “I’m sure Ben is doing fine with both of them. He has more experience with babies than both of us put together, and at last count, the Holiday family had six dogs. We’ll call him this evening. I hate to bother him while he is driving if it isn’t an absolute emergency.”

  “Yeah, you’re right. I guess I am just getting anxious to wrap this up.” She grabbed her jacket and slipped on her knit hat and gloves before getting out of the car. It was snowing lightly, but so far, the worst of the storm was still to the east of them.

  “I’m anxious to have this finished as well, although I would be lying if I said I hated everything about the trip. Getting to kn
ow you has been one of the highlights of my life.”

  Harper smiled. “And I’m happy to have met you as well.”

  Michael took her hand and headed toward the heated building where the restrooms and vending machines were located. He popped a dollar into the coffee machine, then turned back to her. “If things go as planned, we should be able to find the ledger, turn it over to the feds, and get on with our lives by this time next week.”

  Harper found the thought of getting on with her life something to be both anticipated and dreaded. On one hand, she wanted Princess to be safe from anyone who would harm her, and she was anxious to figure out the next phase of her own life, but on the other, getting on with her life most likely meant that she’d never see Michael again. He did live in Minneapolis and she was heading to Moosehead, which wasn’t all that far away, but it sounded as if he lived a full and busy life. “Do you visit Moosehead often?”

  “Not really. I know I said I moved to Minnesota so that I could be closer to Ben, which is true, but I’ve been really busy lately and haven’t had a lot of time to visit. I am planning on taking a break once we get home. I have my parents’ anniversary party, but after that I might take Ben up on the ice fishing trip he owes me.” He paused. “And of course I’ll want to be available to help with whatever needs to be done until Princess is totally in the clear.”

  “Of course.” Harper accepted the cup of coffee Michael handed her. “Any idea what we should do with the ledger if we find it?”

  “I’m not sure yet, but a plan for the ledger is number one on my items to discuss with Ben.”

  ******

  Michael was exhausted by the time they reached the outskirts of Denver, so he pulled into the lot of a popular motel chain, only to be asked for ID upon checking in. They were supposed to be traveling incognito, and he wasn’t inclined to show his ID, so he made up a story about his wallet having been stolen and offered his vehicle registration in lieu of ID. The desk clerk seemed to buy his story and willingly filled out the paperwork using the name Cooper Callaway. After paying cash for the room, he drove around to the back of the establishment, where the room he’d requested was located.