Southern Stars

by Melissa Good

  Andy looked surprised at her surprise. “Gov’mint,” he said, as though that would explain everything.

  Oh. The idea was not appealing. “I don’t think so, Dad.” Kerry’s brows twitched. “I’d rather think it was just our WTF vortex.”

  “’Scuse me?”

  THEY WATCHED THE plane take off from the airport, lifting quickly up into the sky and banking away, heading southeast into a clear, and cloudless sky.

  “That took a lot of convincing,” Dar said. “Thought they’d never take off.”

  “Well.” Kerry slid her hand into Dar’s hip pocket, her fingers unexpectedly encountering the smooth roundness of a stone inside. “They’re your parents, hon.” She drew out the rock and inspected it. “That’s pretty.”

  “That’s why I kept it,” Dar said. “I know they’re my parents but we’re both grown-ups, Ker.”

  “Grown-ups who get into tons of trouble.”

  Dar sighed.

  “So they’re stopping in Birmingham?” Kerry changed the subject, as they watched the speck in the sky disappear.

  “Yeah.” Dar leaned against the front of the RV. “Dad promised Mom some real fried green tomatoes.” She stifled a yawn. “I told them we’d keep in regular touch until we got back.”

  Kerry smiled, and patted her on the side. “They’re cute,” she said. “And your dad did get us saved, remember.”

  “I know.” Dar pushed off and went to the door, opening it carefully to prevent the whining dogs from escaping. “I shouldn’t sound so damn ungrateful especially since they flew out here to make sure we were okay.”

  Kerry followed her inside and they both sat down on the couch on the RV together. “So now what?” Kerry asked. “Get driving?”

  Dar petted Chino’s soft head. “Yeah. Don’t want to stay around here. Let’s get some distance. We can stop someplace tonight, and then go all day tomorrow.”

  “Okay.” Kerry got up and went to the counter, opening the laptop sitting there. “Want to fire up the sat? Let me find us some nice anonymous place to sleep.”

  Dar went to the console and flipped the switches, then sat down and started up the engine. The air outside was starting to turn golden and she put the sun behind her as she started down the two-lane road away from the small regional airport.

  She felt a little discomfited. “I don’t like all that stuff about terrorists. I don’t really think those people were doing anything, Ker.”

  “No, me either.” Kerry had her eyes fastened on the screen. “It was kind of like when you told me about those pilots that flew you and Alastair back. They got taken away by the spooks, but it turned out okay.”

  “One of them went to the same flight school as the terrorists,” Dar recalled. “And he was from India. Not the Middle East. That what you meant?” She asked. “Turned out to be nothing.”

  “Right. So maybe it’s the same with these guys. Maybe they didn’t know who those people were and they were just part-time help. I found a campground. How about we just park and plug.” She looked up at Dar. “I’d rather stay in here with the dogs.”

  “Sounds good to me.”

  They drove for three hours down the highway, then turned off onto a smaller two-lane road that had wooden post fencing on either side of it and by that time the sun was setting in earnest. They passed between a pair of impressive saguaro cactus and spotted the campground just past it.

  It was gated. They pulled up and Kerry opened the window. “Hello.”

  “Hello there, young lady.” The guard returned the greeting. “Looking for a hook up?” He smiled blandly at her. “We got that.”

  “Yep.” Kerry ignored the smarmy comment. “Just overnight.”

  He studied a clipboard. “We only have two Class A slots, they’re in the back, last row.” He glanced up at her. “Need a credit card to activate the power.”

  Kerry handed hers over, and they waited for him to process it, catching the hint of wood smoke on the air. “What else is back there?”

  He handed the paperwork over for her to sign. “Mini’s place.” He took the clipboard back. “She runs a little café and bar.” He handed Kerry her receipt. “Have a nice night.”

  “Thanks.” Kerry closed the window and they moved slowly on, down a boulder lined path interspersed with weathered wooden posts. At the end of the campground, as promised, were two larger parking spots and she picked the second one, with a nice view of the mountains.

  The campsite was about half full, and there were a few people walking around, more gathered near a round, weathered fire pit with bottles and cups in their hands. There was music playing, vaguely new age sounding from someone’s rig and various scents of barbecue were evident.

  “I’ll hook us up,” Dar said. “Watch the dogs.” She opened the door and hopped out, going around to the side of the RV.

  Kerry went to the RV’s control panel, pressed the keys that would activate the slide outs and went to the galley to ponder what to do about some dinner. Chino followed her and sat down next to her feet, tail sweeping the floor.

  After the week they’d had, it was a stunning bit of normality. It was hard for her to comprehend that less than twenty-four hours earlier she was in a cold river, at the mercy of the rapids, not knowing what in the hell was going to happen to her.

  In danger, feeling the chill start to grip her, Dar’s arms around her and both of them knowing bad things could easily happen any moment.

  Now? She reviewed what was in the pantry and decided on gyros, taking out a package of sliced lamb from the tiny freezer and putting it on the counter to start thawing.

  Outside, she could hear the sounds of Dar connecting the RV; the thumps and bumps of the hoses and electrical and she pushed the window over the galley open to let the fresh air in.

  Now it was almost as if it all had never happened. She shook her head and put some coffee on, hearing the ventilation kick on and seeing the flicker of the lights as they switched over from the RV’s batteries to the campground connection.

  Gyros, and coffee, and after that she had some easy bake cookies they could share.

  “Hey, kids,” she regarded their two pets. “We can go for a walk, how about that?” She saw both tails start to wag faster, and Chino stood up, looking at the door in anticipation. With a smile she got the leashes from their hook on the wall and fastened them to the dog’s collars as the door opened and Dar’s head appeared. “Hey hon. Kids want to go walk. We set?”

  “All set.” Dar took Mocha’s leash and waited for Kerry to join her outside. “Nice and quiet.” She closed the door and they started along the path that lead to the edge of the campground where people were gathered, watching the setting sun’s pattern on the far canyon walls.

  Their approach made some heads turn, but as they walked past Kerry could see the eyes focused on the two dogs, and she smiled a little, returning the brief waves.

  On a small side path, they spotted the café, which had a patio that had a little crowd also watching the sunset with glasses in their hands and they could hear a soft buzz of conversation drifting over from it and the sound of a softly playing guitar.

  The air was cool and dry. They found a weathered picnic table to perch on at the far edge of the property to watch the sun go down. Kerry exhaled, stifling a yawn. “This is an unusually quiet end to our little adventure, Dardar.”

  “Yeah,” Dar said. “I will be damn glad to sleep in a bed tonight, with no rain, no snarky jackasses, and nothing to worry about.” She shifted Chino’s leash from her left hand to her right as the dog sat down on the concrete pad the table was set into.

  “Me too.” Kerry observed the sliding light, melding and changing and painting every surface it touched. “I’m glad we decided to drive home. Get a few days to decompress.”

  “Let’s find some hot springs,” Dar suggested. “I’m sure there have to be some between here and Miami.”

  “Mm.” Kerry could feel the heat in her imagination soaking into her b
ones. “I’m sure there are. I’ll check when we get back to the RV.” She paused. “Wonder what the rest of them ending up doing?”

  “Leaving. If they’re smart.” Dar concluded. “You could send them an e-mail.”

  “Meh,” Kerry grunted softly. “Now that I said that I’m not sure that I want to know.”

  Dar watched the horizon benignly, content to leave the past in the past as well. She drew in a breath of the dry air and blinked a few times, suddenly wishing for the damp moisture of home, and the sound of the waves rolling up the shore; so different than the Colorado River they’d so recently left.

  The last of the sun disappeared, leaving the air tinged with coral and lavender as behind them someone stirred the fire in the fire pit and the wood let out several solid pops as it cracked.

  Life had gotten better again. Kerry took Dar’s hand and squeezed it. “Maybe we can see stars again tonight.”

  “Bet we can.”

  AFTER DINNER, KERRY settled down in the comfortable chair in the RVs’ little workspace and hooked her camera up to her laptop, watching the two devices sync up. Her photo program open to ingest the contents of her solid-state memory cards.

  As they popped up on the screen, she propped her chin on her fist, watching Dar in her peripheral vision . She sprawled on the couch in a t-shirt and sweatpants, her bare feet extending past the edge of the furniture.

  Kerry could still smell a hint of the stir-fried lamb from their dinner and a bit of the wood smoke, drifting through the screens of the open windows all around them.

  She could hear voices, soft, indistinct and far off. A dog barked. Beside her, Chino’s ears twitched and the Labrador lifted her head to listen, while Mocha jerked and whimpered in a doggy dream, curled up in his bed.

  She turned her attention back to the screen, and started scrolling through the pictures. “Oh!” She zoomed into one, the picture of the owl landing on Dar’s arm, her partner’s eyes widened and vivid blue watching it.

  “Oh, what?” Dar put down her book and rolled to her feet, coming over to where Kerry was seated. She looked over Kerry’s shoulder. “Ah. My owl whispering moment.”

  Kerry flipped through the photos, pretty sunsets and rocks, and a bobcat’s paw. “Glad I got that one.”

  “Me too,” Dar smiled.

  The river, and their companions. The rapids, the pools and slides and everyone enjoying themselves. Dar in her swimsuit stretched out fully in a dive from the cliff side, then one of her pushing herself up out of the water to go for another round, surrounded by a halo of sun splatted droplets.

  Then the stars, outlined against the canyon walls. “That’s nice,” Dar commented. “You can really see the Milky Way.”

  “You can,” Kerry said. “But here’s the rain, so...”

  “Downhill we go.”

  Then the caves. Dar’s hand against the rock, outlined in sun.

  Then more rain.

  Then the somber outline of wet stone around tatters of cloth and bone. “So here we are.” Kerry studied the photo, remembering the horror in her guts and how sick she’d felt on seeing this bundle of refuse that was once a person she’d known.

  Sad and horrible. “He was so nice.”

  “He was,” Dar said. “Good kid.” She studied the screen. “You going to send these back to the cops?”

  “When we get home, yeah.” Kerry set the computer up to send the pictures to their storage system at the condo and leaned back, as Dar put her arms around her and gently nibbled at the nape of her neck. “Well, we can show our friends half our vacation, Dar.”

  Dar chuckled. “Better than our last one,” she said. “I think that was what? One day good?”

  “Maybe two.”

  “No. It was one, because we ran into the asshole after our first dive, remember?” Dar reminded her. “We got a few good days on this one.”

  Kerry went back to the beginning of the pictures and had to agree. She expanded one she’d taken with them halfway through a rapids, a curl of river water in beautiful clear green coming over the pontoons of the raft, sun blasting through it. “We did.”

  “Done for the day?” Dar bit the edge of her ear. “Looking forward to a good night’s sleep.”

  The luxury of that sounded awesome and Kerry was happy to get up and join Dar. They walked to the cozy bedroom area of the RV, picked up the remote and turned off the lights except for the bedside ones that allowed a low level of amber glow.

  Dar pulled her t-shirt off and Kerry untied the strings holding up her sweatpants, as the buttons on her own shirt were undone, one at a time.

  She looked up and saw Dar’s smile. She leaned forward and planted a kiss on her collarbone, allowing her shirt to be pulled off and tossed gently onto the narrow dresser. She put her arms around Dar and they pressed together, skin on skin warmth contrasting the cool breeze from the windows in a pleasant way.

  She could taste a bit of the chocolate from the cookies they’d shared on Dar’s lips and they paused long enough to fall sideways onto the bed and roll into its center.

  The covers were soft and from home. They smelled like their laundry soap comfortingly familiar and Kerry felt her body relax as Dar stretched out next to her and ran her fingertips along Kerry’s ribcage.

  She was tired, and not. The familiar burn started and she felt her attention sharpen as Dar’s lips nuzzled her and a warm flush came over her skin.

  Dar’s long arm reached out and the lamps dimmed and they were in the dark together, knowing each other’s body and needing no light to explore familiar sensitive spots as their breathing quickened in unison.

  Far off, a coyote howled and they paused for a moment to listen.

  Chino barked softly, a gruff, chuffing sound.

  Then there was just the faint music from nearby and they went back to each other, secure in the safety of their rolling home.

  THE SOUND OF footsteps outside made them both jerk awake in the same moment, and look at each other in the dim light. “Did you lock the door?” Kerry whispered.

  “Yeah, I think so.” Dar lifted herself out of bed as the dogs woke up and looked at her. “Let me check.”

  Kerry slipped out of the other side and went to the slimline closet. She opened it and reached inside for the shotgun she’d stored there.

  Chino shook herself and trotted over to the front of the RV, sniffing the air. Then she barked, a loud and commanding sound that echoed inside the cabin. A moment later Mocha scrambled past her to the door and yapped excitedly.

  Dar reached the control panel and checked, then relaxed. “It’s locked.” She said, glancing back to see Kerry next to the bed, naked, holding her shotgun. “Hey, you know we could sell calendars for the NRA if this whole tech thing doesn’t work out for us.”

  “What?” Kerry stared at her, then looked down, and laughed. “Oh for Christ’s sake, Dar.”

  They both turned as a knock came at the door and the chuckles ended. Dar grabbed her shirt and slipped it over her head then went over to the door, nudging aside the two Labradors and opening the small window. “Yes?”

  There were two men outside in police uniforms and jackets. “Sorry to bother you ma’am,” the nearest one said. “We’re from the local police department.”

  Dar studied them. “And?”

  “We’re looking for some folks that was seen around here, and the gate said you folks were the last ones in,” the man said. “We’d like to ask you some questions.”

  Dar blinked at them. “At two a.m.?”

  “These folks are supposed to be dangerous.”

  Dar could see them outlined against the soft glow of the lamp post near the edge of the road and she watched their body language intently for a moment. “They’re not in our camper,” she stated flatly. “I don’t know anything about any dangerous people around here.”

  Kerry had come up behind her and Dar glanced back briefly. She had the shotgun cradled in her hands and she’d taken the precaution of putting her shirt
and jeans on.

  “Ma’am, please,” the nearer man said. “We just want to ask a few questions.”

  Dar took a step back and lifted her hands in question. Kerry shrugged, and went back to the bedroom, returning with Dar’s shorts and handing them to her.

  “Yap!” Mocha sat down and barked at the door. Chino was already between the living area and the cockpit, head a little down, tail straight.

  Dar slid her shorts on and buttoned them, then got in front of the dogs and triggered the lock, waiting for it to retract. She stepped down out of the camper and stood in the way, as Kerry slid into the passenger seat behind her in the cockpit, the gun visible in her hands.

  The man took a step back. “You want to go inside? I know we woke you ladies up.”

  “No,” Dar responded calmly. “Ask your questions.”

  The second man stepped forward, extending two squares. “These are the people we’re looking for.”

  Dar took the pictures and studied them, then she passed them back to Kerry. “I don’t know them.”

  “Not seen them on the road, in a restaurant, nothing?” the man asked. “We know you came from the Canyon Rim. They told us.”

  “Nothing here.” Kerry handed them back. “We only stopped at one place, there wasn’t anyone like that there.”

  “Mind telling us where that was?”

  “Big E Steakhouse,” Kerry supplied. “We had lunch. They’ll remember us for the dogs.”

  Dar looked at the pictures again, two men with dark skin and beards, wearing knit caps, walking past the camera with sideways, furtive looks. “No.” She gave the pictures back. “They don’t ring any bells. What are you looking for them for?”

  “An active investigation,” the first man said, with a tone of finality. “Here’s my card. If you do see either of these men, will you call me and let me know?” He handed her a square of cardboard. “Which way are you ladies headed?”

  “Florida,” Dar said, noticing then that there were others in the campground, milling around the fire pit, watching the two men from afar. “You ask everyone else yet?”