“Ready to go?” Hettie asked.
I nodded, picked up Bubbles, and stood up. Nervousness churned in the pit of my stomach with just enough butterflies to keep the panic at bay.
“We’ll swing by your hotel and pick up your stuff, then as soon as we’re out of town, we need to stop at a gas station and pick up some snacks and sodas,” Hettie explained as we walked down the hall. “I plan to drive straight through the night and will need plenty of caffeinated beverages and snacks along the way.”
Grunting and then blushing red, I nodded. Damn. She seemed to be in a hurry. I was already dreading the trip and now she was in a hurry to get there. I had never lived by myself before and the thought of being left all alone in a town I didn’t know, surrounded by strangers I didn’t want to know, was very intimidating. Still, fourteen hours was a long time to be in a car with someone. Maybe I could find the words to get Hettie to use her skills and figure out who was embezzling from the bank and killed my parents because of it. Mother always told me that good things come to those who were patient.
I stopped walking and waited for Hettie to look at me. Her eyes met mine, and the butterflies in my stomach fluttered up again. Strange. It was actually a nice feeling. Hettie stood there, tapping her foot, waiting on me. I sat Bubbles on the floor and held onto her leash, then I took out a pen and pad from my purse that the psychiatrist had given me and made a list of things that I needed. I tore off the sheet and handed it to her.
“Carrots?” she scowled as she read the list. “Tomato juice. Tampons? All right, we’ll stop at a grocery store instead, but you’re coming in with me. I draw the line at carrying tampons around.”
I tilted my head up at her, completely confused.
“I order my supplies from Amazon,” she said, answering my unspoken question. “Delivered to my door in a nice brown box.”
I wasn’t trying to be critical when I let out a loud guffaw. It just came out, surprising even me. It just seemed funny that someone so strong and in control would be afraid to be seen with feminine products. But Hettie didn’t seem to appreciate it. She frowned at me and continued walking, so I grabbed up Bubbles and hurried after her. I put my hand on her arm to get her attention and when she looked at me, I silently apologized. I said the words ‘I’m sorry’ without trying to voice them.
“It’s okay, kid,” she said and began walking again.
Kid? What was I, ten years old? Irritated, I stopped and place Bubbles on the floor again, and then crossed my arms and waited for my apology. I was not a child and would not be treated like one. If I were in a more rational state, I would have recognized how irrational I was being, but not having control over my life caused even the simplest things to blow up out of proportion.
Hettie opened the door at the end of the hallway and realized that I wasn’t beside her. “What?” she asked, as she held the door open. The sunlight streaming in silhouetted Hettie from behind and I couldn’t see her eyes. I needed to see her eyes. As a quiet observer and an online self-study enthusiast, I could tell when someone was lying to me by watching their eyes grow larger as they made up the lie in their mind. Consequently, it was Meredith’s dilated eyes that told me she loved me long before she said the words.
“Are you coming or not?” Hettie asked impatiently. I didn’t move. She closed the door and walked back to me. “You’re mad because I called you a kid? Are you going to be like this the whole trip?” When she realized I wasn’t going to answer, she continued, “Listen, I’m ten years your senior. To me, you are a kid. Get over it.”
I shook my head and held up seven fingers. They may have changed my birth certificate, but I was still twenty-five physically.
Hettie scoffed and said, “Yeah, seven years makes all the difference. Let’s go, for Pete’s sake.”
Her eyes had no dilation, which told me she wasn’t angry or frustrated, and she definitely wasn’t lying. Oh yeah, I’m going to be just like this for the whole trip. Should be fun.
I followed her outside and across the parking lot to a silver 1969 Chevrolet Camaro. Wow!
“Yeah, she’s a beauty, isn’t she?” Hettie asked. “My father gave her to me when my parents moved to Florida to retire. He was the original owner. We had a good time rebuilding the engine, and it runs better today than it did out of the factory.”
Wow! Opening the door to put Bubbles in, I noticed everything was lined with plastic. It reminded me of a couch cover, only thicker.
She laughed. “They warned me that your cat would be coming along.”
*
We went by the hotel to pick up my suitcase, filled with clothes and a few photos, and the soft pet carrier for Bubbles. Then we stopped at a little grocery store on the outskirts of town, giving me the comforting feeling of stocking up for road trips as a kid. Dad loved to pile us all in the car on weekends for a mini-vacation. Dad. No. I couldn’t let my mind go there or I would lose it. To distract myself, I focused on finding the tampons. That brought a smile to my face. I picked up the biggest package available and handed it to Hettie.
“Not happening,” she scowled, holding up her hand to stop me from putting the tampons in the handbasket she carried.
I already had Bubbles tucked under one arm, which was no minor feat. When I walked into the store with Bubbles, the manager stopped us immediately. I timidly pulled out my therapy pet license and showed it to the man. He argued that only dogs could be Seeing Eye guides. I shook my head, the anxiety rising in my throat. How could I make him understand? Hettie stepped in front of me and pulled her jacket back, showing him her badge. That worked.
I tucked the package under the other arm and walked down the aisle to the vegetable section. I nodded at a bag of baby carrots, but it took Hettie a couple of tries to get the ones I wanted. Then I went to the pet section and nodded at the cat treats. Again, it took Hettie a couple of tries to get the treats I wanted.
She sighed. “Fine, toss the tampons in here but cover them up with the other stuff.”
Grinning, I hid the feminine pads under the cat treats then picked up a cat teaser toy, one with a feather on the end and put it in the basket, also.
Hettie inhaled sharply, as if someone had poked her. Thinking she was in pain, I looked up at her and saw a grin on her face. She shrugged and winked at me. I don’t even want to know.
Hettie put the snacks in the front seat car caddy as I tucked Bubbles into her pet carrier on the back seat floor. I gave her a treat and zipped her inside. Then I pulled out my pen and pad and wrote a quick note. I tore it off and handed it to Hettie as I got into the passenger’s side. She took it but didn’t read it right away. Instead, she took off her jacket and tossed it in the back seat. She pulled a diet soda from the cooler and popped the top.
“Want one?” she asked. I shook my head. She took a sip of her drink and held up my note. Her expression became somber as she read it, and she glanced at me with real remorse in her eyes. “We’re not going through Roanoke, Amanda. It’s too dangerous. We’re going up and across to Morgantown then down to Nashville, and on to Fort Smith.” She got in the car and started the engine.
I got in on the passenger side and looked at her. She was taking the long way around to purposely avoid Roanoke. I shook my head, tears stinging my eyes. I tried to speak, but nothing came out so I feverishly wrote on my notepad again and handed it to her. She read it, inhaling slowly, then looked back at me. Her eyes were soft, concerned.
“I’m sorry you couldn’t go to your parents’ funeral. I can’t imagine how that must feel. But it would be too dangerous to go to the cemetery now. They’re looking for you and the cemetery would be the first place they’d stakeout.”
I couldn’t stop the tears from running down my face, but I knew that she was right.
“I’m really sorry, Amanda,” Hettie said softly.
I nodded, taking a tissue from my purse and drying my eyes. As I put on my seatbelt and Hettie started the car, I felt like a terrible daughter, abandoning my pare
nts to save my own skin.
Chapter Six
U.S. Marshal Hettie Quinn
I didn’t know what else to say. I knew it was the right call, but it made me feel like a jerk. This poor kid… woman, had been through so much and all she wanted was to see her parents’ graves before she left Virginia behind, quite possibly forever. I would have given anything to make that happen for her, just so she wouldn’t cry. But not at the expense of her life.
I was out of my comfort zone protecting an innocent as fragile as Amanda. In my career as a U.S. Marshal, I’d chased down and apprehended crime bosses, crooked politicians, and now, sex offenders. The worst of the worst. I’d never had to protect someone so delicate, so feminine. So vulnerable.
The scary part, and I wasn’t scared easily, was that she picked me to protect her. I wracked my brain trying to remember any interaction we had in college and nothing came to mind. Like now, the girl barely spoke in class, but I remembered she would look at me with the most amazing blue eyes. Now, even though the hazel contacts look good on her, there was no life behind them. When she smiled there was no spark in her eyes.
Given her current state of mind, and the stress she was under, I didn’t know how to tell Connie, I mean Amanda, that I knew her wife in college. We weren’t intimate friends or anything; we were study partners. Meredith was very good with accounting, and I had already flunked it once, so she agreed to tutor me. Just before the semester was over, Meredith showed me the engagement ring she had bought. I knew she was head over heels in love with Connie, and I envied her that feeling. I was married to my work and that was enough for me.
Maybe I was thinking about this all wrong. Maybe it would be just the distraction she needed to keep her occupied for a while. And if she starts crying again? I could hear the cat purring in the back seat and wondered if that was a good sign. Merging onto the George Washington Memorial Parkway, I did a quick exit onto I-495 North toward Maryland. Once I merged onto I-270 North, I knew it would be a while before another lane change. I took another sip of my soda and looked at Amanda. She was looking out the window, a tear sliding down her cheek.
I looked back at the road and exhaled. “So, um, did you know that Meredith and I were friends in college?” From my peripheral vision, I saw her head turn toward me. Her brows were arched and her mouth slightly ajar. Mad or curious? Or jealous! “No, wait. It wasn’t anything like that. I mean, we didn’t... but—”
She wiped the tears away and turned in her seat, glaring at me. “You slept with my wife?”
I was about to rebut when I realized, “Hey, you’re talking.”
She put her fingers to her lips, her eyes large with astonishment. Then just as quickly, she was glaring at me again. “You slept with my wife?” she repeated strongly.
“No. I did not sleep with your wife, so don’t get your panties in a wad, kid.” She looked at me for a moment, then chuckled, and this time, her laughter reached her eyes. Still, I rushed to explain. “Meredith got me through accounting class. She was really good at that stuff.”
Amanda nodded, her contacts misting a darker shade of green.
I found myself wishing I could see her real eyes. “Besides, it was obvious to everyone that she was in love with you.”
“It wasn’t obvious to me,” Amanda said quietly.
“How come?” I asked, wanting to keep the conversation going.
She looked at me to see if I was serious.
“I’ve never been in love like that, I have nothing to gauge it by,” I explained.
She settled back in the seat and watched the road ahead. “There was someone else who entered the picture and kind of muddied the waters.”
“So, I take it you weren’t into threesomes?”
She laughed and shook her head. “I hadn’t even been into a onesie yet.”
“So, uh, you’re saying that you were a virgin?” I knew it wasn’t out of the realm of possibilities, but I had never met a virgin who stayed that way long.
Amanda blushed, her pale cheeks a rosy pink.
“Oh, uh, it’s okay being a virgin when you marry.” Unique. Rare. Endearing. Exciting!
“Gee, thanks for the permission,” she retorted.
No signs of anxiety, good. “Hey, I can promise you, if you had given me the time of day, you would have lost your virginity on our first date.”
She threw her head back and laughed. A deep, hearty laugh that shook her whole body.
“It’s not that implausible,” I argued, pretending to be miffed.
“Considering the crush I had on you, I’d have to agree.”
I gawked at her. “You? Really?”
Her bashfulness returned immediately, and her pink cheeks turned bright red.
I waved my hand. “No. I didn’t mean you, like you. I meant you as in you did? If I had known…”
She was smiling again but shook her head. “I thought of you as more of a hard and fast kind of person, and I’m so completely the opposite. You probably wouldn’t have gotten far.”
“I don’t know. If you hadn’t been making doe eyes at Meredith, I might have tried harder.”
“Truthfully, you’re the reason Meredith proposed to me.”
My mouth gaped open again. “Seriously?”
She lowered her head and grinned. “Yes, seriously. She was afraid you were going to hit on me, so she upped her pursuit.” She looked over at me. “By the way, I’ve been meaning to thank you for that.”
“Glad my hard and fast impression could help,” I replied cheekily. “In truth, I envy you.”
“Me? No one would want my life,” she responded.
“Maybe not,” I answered softly, thinking my next words through carefully. “But you had true love, and that is really something rare. No matter how short a time you had with Meredith, you will always carry her love for you in your heart. That will never die.”
Her lips trembled as she looked at me, tears pooling in her eyes. She put her hand on my forearm. “Thank you.”
I was surprised at how soft and warm her hand was. It seemed too small to radiate that much warmth. And when she removed it, her sincerity lingered a moment longer. Maybe this trip won’t be so bad after all. I glanced at the rearview mirror out of habit and made a note of the car two cars behind us. They had picked us up when I took the I-270 spur. If they followed us onto I-70 W toward Hagerstown then I’d start worrying.
“Hey, Amanda.” She looked at me, and I smiled. “Thank you for trusting me enough to talk to me.”
“Some things like sleeping with my wife cannot go unspoken.”
“I didn’t sleep with—”
“Just teasing you,” she laughed and winked at me. Payback. She looked up at me through shuttered eyelids. “But you have been with a lot of women, right?”
“I don’t deny myself the company of a pretty woman when the mood suits me, but I don’t put a notch on my bedpost to keep count.”
“Oh, sorry,” she said and quickly looked away.
Yeah, I felt like a heel. “For what? My being a jerk? If you’re going to start apologizing every time I say something stupid then tell me now so I can buy some earplugs for you.” She peeked up at me and smiled. “Look, I don’t mind the questions. I just don’t always articulate things the way a lady should.”
“Good. I like that you don’t. Reminds me of Meredith.”
Warning bells. “As long as you remember that I’m not Meredith.”
“As if,” she scoffed. “Oh, sorry. I guess I can be a jerk, too.”
“Kid, I think we’re going to get along just fine.”
*
Forty-five minutes later, we were on I-70 W and that same car was still following us. The back of my neck began to itch.
“Can we stop for a few minutes? I need to let Bubbles out for a potty break.”
Perfect timing. It would give me the chance to be sure that car was really following us. “Sure. There should be a rest stop coming up. We can stop there. Just do me a
favor and don’t wander off, okay?”
She tilted her head and looked at me curiously.
“It’s SOPP,” I explained. “Standard operating procedure with protectees.”
“Oh, okay. Sure. But just so you’ll know, I’m going to the bathroom, too.”
“I’ll try not to stare,” I teased.
“I hope you’re won’t be too disappointed,” she joked.
I was so glad to see her joking and playing around. She hadn’t shed a single tear in almost thirty minutes. Not that I was timing them. It was just so nice to see a smile on her face. Her face was so much prettier without the sad, red eyes.
I pulled over to the rest stop and positioned my car for a quick getaway. I left it idling for a moment, watching as the car followed in behind us and parked farther up the rest area strip. As they passed by I could just barely make out the figure behind the tinted glass. It was a man. I waited a bit longer as Amanda clipped the leash to the cat’s harness. The man was the only one who got out of the car. He was alone. The man was Caucasian, tall, with broad shoulders, a goatee and a bald head. I pulled my cellphone out and snapped a few pictures of him through the windshield before jumping out of the car. I grabbed my jacket from the back seat and put it on, then followed Amanda as she walked the cat on the grass. Bubbles found some loose dirt and began scratching until it was the way she wanted it. Then she squatted and took a dump. Never having had a cat before, I watched for a moment, fascinated at the way she shook her tail to… I don’t know, expedite things, I guess. I may have been watching the cat, but I made sure the tag-along was in my peripheral vision the whole time.
We were definitely being followed. I suppose he could have been waiting for us in Arlington. Maybe they knew that Amanda would be taken there. No. No fucking way. It was totally inconceivable that they would know because she was taken to the Roanoke office first. She only came to Arlington because that was where I was at. We had got a leak somewhere.
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