“I think we’ll have to go shopping later for some more supplies,” Aubree said to her baby. Scarlett just babbled in reply. Aubree drove slowly through the small town of Aurora until a sign caught her eye. She’d been looking for an outdoor supply store, but a small billboard announced, “Revolutionize your summer vacation! Buy your RV, trailer, SUV, in under an hour!”
She scanned the lot and then pulled into a parking space across the street. There were camping trailers, motor homes, pickups, and SUVs of all kinds for sale in a small lot. Aubree gazed out at the parking lot, her anxiety building as she considered how dangerous it might be to get out of the car.
After taking a few deep breaths, she climbed out of her car and retrieved her emergency bag from the back. She brought it around to the front seat and climbed back inside, locking the door. She looked around the parking lot again, but didn’t notice anything suspicious.
She tugged on the zipper and pulled out a smaller bag. The bag contained several hundred-dollar bills, and Aubree flipped through them, checking the amount. It was more cash than she’d ever held in her life. Ten thousand dollars—the money came from Devin’s life insurance policy. It wasn’t a large policy, but it had covered burial expenses, and Aubree had put some in a special savings account under Scarlett’s name. She had taken the rest with her.
Jason had given strict instructions on how she should pack her emergency bag, complete with a passport for Jolynn Dobson and money in case he decided she should leave the country. But she wasn’t going to leave the country—that might be expected. Instead she was going somewhere no one would expect a city girl from San Diego to hide out. Aubree put the bag of money inside her purse’s zipper compartment.
“You ready to go shopping?” She smiled at Scarlett and carefully draped a blanket over her head. Scarlett snuggled against her chest, and Aubree walked across the street to the RV lot. She stepped around several potholes in the cracked asphalt and eyed a dingy trailer positioned near the road.
This was a small town business, but if it could get her outfitted in an hour like the billboard said, it was worth a shot. Within a few seconds, a salesman with red hair and a gold hoop in one ear came out of the building.
“Are you looking for a vacation vehicle?” he asked and flashed a bleached smile.
“Yes,” Aubree said. “I’m looking for a camping trailer and a pickup to pull it.”
His eyes lit up, and he ran a hand through his curly hair. “Let me show you what we have.” His cowboy boots crunched along the asphalt, and he pointed toward a group of used trailers.
She followed him around the lot as he showed her a few different models. She stopped in front of a fifteen-foot trailer and read the specs on a paper hanging from an inside window: Twelve years old and in good condition. “I’d like to look inside.”
“Sure. This one’s an older model, but it has all the amenities.” He opened the door and motioned for her to step inside.
Scarlett cooed and reached out to grab the blue curtains hanging over the sink. Aubree shifted her to the other hip and opened a few of the cupboards. “There are dishes in here.” She smiled in surprise.
“Yeah, we just acquired this, and it comes with pots and pans and the works.” He opened another cupboard and pointed at a heap of old camping supplies. “The owners bought a brand new RV and said they were buying everything new to furnish it.”
“Hmm, that’s perfect for me,” Aubree said. She walked to the front of the trailer and examined the couch.
“That doubles as a bed when folded out,” the salesman said. “The dining table also converts to a bed for two,”
Aubree peeked inside the tiny bathroom. It had a small bathtub with a showerhead in the corner. “Is it hard to empty the waste water?”
“Come outside, and I’ll show you. This one’s been fitted with some new hoses to make it easier.” He stepped down from the trailer. “We also have a copy of the owner’s manual, which comes in handy.”
Aubree listened while he told her how to put clean water in the tank and empty the waste. She asked several questions and tried to memorize all of his answers.
The price on the trailer was marked at $4,800. Looking around the lot, she noticed a blue Ford pickup. “How old is that truck? It looks kind of beat up.” She saw a dent in the driver’s side door and one on top of the hood.
“That one comes with its own memories. It’s fourteen years old but only has 125,000 miles.” They walked to the pickup as he told her about some of the damage to the body. “It runs great, but since its appearance hasn’t been kept up, we’re only asking $2,500 for it.”
Aubree looked the pickup over and climbed inside to start it up. The salesman showed her some things to look for under the hood. Even with his salesman smile, he was proving to be more helpful than she’d hoped. She didn’t know much about pickups; she just needed something reliable. This pickup was old enough that she wouldn’t have to worry about air bags in the front seat, as Scarlett would have to ride beside her. After looking at a few other pickups and trailers, Aubree made the salesman an offer. “I’d like to take the camp trailer and this pickup now for $6,000.”
“I’m glad you like them, but that’s a pretty low offer. Together they’re $7,300, but I could knock off $500 for you.” He smiled his white-toothed grin as Aubree did some calculating.
“I’ll pay you $6,500 cash right now if you’ll help me get hooked up and out of here.” Aubree smiled as his eyes widened, but he kept his composure. She held out her hand.
He shook it. “Sounds like you’re anxious to get some camping done before the summer’s out.”
“I want to be on my way this weekend.” Aubree winked and then smiled at Scarlett. “It’ll be her first camping trip.”
Forty-five minutes later, she pulled her new camp trailer and pickup across the street into the parking lot of a grocery store. A kind of frenzied excitement gave her a buzz of energy, and she jotted down a list of things they might need. Then she put Scarlett in a grocery cart and pushed her into the store. One hour and a full grocery cart later, she pushed a grumpy Scarlett out to the trailer. She opened a bottle of baby peaches and fed her hungry baby.
“I’m sorry I made you wait so long,” she told Scarlett. She noted that more time had passed than she’d realized. The hands on her watch reached closer to seven o’clock. She set Scarlett on the floor with a few toys and blankets and worked steadily to stock up her new trailer.
Aubree cleaned out her SUV of every scrap of paper and every detail that she had ever been inside. They would still find it, but she was determined that they wouldn’t find her. She shook her head wondering who “they” really were. Who was she even running from? She took her cell phone out of her purse and made the call she’d been dreading all day. Jason picked up after the first ring.
“Aubree, where are you? I’m going out of my mind here!”
“Jason, listen to me. I trust you, but I don’t trust the FBI right now.”
“But—”
“No, I’m doing this my way,” Aubree interrupted his protests. “I’ll contact you again when I can.”
“Please don’t throw your life away like this,” Jason pleaded.
“Do you have any new information on my case?” Aubree demanded. “Did they find the guy who attacked me?”
Jason hesitated. “Not that I can share over the phone. And no, we’re still looking for the suspect.”
“Then I’m not throwing my life away. I’m taking control of it.” She ran her fingers through her short dark hair. “Thank you for all you’ve done. I’m sorry to do this, but I have to think of Scarlett.” She hung up before he could say any more, then tossed the phone onto the floor of her SUV and locked the doors. She felt a new surge of apprehension wash over her, but she forced herself to shrug it off.
Aubree marveled again at the good fortune of having all the groceries from her shopping trip earlier that day. It seemed like all of that had happened weeks ago, not hours. When
she had put away as much as she could, she stopped to settle Scarlett in for the night. By eight o’clock, the baby was sleeping in her car seat in the old pickup, and Aubree was studying a map she had picked up at the grocery store.
She pulled out of the parking lot slowly, getting the feel of her new trailer as she drove. Her Realtor’s office in San Diego had owned several nice trailers they used to help their clients move. Aubree had learned how to maneuver a trailer quite skillfully over the past few years. She was glad that she had gained such experience, or she would have never dreamed up what she was about to do. The entrance to Interstate 80 loomed before her, and she drove carefully, listening to the radio and running the details of her plan through her mind.
Two-hundred and thirty miles later, at fourteen minutes past midnight, the old blue pickup pulled into Sterling, Colorado. Aubree felt exhausted but happy to put so much distance between herself and Omaha. She found the North Sterling State Park, paid the camping fee, and pulled the trailer into an empty site. She fixed up the convertible couch in the trailer, and then moved Scarlett into the bed with her. With eyes squeezed shut, she concentrated on falling asleep before her mind began racing with worry.
“Ma, ma, ma, ma, ma,” Scarlett babbled happily and pulled Aubree’s hair.
“Well, good morning to you too.” Aubree giggled and kissed Scarlett’s chubby cheeks. It was hard to believe her baby was just shy of nine months old. Aubree ruffled Scarlett’s silky curls and glanced at her watch—six forty-five. It was pretty early, and she could’ve slept much longer, but they had a lot of miles to cover today.
Over breakfast, she studied the atlas and figured that with a stop somewhere for Scarlett’s mid-morning snack, they should reach Steamboat Springs, Colorado, by about one o’clock. Before they left, she carried the box of hair dye she’d purchased the previous night into the restroom at the park.
It wasn’t easy to dye her hair over a sink and keep Scarlett entertained in her car seat, but forty minutes later, Aubree emerged as a redhead. In the trailer, she brushed her “autumn leaf” hair away from her face. In a few months, it would be long enough to put in a ponytail. She had been due for a haircut but hadn’t scheduled it yet. The hair was a few inches past her ears and barely approached the nape of her neck. She ran her fingers through Scarlett’s dark curls and then cleaned up their breakfast mess.
After a few hours of driving, Aubree kept yawning and was glad that feeding Scarlett gave her a reason to stop. She dozed off while she nursed her baby in the trailer and awoke startled and disoriented a half hour later. She’d been dreaming. Or had it just been her mind racing? The dream had something to do with her mother, and Aubree longed to talk to her, but she knew she couldn’t.
It wasn’t difficult to think who Jason would’ve contacted right after she hung up on him yesterday. Her mom was probably sick with worry, but Aubree couldn’t call and risk giving away her location. It was the only way she could be safe for now.
When the pickup was back on Highway 40, Aubree’s mind returned to a thought she couldn’t shake. It was really an idea, but if her idea proved correct, it might mean the end of all this running. After all, how long did she expect to live on the run? Aubree narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips, remembering what she’d told Jason—that she was taking control of her life. She glanced at Scarlett sleeping peacefully in her car seat. What other choice did she have?
SIXTEEN
I’LL FIND HER.” Jason slammed the phone down and looked at the files scattered across his desk. His director wanted to see results, not the lead witness in the Robert Walden assassination gone missing. He had to find Aubree—not just because his director wanted him to but because he was afraid if he didn’t someone else would.
He flipped open a red file folder—his signature color for prime suspects—and looked at the contents he’d put together only hours earlier. Information was pointing in all directions, and he wasn’t sure how many leaks he had to fill before Aubree would be safe. Rolling up his sleeves, he clenched his jaw and picked up the phone. “I need to be involved in the Miranda Olsen interrogation.” He paused, “Yes, it’s regarding the Aubree Stewart case—she’s missing.”
After a short rest and a delicious Caesar salad in Steamboat Springs, Aubree and Scarlett resumed their travel and soon crossed over the Utah border. Opting to take the least traveled route possible, they steered clear of the interstates and sailed along Highway 40.
Scarlett babbled and played with the colorful rings hanging from her car seat. When she tired of that, she gave Aubree an earful of crying and then slept for long stretches. They passed through Vernal, Utah, and Aubree only had to stop a couple times among the desert and dinosaur monuments to change Scarlett’s diaper and feed her.
At about six in the evening, Aubree reached Heber City and breathed a sigh of relief.
“We’re almost there, baby,” Aubree said. “Tomorrow, we’ll do some real camping.” They ate at a quiet restaurant, and Aubree watched people coming and going, listening to bits of their conversations.
“You going camping in the Uintas?” one man asked a guy decked out in hiking attire.
“Yeah. The trails should be good this time of year.”
“Well, don’t forget your slicker. It rains somewhere in those mountains every day of the year.”
Aubree took note and later stopped at a general store to pick up a few more supplies, including a warm sleeping bag. She checked the tires of her pickup and trailer and found a small RV site not far from the restaurant. She hooked up to the water and decided to try out her new shower. It was a bit cramped, but at least she was clean. She even gave Scarlett a bath in the half size tub and laughed as Scarlett continually splashed the water and giggled.
“I think we’re going to be okay, darlin’,” Aubree said. She had hardly spoken to anyone all day and felt sure no one would be looking for her in a tiny Utah town called Heber City. She probably could’ve driven further that night, but the anxiety and worry from the day before and the strain from driving all day had completely exhausted her. She cuddled up next to Scarlett just after eight o’clock, and they both slept until the sun rose over the mountains.
Shaking off her nightmares, Aubree breathed in the cool mountain air filtering in through her trailer windows. Now that it was July, it would be plenty hot during the day, but the nights in the mountains would still be chilly. By seven-thirty in the morning, they were driving past beautiful three-story houses in Heber.
Thirty minutes later, she passed through the small town of Kamas. The old pick-up held its own on the steep ascents. She felt her ears pop and noticed the tops of mountain peaks getting closer. A simple one-lane road would be her path through the high Uinta Mountains. It was such a feeling of freedom to look out over pine trees and the shimmering quaking aspens and know that, right now, no one knew where she was.
The sun beamed down with only a few puffy white clouds, yet as she continued driving, the sunlight dipped behind gathering gray clouds, and the deserted highway suddenly glistened black with rain. The wipers on the truck struggled to keep up, and they screeched across the windshield as the droplets of rain continued to splat with a million different beats. Then—as abruptly as it had started—the rain stopped.
There was a remarkable difference from the extreme flatlands of Nebraska to the high summit called Bald Mountain she was driving by now. A huge skyline of jagged black peaks took her breath away. The pine trees bordered the road at eye level and were green enough that Aubree could almost forget she was in Utah.
The signs for several overlooks and small fishing lakes kept her attention. She passed Mirror Lake, Butterfly Lake, Pass Lake, and drove over the Bald Mountain pass. She was thrilled at the sight of a sign proclaiming Christmas Meadows and could hardly believe her eyes as she noted that the white patches along the road were actually snow—in July! Bits of mist hung in the air like lonesome clouds, and Aubree reveled in the solitude of the mountains.
A tingling se
nsation in her chest brought her back to the present, and she knew Scarlett would soon be waking to eat. She thought about the times so long ago that she and her parents had traveled through mountains to go camping, she was certainly more carefree then than she was now. If only the FBI could find the enemy stalking her, she thought. She rubbed her tongue over her teeth, considering what Jason had said a week ago. He was convinced she knew something important about the crime. And maybe he was right. Maybe, hidden under nightmarish voices and restless nights, Aubree’s mind held the key to solving her own case.
Swallowing the idea, hoping to digest it later, she looked for the next area where she could safely pull off the road. A sign indicating a hiking trail and lake showed there was access for a trailer, and she pulled onto the dirt path carefully. There was only one other car in the area, and the morning dew still clung to the grasses growing haphazardly around the trailhead.
Aubree thanked heaven again that she was able to acquire her trailer as she relaxed into the cushions of the couch to feed Scarlett. She concentrated on pleasant thoughts of the road ahead and hoped she could find just the right campground to stay for a time and feel safe. Her final destination would be close to the source of those good memories she recalled of camping with her family.
She awoke forty-five minutes later feeling a bit of chagrin but shrugged it off.
“We’re making good time, and I’d much rather fall asleep with you than on the road,” she whispered to Scarlett. Aubree grabbed a few snacks for her and the baby, and after a quick look at the pristine lake, they were on their way again.
Once they left the rich forests of the Uintas, the drive became considerably less intriguing. The mountains opened up to flat, treeless plains, and there would not be another city to see until they reached Evanston, Wyoming, around lunchtime. They’d be there in less than an hour, but Aubree already felt eager to get back to more interesting scenery.
Her thoughts were on what to order for lunch when she glanced in the rearview mirror. A car was approaching rapidly. Aubree checked her speed to make sure she wasn’t impeding traffic. Her pickup held steady at sixty miles per hour, and she figured the other driver must be in a hurry. Luckily, the road wasn’t busy, and the car could pass her easily. Only it didn’t.
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