“You ever been over there?” Jack countered.
“Nope. And, I don’t want to go over there,” Mark declared. “I’m doing just fine on my side of the hill. That’s a bad place. No decent person goes to the other side of the hill.”
“How about Elijah?” Jack wondered as the neon light of the motel came into view. “Have you ever met him?”
The deputy laughed, again looking over at Jack. “No one from here has ever met Elijah. He never leaves from his ranch. I hear he’s never set foot from there since they opened the place.”
“I met him - Elijah,” Jack shot back. “Earlier tonight, as a matter of fact.”
“You can have at it,” Mark said with a shiver as they cruised into the motel parking lot. “I’ve lived most of my life in New Hope and I’ve never had the need to go over the hill. They killed that lady. Left her laying out in the desert.”
“You know that for a fact?” Jack countered as he pointed toward his room.
“Who else would have done it?” Mark asked as he pulled up outside Jack’s motel room. “We haven’t ever had a murder around here, not in my time anyways.”
“What about Leland Whitaker?” Jack asked.
The young deputy slammed on the brakes in front the motel room.
“I wouldn’t know a thing about that, sir,” the officer gulped as he quickly shed his seatbelt and climbed out of the vehicle.
Jack jumped out of his side and joined the deputy at the back of the cruiser. The officer was already unloading the gear.
“Did you know Mr. Whitaker?” Jack asked.
“Yeah, well, kind of, well, not really,” the young lawman stammered as he pulled the bags from the SUV.
Jack grabbed the last two bags and followed the deputy to the door.
“Anyway, here’s your stuff,” Mark said as he placed the bags at Jack’s door. “I better get back on patrol since I’m the only one on duty and all.”
Jack smiled and extended his hand to the officer. He realized he had hit a button with his reference to Whitaker. Perhaps Elijah had been playing straight with him when it came to the intrigue involving the man.
“Thanks for the help, Mark,” Jack said to the nervous deputy.
“My pleasure, sir,” the officer replied, happy he was not being rifled with more questions. “It isn’t every day I get to meet an FBI agent here in New Hope.”
Jack picked up the bags and strolled into his room as the deputy drove away. He rapped on the connecting door to Ashley’s room.
“Knock, knock,” Jack said. “Open up. It’s me.”
Jack waited for a second before he heard movement on the other side. “Just a second.”
Ashley slowly opened the door, looking around the edge, holding a sheet up to cover herself.
“What? You sleepin’ in the buff, honey?” Jack grinned as she shyly looked around the door at him.
“No. I am not sleeping in the buff. Like it’s any of your business in the first place,” Ashley scowled. “It isn’t like I had time to go home and get anything to sleep in before you practically abducted me at the air-port in Texas. I don’t even have the bag I brought with me.”
“Now you do,” Jack said with a mischievous grin, holding up her bag, swinging it in front of her like he was dangling a carrot.
“Here. Catch,” Jack said, tossing the duffle toward her face, the sudden movement catching Ashley by surprise, prompting her to throw up her hands. The sheet fell to the floor.
She caught the bag and immediately used it to shield herself from Jack’s widened eyes.
“Granny panties!” Jack howled like a twelve-year-old as he pointed and laughed, Ashley’s face turning a bright shade of red.
She was at a loss for words as she stood trying to decide whether to hold the bag over her top half, which consisted of only a flesh-colored bra, or over her rather matronly underwear.
“You’re such a jerk, Jack!” Ashley gritted her teeth, trying to repress tears, her bottom lip quivering as Jack continued laughing.
“I’m sorry,” Jack choked, as he continued laughing, leaving Ashley incensed.
“I ought to get you for sexual harassment,” Ashley blurted out, clutching the bag to her stomach.
“Yeah, in your wildest dreams, sweetheart,” Jack smirked. “You only wish.”
Ashley glared at Jack, her eyes welling up with tears of embarrassment and anger.
“You know what you are, Jack?” Ashley stammered. “You’re nothing but son of a …”
“Goodnight, Ashley,” Jack grinned as she slammed the door shut in the midst of Ashley’s come apart. “Sleep tight.”
“Open that door again tonight Jack, and I swear, I’ll shoot you,” Ashley hissed from the other side of the door. “I have a gun, you know.”
“So does everybody else around here, darlin’,” Jack called out as he stepped back out of his room. “Keep yours close. I’m getting some air.”
Jack strolled to the motel office through the quiet parking lot. Seeing no one inside, he walked over and rang the bell. Getting no answer, he rang it again, this time pecking out a rhythm on it.
“Keep your shirt on,” Jessica’s voice barked from the back room. “I’m coming already.”
“Well, if you insist,” Jack said, Jessica’s angry scowl immediately melting into a smile as she saw Jack standing in the office. “I usually don’t take my shirt off for strange girls, anyway.”
“Then maybe we need to get to know each other better,” Jessica shot back, not missing a beat. “We shouldn’t be strangers at all.”
“I’m game if you are,” Jack said, resuming his friendly lean on the front counter. “Get us started. Tell me about yourself.”
Jessica mirrored Jack’s lean on the counter opposite him, returning his smile.
“Do you ever stop asking the questions?” Jessica re-plied with a wink. “Suppose I ask you a few questions? You already know about me – hometown girl, happily divorced, small business owner and really, really bored.”
“Shoot,” Jack challenged. “I’m an open book.”
“Okay,” Jessica accepted. “Married?”
“Divorced,” Jack replied. “Next question.”
“Kids?” she continued.
Jack hesitated for a moment, his eyes darting away momentarily. “No. No kids. Next.”
“Why not?” Jessica dwelled on the question.
“I just don’t,” Jack answered. “How about you? Any kids?”
“Nope,” she replied. “And thank goodness for small miracles. They would have had my ex’s genes. I wouldn’t want to do that to the world.”
“Got any family around here?” Jack asked.
“None I’d claim,” Jessica shook her head. “I thought I was supposed to be asking the questions here, mister.”
“Sorry. Force of habit,” Jack grinned. “Sometimes I just can’t help myself.”
“I can tell,” Jessica agreed.
“I’ll try to do better,” Jack promised.
“How long you been a G-man?” Jessica quizzed.
“Well, I’m about to hit the big 4-0 and I’ve been with the bureau since I was twenty-six so that’d be …” Jack said, counting on his fingers. “… about fourteen years.”
“You like being a cop?” Jessica asked, giving him a long look.
“It has its moments,” Jack shot back. “I get to wear a suit and carry a gun.”
“You look sharp in that suit too, if you don’t mind me saying,” Jessica noted, her eyes darting quickly to the buttons of his shirt.
“Thanks, gorgeous,” Jack replied as he reached to loosen his tie a bit more. “I try to dress for success.”
“You succeed,” Jessica bit her lip. “You could take me into custody anytime you like.”
Jack gave her a confident grin, her return of his flirtation encouraging his already-enormous ego.
“Now surely a beautiful woman like yourself has no shortage of potential suitors,” Jack came back.
“Please,” Jessica rolled her eyes. “They ought to call this place No Hope instead of New Hope. There isn’t a decent man in a hundred miles of this place. All we got here is truckers, drifters, fugitives, illegals and cultists.”
“Good thing you don’t work for the chamber of commerce here, huh?” Jack laughed.
“Seriously, Jack,” Jessica continued in a sober tone. “Pretty well everyone in New Hope - and Paradise Ranch for that matter - is running from something. That’s why they’re here, in the middle of nowhere.”
“What are you running from?” Jack said, looking her deeply in the eyes.
“Definitely not from you,” she winked, avoiding Jack’s question with more flirtation.
“Like cops, do you?” Jack replied.
“The good looking ones. Yes” she said without missing a beat. “The cops here are all just kids, though.”
“How about the sheriff?” Jack said with a bit of a smirk.
“Franklin Tubbs? Please,” Jessica said, entertained by the mere suggestion. “He’s old enough to be my father, or at least my very oldest brother.”
“What do you think about Sheriff Tubbs?” Jack asked “What kind of lawman is he?”
Jessica thought for a moment. “I think he has the best interests of New Hope at heart.”
“Honest man?” Jack followed up.
“I suppose,” Jessica offered.
Given their banter, Jack decided to press forward with what was on his mind. “What about Leland Whitaker? What have you heard about him?”
Jessica’s personality went from hot to cold with the question as she stood up from the counter.
“Don’t ask, don’t tell,” Jessica said with a serious look on her face. “New Hope has its secrets.”
“Is it a secret you can tell?” Jack asked hopefully.
“Some things you just don’t talk about around here,” Jessica noted. “And, Leland Whitaker is a subject I’m not getting involved in.”
“But why can’t you …” Jack began just as the phone rang in the office.
Jessica held up a finger to him as she answered the call, then placing her hand over the receiver. “I’ve got to take this but hey, if you’re not doing anything a little later, come back and we can continue getting to know each other. Remember, I’ll be here until two with absolutely nothing to do.”
Jack nodded. “I may just do that, sweetie.”
“I’ll look forward to it,” Jessica winked as Jack turned and headed out the door. “I’m sure I can find something for us to get into.”
“I’m sure you will,” Jack called back over his shoulder.
While momentarily distracted by his conversation with Jessica, Jack had been having a dilemma of conscious, something he tried to avoid as much as possible. It was Ashley’s teary-eyed face that kept flashing in his mind. Although he enjoyed picking and teasing, even he had to admit to himself that he may have gone a bit far with the whole granny panty thing. As such, Jack resigned himself to do something that he rarely did – apologize.
“Ashley,” Jack said in a quiet voice as he rapped on the door between their rooms, remembering her threat to shoot him if he came through the door. While he suspected her threat was hollow, he wasn’t going to take chances. “Ashley. It’s me, Jack. Can I come in?”
Jack pressed his ear to the door, trying to hear any movement inside the room. He had only been gone a few minutes. Surely she hadn’t fallen asleep that quickly.
“Ashley,” he rapped again. “I want to tell you some-thing.”
Again pressing his ear to the door, he listened for a sound.
“Jack,” he thought he heard, spoken in a hushed voice from the other side of the door.
“Is it okay to come in?” Jack asked through the door as he reached to turn the knob.
“Please,” Ashley rasped, still in a barely audible tone.
With that, Jack pushed open the door, wanting to keep his apology short and sweet and not allow it to turn into some emotional bonding scene.
“Ashley, I just wanted to tell you that I’m …” Jack stopped in mid-apology as he laid eyes on the spectacle before him.
Lying on the bed was Ashley, her mouth wide open in horror, looking helplessly at him. Surrounding her on every side, crawling atop the covers were …SCORPIONS.
PAIN IN THE BACKSIDE
Ashley had been jarred from her light sleep moments earlier by a sound. What the sound was, she was unsure but it was just enough to rouse her back to conscious-ness. She was about to dismiss the interruption to her imagination when she caught sight of a movement next to her on the bed. Her eyes followed the movement as it crept toward her. She strained her eyes to make out the form, her glasses lying on the night table leaving her at a disadvantage.
Narrowing her eyes in the limited light provided by her bedside lamp she had left on, the realization hit her. It was a scorpion - a big one - just inches from her face, its stinger poised to strike.
She slowly moved her eyes, looking for an avenue of escape when she saw another, this one sitting atop her cover. There was more movement, down toward her feet. Another scorpion was on patrol. Her eyes danced around the bed. It was covered with scorpions.
“Don’t freak out, Ashley,” she whispered to herself as she tried to solve the Rubik’s cube in her mind of how to get out of the predicament without being stung.
Her eyes slowly moved back to the immediate threat, the scorpion next to her face, its pinchers almost close enough to touch her nose. She could feel the other scorpions scurrying atop the thin cover she had placed over her. Their stingers would no doubt easily penetrate the thin sheet if they were startled into attack.
Should she blow on the scorpion in front of her? Would her breath be enough to push the poisonous in-sect away or would it trigger a sting to her eye? What if she was able to blow the one scorpion away? Would her movement to retreat from the bed bring a mass attack?
She thought for a moment, formulating a plan. She would marshal all her breath and try to blow away the one closest to her face, its pincher now moving in an agitated fashion, perhaps sensing her thoughts. She would then throw back the sheets, hoping the others would fall with the cover to the floor.
As calmly as possible, Ashley took in a deep gulp of air as she moved her left hand under the blanket, pre-paring to throw it off in an instant. She hoped that more scorpions weren’t patrolling the floor below, waiting to sting her bare feet when they hit the dirty tan carpet.
“Ashley,” Jack called from the outside of the door, causing her to nearly choke on the lung-full of air she had just gulped.
She slowly let out the air, not wanting to entice the scorpion into attack.
“Ashley. It’s me, Jack,” he called out again.
Afraid that yelling out would surely provoke a sting to her face, she called out to Jack, careful not to raise her voice much beyond a whisper.
“Please,” Ashley hissed, hoping he could hear her from the other side of the door but at the same time fearing his entry might startle the scorpions into stinging.
She froze as she heard the door open and Jack’s sub-sequent surprise.
“Ashley,” he croaked. “Don’t move a muscle. There’s scorpions all over you.”
“No kidding. Get them off of me,” Ashley squeaked out of the side of her mouth, not wanting to even breathe, her eyes nearly crossing as she looked at it nearly touching the tip of her nose.
Her whimpered pleas were answered at first with silence as Jack continued standing at the door.
“Jack!” Ashley squeaked again. “Now!”
“Um, I guess this is a bad time to confess,” Jack cleared his throat. “But, I’m … well … I … don’t care much for bugs.”
“Just knock them off!” Ashley breathed, making sure her lips didn’t move.
The next thing she heard was even more disconcerting than the scorpion at her nose. It was the chambering of a round.
“Are you crazy?” Ashley growled f
rom her throat. “Knock. Them. Off!”
“With what?” Jack asked, looking around the room.
“Anything,” Ashley replied, trying not to hyperventilate. “Your shoe. Smash them. They’re bugs. Get this one first.”
Slapping on the lights to fully illuminate the room, Jack holstered his weapon and removed his shoe. He slowly advanced, making sure he wasn’t stepping on any of the creepy crawlers on the floor.
“You owe me one,” Jack said as he knocked one of the scorpions from the foot of the bed. “I really, really don’t like bugs and these are big, juicy ones.”
Jack pushed another scorpion off the sheet with his shoe, this causing the scorpion in front of her to flinch. Another scurried onto the floor. Jack followed and smashed it along with the other scorpion.
“Oh, that’s gross,” Jack choked out as he advanced toward the head of the bed.
“Okay, Ashley. Be very, very still,” Jack warned as he cocked back his leather shoe. “Don’t even breathe.”
Ashley closed her eyes as she saw Jack clench his teeth and take aim. She felt the wind off his shoe as it breezed past her nose, the impact with the bed causing her to impulsively jump back to the other side of the bed.
“Ouch!” Ashley cried out as she felt a stab of pain on her backside.
She stood up, grabbing for the source of the pain, trying not to step on any of the scorpions scurrying across the floor.
“I told you not to move!” Jack said as he brushed away the remains of the scorpion that had been positioned at her nose.
“I’ve been stung!” Ashley howled as she grasped at her buttocks. The culprit still lay on the sheet. It had been crushed under Ashley’s weight when she rolled over.
Jack continued his work, systematically hunting down and smashing scorpions as Ashley continued clutching the site of the sting.
“Didn’t you hear me?” Ashley squealed. “I’ve been stung.”
“I heard you,” Jack responded as he chased the last of the scorpions, making short work of it with his shoe. “Let’s see it.”
“Well, it’s …” Ashley started.
“Just show me. It isn’t like it’s something I haven’t seen before,” Jack grumbled.
Paradise Ranch (Jack and Ashley detective series Book 2) Page 9