by David Archer
Down, boy, he said to himself. He'd already realized that Indie was very pretty, but watching her go up the stairs the night before had made him admit that he found her sexy as could be, too. That little wiggle of hers was something few men could ever fail to admire, and he wasn't one of them! He could watch that all day long, but it only led to thoughts of other things that he'd promised not to try, so he made himself behave as long as she was around.
The miles were passing, and it wasn't long before he was in Kansas. I-70 took him to Kansas City, and his GPS told him that he'd go south there onto I-49. He had a few hours of Kansas flatland ahead, though, so he cruised along, only stopping for gas, and once for a sandwich.
Back in Denver, Indie had googled all the local discount furniture places, and decided to go shopping. She cleaned Kenzie up and dressed her, and the two of them got into her car and headed for the first one on her list.
They walked into the store, and a salesman spotted them instantly, but he seemed more interested in hitting on her than finding the things she wanted to see. After about fifteen minutes, she said she'd forgotten something at home and would be back, then drove off to the next store. That one was more rewarding, and the sales lady there was happy to help her find a perfect bedroom suite for Kenzie, and even discounted it more when she found out that Indie was paying cash! She got everything she wanted for less than five hundred, and was delighted!
Then it was off to the mall and the stores that sold bedding for kids. Kenzie ended up with Frozen-themed bedding from the Disney store, and a Dora-themed set from another one. They bought appliques to put up around the walls, and pictures of some of Kenzie's favorite characters to hang around the room, and Indie still had enough left to buy Kenzie some toys and even a little table and chair set that the two of them fell in love with. When she rang it all up and was stuffing it into her car, she hoped Sam wouldn't mind the extras, but she somehow had the feeling that he would be okay with it.
She got everything in the car, even though the table was stuffed into the back seat next to Kenzie, and started for home. She thought about the fact that she'd have the big house to herself for the night, and that made her feel a bit lonely. Sam was a very nice guy, and she had already come to realize that she was very attracted to him, but she wasn't sure how he felt about her. Okay, yeah, she could tell he thought she was cute, and she knew he was watching her go up the stairs the night before, which gave her a tingle if she was going to be honest, but was he actually interested in her, or just in her femaleness? He was a man, after all, so she needed to be careful not to give him the wrong signals, and not to read his wrong, either.
She got home and was unloading her purchases when Anita Mitchell came down to see if Kenzie wanted to come over and play for a while. Kenzie certainly did, so Indie had the rest of the afternoon to start putting things together, and when the furniture store's delivery truck showed up at three, the guys driving it were thrilled to help her get everything set up.
Sam's gonna be amazed at how much I got, she thought, and I bet he likes it all, too. Maybe it'll show him I'm worth his notice…
She shut down that train of thought, instantly!
Sam wondered if there was ever a place as boring and flat as Kansas. Holy cow, he hadn't seen anything taller than a small tree in two hundred miles! He'd passed Hays, Salina, Abilene, Junction City, and Topeka, and was coming up on Kansas City, but still, it was almost nothing but flatland. How could anyone live there?
He checked his GPS and got ready to make the turn onto 49. He'd have to follow that down to a town called Fayetteville, Arkansas, where he'd get onto Highway 412, a back road if he ever saw one! That would be the one to take him to Harrison, where Allen Rice was hiding out.
He checked the time and saw that it was getting close to five, so he called Indie just to see how she was doing. A part of him was feeling bad for not telling her she didn't have to play the girlfriend after all, but another part wanted to keep it going as long as possible. When she answered, he decided to see how quick she was.
“Hey, Baby, how's it going?” he asked, a smile evident in his voice.
“Well, hi there, Darlin'!” she came back. “It's goin' good, here, how's the road trip?”
“It's long and boring. I've come to the conclusion that Kansas is the place God created for people who are too afraid of life to live in the mountains! There is nothing in Kansas taller than a rabbit!”
Indie laughed, and Sam realized that he liked hearing her laugh. “Well, I went shopping, like you told me to do,” she said, “and I did really good. I got everything I needed to set up her bedroom, and I hope it's okay, but I kinda bought her some toys and stuff, too.”
Sam grinned. “That's fine, and now that you mention it, I should probably buy her something while I'm out, too. I think she'd liked to know I was thinking of her, so if I bring her back a toy or something...”
“She loves stuffed animals,” Indie said. “Any kind, she just loves them!”
“I'll remember that!”
They were both quiet for a moment, and then they both tried to speak at once.
“So, I was thinking...”
“Indie, I was wondering… okay, you go first.”
“No, you go on, I can wait,” Indie said.
“Well—I was just gonna ask, does it bother you, having to pretend we're, y'know, an item?”
She hesitated for a moment, and Sam cringed, afraid of what she was about to say, but then she said, “No, I don't mind. I mean, you’re a good-lookin' guy, so we probably look nice together, y'know, and you're so good to me and Kenzie. I mean, it wouldn't bother me, y'know, if we had to—if we had to keep it up for a while, y'know?”
Sam was smiling and nodding into the phone. “Okay, good, cause I think maybe, if you're okay with it, I think maybe we should keep it this way for a while, maybe even quite a while, just to be safe, you know, and so when I get back, maybe we can start going out, like on dates, you know?”
Indie swallowed hard. “Yeah, that'd probably be a good idea, y'know, let everyone see us out like we're really boyfriend and girlfriend, y'know.”
They kept assuring each other that it was a good idea for a few more minutes, and then Sam's phone beeped an incoming call. He said goodbye, and switched over.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Stranger,” said Dan Jacobs. “Anything good goin' on over there?”
“Well, some things,” Sam said. “I found the girl, and got her home last night, but it's led to a mess. In return for getting her back, I've got to find Allen Rice, who is hiding in some little town in Arkansas. I'm headed there now.”
“Geez, Arkansas? Is that a real place?”
“Yeah, it's real,” Sam laughed. “Listen, I haven’t forgotten about you. I'm putting together some info you're gonna find useful, but I'm afraid it's mostly just street scum.”
“Hey, every little bit helps! If I can make a few good busts, I have a chance of getting a promotion one of these days, and I could use the pay raise that would come with it!”
Sam smiled. Dan was always complaining about his pay, even though he lived alone and had no real expenses. “I'll see what I can do to speed that up for you!”
“Okay, good. You be careful in Arkansas, I've heard stories about those rednecks out there!”
They hung up, and Sam saw his exit ahead. He was in Missouri, and it was time to go south to redneck land. He followed 49 all the way to Fayetteville, Arkansas, passing through Bentonville (the Home of WalMart) on the way. He found his exit for US 412, and followed it, moving through small hills and vales that were known locally as The Ozark Mountains.
How anyone could call these speed bumps mountains is beyond me, he thought. The road was curvy and wound up and down, but it was decent and well maintained, so he was making good time.
It was getting late, nearing eleven in the evening, and he hadn't stopped for several hours. He spotted a big gas station and store in a little town called Marble that was bar
ely more than a wide spot in the road, and pulled in to gas up. The store sported a small restaurant, and he bought some chicken strips to eat on the way.
“That be all for you?” the counter girl asked as he paid for his gas and purchases.
“That'll be it. Can you tell me how much farther it is to Harrison?”
She nodded. “Oh, yeah, Harrison's about another forty-five minutes or an hour ahead. You're almost there.”
He got back on the road and let the Vette cruise again, and sure enough, he found Harrison right where she'd said he would. He rolled into town past the Wal-Mart and car lots and banks, and spotted the Super 8 Hotel, then pulled in and got a room.
7
Sam got up at six the next morning and wandered out to the lobby for the free continental breakfast they'd told him about when he checked in. Waffles sounded good, and they had the machine there that made them fresh on the spot. He got himself a cup of coffee, then started his waffle, and was standing beside the counter waiting for it when Allen Rice strolled into the breakfast room.
Rice looked nervous, Sam thought. There was something about the guy that said he was scared, and while Sam could understand that, it struck him as odd that Rice was hanging out in some little redneck town in the middle of nowhere. He should have been in some other part of the world. Sam didn't know how much money Rice may have taken off with, or how much value the drugs he took may have had, but if it was worth leaving his daughter as collateral, it was probably a substantial amount. Surely it could have gotten him somewhere further and more anonymous than Harrison, Arkansas!
All Sam knew at the moment, though, was that he had confirmed the location of Rice, and that meant his job was almost done.
The waffle iron went ding, which meant his waffle was done. He got it out of the machine and onto a plate, then smothered it in butter and syrup and carried it to one of the little tables. He sat down as Rice began making a waffle of his own.
Rice sat at the table beside his, and began to eat hunkered down over the plate as if he was afraid someone was going to steal his breakfast away. Sam didn't understand why, but something about the way Rice was acting was bothering him, and if there was one thing Sam couldn't take, it was not understanding something.
“Good waffles, here, aren't they?” he said, before he even realized he was going to speak.
Rice looked up at him and grunted something that may have been agreement, then turned his eyes back down to his plate. A second later, he jumped as his cell phone rang, and he snatched it out and answered in a whisper.
“Hello?” he said softly into the phone. “Hey, Babe, thanks for calling me back. I didn't know who else to call.”
He listened for a few moments, and Sam strained to hear any of what the caller was saying, but it wasn't loud enough. He could tell it was a woman's voice, and he suspected it was the girlfriend he'd met at Rice's house.
“I don't know what to do,” Rice was saying. “I've waited here for most of a week, now, and no one has come like they said. I'm gettin' scared, Babe. This is too weird, but when I call 'em, no one answers. It's like they put me out here to be a bait, or something, but I don’t know what for.”
Sam was listening to the words, but he was also listening to the voice Rice was using, and it was one that was full of fear and worry. The skin on the back of Sam’s neck was prickling, and something told him that things were not right, here.
“If I don't hear something by tomorrow,” Rice said into the phone, “I'm comin' home. They can take this job and shove it. I don't want no part of this. They can give me Cassie back, I'll give their stuff back, and I'll just go on my way and they can go theirs!” He listened again for a moment, then sighed. “Okay, Babe, well, if that guy comes back, you go ahead and call me and let me talk to him. This is just gettin' too weird, like I said.” He ended the call and put the phone back into his pocket.
Sam pretended not to have heard anything, finishing his waffle like everything was fine. He drank his coffee and then refilled his cup, trying to wait until Rice was done. He wanted to talk to the man, but not here where the desk clerk could hear everything said.
His patience was rewarded a moment later, as Rice threw his plate and cup away and started toward the elevator. Sam caught up to him and tapped him on the arm just before he pushed the button.
“Mr. Rice, I think we need to talk,” he said, and Rice immediately spun to face him. He threw his back against the wall behind him and stared at Sam, the fear evident in his face.
“Are you gonna kill me?” he asked in a quavering voice.
“Not intentionally,” Sam said. “Let's go to my room and talk, shall we? I promise I'm not going to hurt you. And if that was Carly you were talking to, then I'm probably the guy who came to talk to her that she told you about. The one asking about Cassie?”
Rice swallowed. “Why are you here? How did you find me?”
“I'm a private eye, and I'm very good at what I do,” Sam said. “We can talk in my room. Right now I just want to find out why you’re here, and why certain people are looking for you so hard.”
Rice stared at him for a moment, then nodded, and Sam pointed down the hall to his room. Because of his cane, the clerk the night before had given him a ground floor room, and they slipped inside and shut the door.
“Have a seat,” Sam said, and Rice took one of the chairs at the table across from the bed. Sam sat in the other and looked at him. “I couldn't help overhearing your phone call a bit ago, and I gotta tell you, something is sounding pretty fishy to me. See, I was hired first to find your daughter, by her grandmother; that led me to tracking you down, and I found out about your deal with the Company, the one where they held your daughter for security. That made me track down one of the owners of the Company, and...”
Rice's eyes went wide. “You know who they are?” he asked in panic-stricken tones. “Man, they'll kill anyone who knows who they are! That's one of the first things they tell us, if we ever try to find out who they are, we're dead!”
Sam held out a hand to calm him down. “Relax; all I know is one of them, and he and I have an agreement. I don't mess with him, and he won't mess with me. In fact, it was them who hired me to come and track you down. According to what they told me, they think you took off with a lot of their dope or money, or both, and I think they're out for your blood.”
Rice stared at him. “They think I—oh, God, I'm dead! I'm dead! Did they follow you here? Did they send you to kill me? I'm dead, I'm just dead!”
“Calm down and talk to me,” Sam said forcefully. “If there's a legitimate reason why you’re here instead of in St. Louis or Denver, then maybe I can find a way to keep you alive. The way I got it, you were supposed to take a load of merchandise to St. Louis and give it to a woman named Baker. Is that what you were told?”
Rice nodded slowly. “Yes, at first, but then when I was on the road, they called and told me to go and hide somewhere, instead. They said someone was after me, and they didn't want me to get caught with it, so I should go somewhere no one would look for me and hide until they called, but I been here for days and no one's called!”
“Okay, who called and told you that? Was it the same one who sent you to St. Louis?”
Rice nodded. “Yeah, I don't know his name or nothin'. He's my district leader. Usually we only talk on email, but when you’re a crew leader, you get a phone so they can talk to you that way.” He held out the cell phone he'd been using earlier. “He called me when I hit Kansas City and told me to go somewhere else and hide ‘til he calls me back. I turned off and followed a bunch of different roads ‘til I got too tired to keep going, and stopped here.”
Sam was thinking, and not liking the ideas that were going through his mind. The way he saw it, there were only three possibilities:
First, someone was setting Rice up for a fall by sending him into the wind with a lot of the Company's value, and that someone was planning to take that value for himself. That plan almost certainly invo
lved killing Rice in the process.
Second, someone was setting Sam up. He had been hired to find Rice, but someone probably already knew right where he was, and a hit team could be waiting to strike at any moment. If it did, and Rice were killed, Sam would be the most likely suspect.
Third, Rice was set up, but whoever was behind it really did lose track of him. They hired Sam to find him, and would have to eliminate both of them once the job was done.
None of the options held much appeal for Sam, but he had to choose the most likely one, and fast. That would dictate his next move, and if it was the wrong one, then he and Rice, and maybe even Indie and Kenzie, were going to end up dead.
“Rice, tell me this: do you still have whatever it is they gave you? All of it?”
Rice smiled from ear to ear. “You bet your ass, I do! No way was I letting it out of my sight!”
Sam breathed a small sigh of relief. That was one part of the problem out of the way. “Good. Now, tell me about the man you talked to on the phone. What does he sound like?”
Rice looked at him, not comprehending. “Sound like? I dunno, he sounds like a guy from the South, I guess. Got a Southern-type accent, know what I mean? Like he's from Texas or somewhere like that.”
Okay, Sam thought, that's not Ingersoll. He's more the city-tough-guy type, pretending to be a society gentleman. “Sit tight,” he said to Rice. “I've gotta make a phone call, and you don't want this guy to know you’re here, not yet. Be as quiet as you possibly can, but I'm gonna let you hear his voice, and all I want you to do is nod or shake your head, to tell me if it’s the voice you know. Got that?”
Rice nodded. “Yeah, I got it. I won't make a sound!”
Sam took out his phone and hit the button to dial Ingersoll's phone. As he expected, it was answered almost immediately.
“Mr. Prichard,” the voice said, “are you calling to give me good news already?”
Sam held the phone so Rice could hear the voice on the other end, and watched Rice's face. When the man shook his head calmly, indicating that he did not know Ingersoll's voice, Sam relaxed a bit.