Nowhere to Run

by Valerie Hansen

  The driver smiled to himself. And then they’d kill him. With pleasure.

  Seth delivered his passengers to the redbrick, Hilltop Motel, followed them into the small, sparsely furnished lobby and lingered near the front desk to see if the woman produced a credit card. She didn’t.

  The clerk looked concerned. “I’m sorry, ma’am. We prefer you pay by charge card.”

  “All I have is cash,” Marie said. “Surely, you don’t mind taking real money.”

  “Well, I don’t know. Most people…”

  Seth spoke up. “It’s okay, Clarence. We have her car down at the station. She’s not going anywhere till it’s fixed. And I promise to give you time to count the towels before I let her leave town.”

  “If you say so, that’s good enough for me,” the clerk replied with a smile. He programmed a key card and handed it to Marie. “Your room is around back, by the pool. Ground floor. I trust that’s satisfactory.”

  She nodded and managed to return his grin. “That will be fine, thanks.”

  “Can I hug the dog goodbye?” Patty asked her.

  “That’s up to Mr. Whitfield.”

  “How about we both walk you to your door?” Seth suggested. “I need to deliver your suitcases for you, anyway.”

  He could tell by the reluctance in the woman’s movements that she wasn’t keen on letting him help, so he gave her no options. As soon as they left the office, he whistled to his dog and swung the heavy bags out of the back of the truck.

  Marie was crouching to join her daughter in petting the joyful border collie when she suddenly froze in that position.

  Seth followed her line of sight to the street. There was nothing about the passing traffic that he saw as threatening, but the woman sure seemed to.

  He paused. “Are you okay?”

  “Fine. Fine,” she answered, grabbing the child’s hand and hurrying her around the side of the motel building.

  Babe bounded along beside her new playmate and Seth followed. As soon as Marie had unlocked the door, the dog ran into the room ahead of everyone, much to Patty’s delight.

  “Look, Mama! She wants to stay and play with me.”

  “Well, she can’t.” Marie practically yanked her bag from Seth’s grip. “Thank you for your help.”

  He bowed slightly and smiled, placing Patty’s smaller suitcase at the foot of the closest bed before backing toward the open door. “My pleasure. C’mon, Babe. I think we’ve overstayed our welcome.”

  When the door slammed behind him, he was certain he heard the deadbolt click into place, too. Something had sure spooked Marie, although he had no idea what.

  Sauntering back to his truck, he motioned to the dog to jump in ahead of him, then scanned the street as he pulled out of the driveway. There were more pickups passing than there were cars, which was normal for a place like Serenity. A slow delivery van was partially blocking traffic halfway up the block. The driver was probably lost, which was not unusual either, since so many of the outlying streets were unmarked, dirt roads.

  When Seth had eased up even with the idling van, he leaned across his truck seat, past Babe, to peer at the driver. “Can I help you?”

  The man’s “No” was followed by a curse that caused Seth to recoil. Folks in the South were so well known for their amiability that this kind of response stood out like a red flag. If the stranger truly was an innocent delivery man, there was no earthly reason why he should act so inhospitably.

  Pulling ahead and back into the line of traffic, Seth raced for the service station. He wasn’t sure that any of this pertained to Marie, but he wasn’t about to take the chance that it might. Something had frightened her when she’d stared at the street a few minutes ago, and as far as he could tell, there were no strangers in the area except the foul-mouthed guy in the delivery truck.

  Therefore, Seth was going to do all he could to hide her car from prying eyes until he found out exactly what was going on.

  And he was going to find out.

  One way or another.

  Marie was beside herself. She immediately drew the heavy, maroon drapes together and peeked through a thin slit where they met in the center of the motel room window.

  Had the van’s driver spied her? She didn’t think so. But what about her car? Although it was parked inside the repair shop for the present, Seth would probably move it out of the way until he was able to get the necessary replacement parts. If he did so, the man in the white van would surely spot it. And then it would only be a matter of time before Roy’s enemies were able to track her down.

  Hands trembling, she picked up the thin local phone book and looked up the number of the garage. She didn’t want to involve Seth in her problems but saw no alternative.

  The pleasant-sounding man who answered the telephone quickly put the mechanic on the line when Marie requested to speak with him.

  “Where is my car?” she blurted.

  “Marie? I mean, Mrs. Smith?”

  “Yes. Where did you put my car?”

  “I left it inside,” he answered calmly. “Where nobody can see it if they drive by.”

  She was taken aback. “You did? Why?”

  “Beats me. It just seemed like the best thing to do. Would you care to tell me what’s going on?”

  “Not really.”

  “I didn’t think so.”

  “It’s better if you don’t know.”

  “Is it? That remains to be seen. How can I help you if you won’t confide in me?”

  “All you have to do is keep my car out of sight, like you already have, and everything will be fine,” she said.

  “What are you afraid of?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Don’t you know it’s a sin to lie?” he asked.

  “That’s what Patty keeps telling me.”

  She heard him chuckle before he said, “Smart kid. What was your response to that?”

  “I told her it was probably okay if it was absolutely necessary.”

  “Can’t argue with you there, although I imagine my pastor would,” Seth said. “Look, I’ll be off duty in a couple of hours. How about if I stop by and pick you both up for supper? I know a couple of great little places to eat. Patty likes pizza, right?”

  “We aren’t going anywhere with you,” Marie said flatly. “We don’t even know you.”

  “Do you want your car left in the garage or shall I move it outside, tonight?”

  “That’s blackmail.” She didn’t want to give in to his demands but saw no easy way to avoid capitulating.

  “Not exactly. Let’s just call it Southern hospitality in an extreme form. Be ready at seven. I’ll pull around back, and you won’t have to show your face until we’re out of town if you don’t want to.”

  “We’re leaving town?”

  “Just as far as Gumption. It’s about five miles away.”

  “All right,” she said, although every instinct told her to stand her ground. “But the dog comes, too. I want an impartial chaperone.”

  Seth’s resulting laugh sounded warm and not at all threatening. “It’s a deal. Babe loves pizza almost as much as I do. And it’s going to be a warm evening. We can make it a picnic in the park—totally public—if you’re worried about being alone with me.”

  “I’m a lot more worried about being out in public, with or without you,” Marie admitted ruefully. “We’ll be waiting.”

  THREE

  Marie had showered, washed and dried her hair and changed into lightweight slacks and a casual top long before it was time for Seth to pick them up. It had occurred to her that perhaps it would be wise for both her and Patty to dye or bleach their hair, but she couldn’t bring herself to alter the child’s beautiful, natural coloring.

  Besides, the way she saw it, as long as they were driving that old blue car of hers, there was no way a changed physical appearance was going to help much. What she needed to do was ditch the car, the way pursued victims always did in the movies. Unfortunately, she had
barely enough cash to continue running away, let alone buy a different vehicle.

  Another problem was Patty’s insistence that her mother always tell the absolute truth in spite of the danger of doing so. Smiling, Marie recalled being the same kind of stubborn, exasperating child she was now raising. Except in her case, her mother had simply given up. And her father? He had been gone so much that, although Marie had an overall impression of his being rather handsome and suave, she could barely envision his face.

  Marie promised herself that she was not going to make that kind of mistake in regard to Patty. With the blessing of having a child came serious responsibility, not only for that child’s physical needs but for the spiritual, as well.

  A knock on the door brought her back to the present and made her heart leap. Instead of answering verbally, she hurried to peer out the peephole.

  It was Seth. He had picked up Babe and was moving the dog’s foreleg so that it looked as if she was waving hello.

  Relieved, Marie opened the door. “Hi. You’re early.”

  “I figured you two might be hungry, so I hurried,” he said with a smile. The minute he released the dog, she bounded through the door and jumped onto the bed, trying to kiss her new buddy.

  Giggling, Patty pushed her away and ran back to the door, with Babe in pursuit.

  Marie gathered up her purse and jackets for her and Patty in case the evening turned chilly, made sure she had her key card and closed the door behind them before remarking, “You clean up pretty nicely, mister.”

  “Thanks. These are my best jeans and a new shirt. Are you surprised?”

  “I wasn’t referring to your clothes,” she explained, feeling her cheeks warming. “I just didn’t think you’d ever be able to get all that grease off your hands.”

  “Sandpaper does it every time,” he quipped.

  She arched an eyebrow and played along. “Must be painful.”

  “Not if I use a fine-enough grain.”

  The deadpan way he delivered the silly explanation made Marie laugh. She’d had serious misgivings about going anywhere with Seth—or with anyone else—and it helped to find humor in the situation. There had certainly been little to laugh about in the past few days.

  “How about if I hold Patty on my lap and we let Babe have the window seat?” she suggested as Seth opened the truck door for her.

  “Sorry. Seat belts for everybody. It’s a rule of mine.”

  “We didn’t use belts when you drove us up here,” Marie argued.

  “No, and we should have.” He pointed into the truck. “I took the liberty of pulling Patty’s booster seat out of your car. She can sit in the middle.” He began to grin. “I suppose you could hold Babe on your lap if you want, but you’re liable to get covered with dog hair if you try it.”

  “Then I guess I should have worn something black and white instead of light blue,” Marie said, making a face. “All right. You win. I’ll sit by the door and use my seat belt.”

  “Good decision. We don’t want to set a bad example for your little girl.” He was grinning. “I’ll fasten Babe in the truck bed so she won’t fall out and we’ll have more room up front for people.”

  “Really, I…”

  “I know. You want to hide behind the dog.”

  Marie was astounded that he’d deduced the truth so easily. “Well…”

  “Don’t worry. Your secret is safe with me, whatever it is. Here.” He held out a dark blue ball cap similar to the one he’d been wearing when she’d first seen him. “It’s brand-new. No grease or anything on it, honest. Tuck your hair underneath, pull down the brim to shade your face, and your own mother wouldn’t recognize you.”

  “That’s the truth,” Marie replied, accepting the cap and doing as he’d suggested. “The color almost matches my jacket.”

  “I suppose I should say I did that on purpose, but to be perfectly honest it was accidental.”

  As Patty crawled into the booster seat, Marie held her side of the seat belt while Seth pulled the opposite end into place.

  When their hands brushed, she jerked away. His fingers had felt a bit calloused, yet warm and gentle at the same time. The mystery was, why had she noticed? After all, she had sworn off men for good, thanks to Roy, and nothing had happened since then to make her change her mind. Perhaps someday she’d feel free to seek happiness other than in her role as Patty’s mother, but right now she had plenty of problems without inviting more.

  She took her place beside the little girl, drew her own belt over her shoulder and snapped it shut. It would pay her to remember that this trip to the pizza parlor was not her idea. She had been coerced into going, and she was not, repeat not, going to enjoy herself.

  Glancing sidelong at Seth, she was able to observe him without being too obvious. He looked awfully pleased, didn’t he? That was off-putting. Distressing. When he had first insisted on this trip, she had assumed he was simply playing a macho role. Now that she’d had a chance to judge his reactions more closely, however, she was beginning to wonder if there was a deeper reason behind his behavior.

  Of course, he might just be a nice, friendly guy who felt sorry for a stranded mother and daughter, Marie thought.

  She huffed quietly. Yeah, right. And Roy Jenkins was just a misunderstood bad boy who had accidentally gone afoul of the law. If she had learned anything from her lonely childhood and disastrous time with Roy, it was that men could not be trusted or relied upon. Especially not good-looking, seemingly nice ones.

  Seth drove toward Gumption on back roads, careful to avoid what little late evening traffic there was on a week night. His adult passenger had scooted down in her seat and was hiding her face with her raised hand. Therefore, as he pulled up to the pizza parlor, he chose a parking place as far away from the rest of the cars as possible.

  “Here we are. How’s this?” he asked, taking care to keep his tone light and easygoing.

  “Fine. It doesn’t look crowded at all.”

  “That’s because this is early in the week. Friday and Saturday nights are much busier. Some places around here don’t even stay open in the evenings except on those two days.”

  “Wow. That’s amazing. Back home the restaurants are busy all the time.”

  Seth circled the truck to open her door for her. “And where would that be?” he asked nonchalantly.

  “Alaska,” Marie quipped. “Fairbanks.”

  Patty’s eyes widened. “Mama…”

  She smiled. “I know, I know, honey. It’s not true. It was just a joke, okay?”

  Seth didn’t think the child looked convinced, but he let the moment pass. Sooner or later, one of them would slip and reveal the truth. Until that happened, he couldn’t let down his guard for an instant. His heart told him that Marie and her little girl were innocent of any wrongdoing, but that wasn’t enough to satisfy him. He’d been careless in the past, and it had cost him dearly. This time, he was determined to root out the truth before he permitted “Mrs. Smith” to leave Serenity.

  Marie had decided that it would be best to remain inside the restaurant to eat, rather than take their meal to the city park, as Seth had suggested earlier. She was hungry and the pizza smelled delicious, but she was so nervous that she could hardly choke it down.

  Worse, Seth and Patty were chatting away and seemed to be becoming fast friends. The child’s trusting nature was very worrisome, especially where that enigmatic man was concerned. On the surface, he seemed perfectly normal, yet there was something about him that made Marie’s nerves tingle with unexplained warning.

  She had tried repeatedly to pray for the Lord’s guidance and had found it impossible to keep her mind from wandering with unanswered questions and baffling suspicions. Had she been so traumatized that she was unable to trust even the most casual acquaintance? Or was God warning her to stay alert despite a seemingly innocent situation?

  Either alternative was possible, she finally decided. And until her car was repaired and she was free to continue he
r flight, there wasn’t a thing she could do about it except cope as best she knew how.

  “You’re not eating much,” Seth remarked with a smile.

  “I’m not all that hungry, I guess.”

  “Well, Patty and I are,” he replied. “We’re saving our crusts for Babe. See?”

  “I’m sure she’ll enjoy them,” Marie said, glancing at her daughter with a wistful smile. “We probably should be getting back to the motel. Patty’s up way past her usual bedtime.”

  Seth stifled a yawn. “Yeah. So am I. But then, I get up at dawn and work hard all day, so I need my beauty sleep.”

  “Where do you live?” Marie asked. “In Serenity?”

  “Sort of. I have a place out in the country, near Heart. It used to be a bustling town, even after Serenity was named the county seat back in the 1800s. Later, as people got cars and began to move around more easily, the heart of Heart kind of withered and died.”

  “That’s too bad.”

  “Times change. Places change. It’s just the way things are.” He paused and Marie noticed how seriously he was looking at her before he added, “Take you and Patty, for instance. I get the idea that you’re not going back to wherever you came from.”

  “Really? Why would you think that?”

  “Mainly because you have so much stuff crammed into your car. It looks more like you’re making a permanent move than taking a simple vacation.”

  “Maybe.” She stared at her half-eaten slice of pizza rather than look at him and take the chance he could read her thoughts. “I haven’t decided.”

  “What made you head this way?” Seth asked quietly.

  She shrugged. “I don’t know. It seemed sensible.”

  “Yes. Especially if you’re running away from someone or something down south.”

  Her head snapped up, her gaze locking with his. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Really? Well, if it’s not that, then why are you so afraid of being seen? And why did you practically beg me to hide your car while it’s in the garage?”