North Rim Delight

by Regina Duke

  Russ knew what he was doing was unwise. He was a bounty hunter, and his job was to bring bail jumpers back to Reno. But things were slow at the moment, and he had made a promise that had to be kept. So he was tailing DaSilva, warrant or no warrant. Russ Camino always kept his promises. He could not let a pretty girl divert him from that goal.

  Terri Baker was more than pretty, though, and their brief encounter was having a definite affect on him. Why was he even interested? She was just a girl coming out of the supermarket. Nothing special. But his heart felt that was a lie. He had to be a good judge of people in his line of work, and he had felt something, for just a millisecond, something that might grow between them if he were to allow it.

  He didn’t even know he was holding his breath until Terri got into her car and he could finally exhale. Those fantastic legs were out of sight at last. As her car began to move, he spotted DaSilva leaving the store and heading for his own vehicle. It was time to get back to work.

  Terri drove past the crookedly parked Mercedes, turned right on the Pyramid Lake highway and headed for the freeway. No more complications. Just the open road and a date with the Canyon. Her heart felt lighter than it had in a long while, giddy with the thrill of adventure. She glanced in the rearview mirror and was surprised to find herself smiling.

  “This is just what I needed.”

  Her cell phone rang. She frowned and dug it out of her bag with one hand. This time she looked at the number before answering.

  It was Gavin.

  “No!” she shouted to the universe. Then she had a better idea. She opened the phone, shouted “No!” into Gavin’s ear, then turned it off. That was one way to guarantee her peace and quiet. She slipped a CD into the player and turned up the volume.

  Once she took the Fernley exit, the highway would be only two lanes almost all the way to Indian Springs outside Vegas. The next two hours whizzed by, fueled by music, diet Pepsi, and adrenaline. But after that, she began to wonder if making the long drive alone was a smart thing to do. The road was surprisingly busy for a two-lane highway. Most of the traffic was made up of big rigs, but there were also a lot of cars trying to zoom past the trucks. She was relieved when she followed the curve around the mountain and saw Walker Lake below her, looking wild and cold even in the July sun. Nevada kept surprising her with unexpected geography and soul-scraping landscapes. In the treeless distance, little humps dotted the desert in rows. Calin told her she would see munitions bunkers, but she thought they would look more imposing. A few minutes later, she was in Hawthorn, a tiny burg right out of the fifties. The main street was wide and the buildings were low and weather-worn.

  Her co-workers had told her to turn left at the El Capitan casino when she got to Hawthorn. She laughed at their instructions, but they assured her she didn’t need a map. She brought one anyway, because she hated traveling without one, but she was going to try their instructions first. She almost missed the casino because she was thinking tall buildings and neon lights, like in Reno. But there it was on the left, a long low building with a sign “El Capitan.” It reminded her more of something out of an old 1950s movie than a modern casino. But it was hard to think dark thoughts in such bright sun, and she desperately needed a ladies’ room, so she turned left into the parking lot.

  The casino didn’t interest her. She saw what gaming did to Gavin, and she ignored the rows of slot machines. The restroom was acceptable, given the age of the building. In fact, she decided it had a rustic charm. All her Nevada friends felt she had to experience it in order to become a real Nevadan. She ran a brush through her hair. Her bangs were in her eyes. She sighed disgustedly at herself and rummaged through her tote. At the bottom she found a brown plastic hair band, pressed to imitate braided leather.

  “Oh, what the heck,” she muttered, “I’m on vacation. I can try something different.” She pushed her bangs back with the hair band and examined the result. The effect was kind of perky. “At least I look awake now,” she shrugged. Then she glanced around quickly to see if anyone else was in the restroom. No feet under the doors. Relieved, she eyed herself sternly. “Terri, you have to quit talking to yourself! You’re too young to be muttering aloud all the time.”

  She knew what she needed. Calin and her other friends at work had been giving her lots of advice since Reggie died. It was the same advice she gave to others who had lost a pet. Adopt another one. Find a reason to get out of bed and go for a walk. You can’t wallow in self pity when a dog needs to be fed and groomed and loved. Also, no one bats an eye at someone talking to their dog.

  But like so many of the bereaved pet owners who came through their office, she just wasn’t ready. Maybe Calin’s suggestion about the GSD rescue was a good one. She would definitely meet the dog when she returned from vacation.

  She jammed her brush back into her tote bag and returned to her car. As she was getting in, she noticed a silver Mercedes at the far edge of the lot, parked at an angle across two spaces. She laughed softly and decided parking lot paranoia was a disease of Mercedes owners. She opened a fresh bottle of water and continued on her way. She checked her rearview mirror and smiled. A little red sedan with darkened windows was pulling out behind her. She wondered if she should get her windows treated. It would help defeat the sun a bit.

  “Oh, darn, I forgot to check the map.” But she wasn’t worried. There was a sign ahead with Tonopah on it. That would be her next stop.

  Fifty miles later she noticed the red car was still behind her. She was surprised it didn’t pass. She was not a speed demon. Maybe they weren’t in a hurry. Besides, it wasn’t like there was any other road to take.

  Suddenly she had a horrible thought. What if Gavin was following her? He never told her what kind of car he was driving. They’d gotten side-tracked about the money issue. Could it be him back there in that little red car? The tinted windows were something he would do. He owed money to the wrong people. He would do everything he could to hide himself from view.

  But would he follow her to Vegas? She didn’t have access to a home equity loan on the road. Besides, she told him no several times. There was no good reason for him to follow her.

  Except, she thought, he had done it before.

  She felt like an ice maker had just dumped its cubes in the pit of her stomach.

  In fact, he had stalked her for weeks the last time he owed a casino big money. He would not leave her alone. He begged, cajoled, and threatened her, although she told herself his threats were just a sign of his desperation. He had embarrassed her by coming to Dr. Kay’s office and hanging out until she was forced to talk to him, just to get him out of the waiting room. She finally relented and made arrangements to pay his casino debt on an installment plan.

  After paying that ugly price for her own weakness, she decided she needed a therapist. It was the best money she ever spent. The only thing she regretted was waiting until after she paid Gavin’s gambling debt to hire a therapist.

  Now, he was using the same tactic against her. He was shaking her down for more money.

  Maybe.

  She recalled the tools the therapist had given her. Don’t catastrophize. Don’t assume the worst. If a problem comes up, deal with it. You have the right to say no.

  After five minutes of encouraging self-talk, she was finally able to admit that it was highly unlikely that Gavin was in the red car. She didn’t even know what kind of car he owned. It was silly to get all worked up over a possibility.

  Even so, in the back of her mind, she made a note not to stop again until she reached the next town.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  BY THE time the road began the long climb into Tonopah, Terri decided she should have taken a bus. Her car had always been dependable, but she hadn’t driven it out of town in over a year, and it was working hard on the grade.

  “You’re being silly,” she said. “It’s only three years old, you do all the maintenance visits, the car is fine. But next time I think I’ll get eight cylinders.” She g
lanced in her rearview mirror. In the distance the little red car was still following, but it was moving even slower than she was. “See? Vacationers, just like you, Terri, and their car has less oomph than yours does.”

  The steep grade into Tonopah was lined with remnants of old buildings that dated from the days when it was a mining boom town. Terri had an urge to stop and sketch some of them, but she quashed it. She still had a long way to go. She could sketch at the Canyon. She got gas at the first station she saw, then kept climbing the hill through the town. At the top of the last hill, she decided to stop at the big supermarket for fruit. She was inside the store when she glanced out and saw the red car pull into the parking lot. The lot was full of tourists, none of whom were going to stay here long. After all, there weren’t that many places in town for folks to use as a rest stop. She bought her fruit and two more bottles of water and headed for the exit.

  Right outside the store, she stopped dead in her tracks. Out in the lot was a silver Mercedes, parked slantwise across two spaces. Suddenly there was a cold spot at the base of her spine and her heart rate quickened. Two silver Mercedes parked kitty-corner could be coincidence, but three made the little hairs on the back of her neck prickle. She found it hard to believe that Gavin could afford a Mercedes, but he said it was a used car. Could he have stooped to car theft? She stood there a moment and wondered what to do. A family was leaving the store, husband and wife and three noisy kids, and they were heading toward the same part of the lot where she was parked. She fell in step with them.

  “Gee, it’s sure warm today, isn’t it?” She groaned inwardly at her inane conversation.

  But the mother squinted at her against the sun and agreed. “They say we won’t feel the heat because there’s no humidity, but it’s hot enough for me.”

  Terri was almost to her car. “Are you headed for Vegas?” she asked.

  “Death Valley,” said the woman, helping her three-year-old into the car seat.

  “I’ve never done this drive before,” said Terri. “What’s the next town?”

  “Beatty,” said the woman, hefting her five-year-old into the SUV. “For Vegas, you’ll want to turn left at the stop light. We’ll keep going straight for Death Valley. There are signs. You can’t miss it.”

  The husband had the SUV started and the AC turned on. He grinned at her before he closed the door. “If we see you following us after the turn-off, we’ll pull over and send you back toward Vegas.”

  “Thanks!” Terri grinned back at him from the safety of her car door. Somehow that made her feel better. She got into her car and started it up. She wanted to keep the family’s SUV in sight on the road ahead of her. If someone was following her, they wouldn’t try anything with another vehicle in sight. Then she had a thought. Quickly, she jotted down the number of the Mercedes license plate. The next time she saw a silver Mercedes, she’d know if it was the same one.

  She buckled up and scolded herself. “Terri, you’re being silly.” After all, she wasn’t the only person going to Vegas today. So what if she saw the same cars at the stops she made? Everyone must stop at the same places. She pulled out after the SUV, thinking that a traveler’s choices were limited. Of course, there were alternatives, such as those fast food restaurants across the road and all those gas stations in town.

  Irritated with herself, she decided to call Calin at the pet hospital while she could get a cell signal. She needed to hear a calm, level-headed voice. She had Calin’s cell on speed dial, so she could keep her eyes on the road. She turned on her phone, punched the number, then put it on speaker.

  “Hi, Calin? It’s Terri.”

  Calin’s voice sounded anything but calm. “Terri! Thank goodness you’re all right. Where are you?”

  “I’m in Tonopah. What’s wrong?”

  Calin’s voice dropped an octave. “Gavin was here.”

  “Just now?”

  “No. This morning. About half an hour after I called you at home. He barged in here and demanded to see you. We told him you weren’t at work today, but that wasn’t good enough. He pushed his way into the back and opened every exam room looking for you. He startled one lady so badly, her Rottweiler charged him. I think it bit him.”

  “Oh, my God.” Terri felt her insides quiver like gelatin. She thought Gavin was finally out of her life. Just when she began to relax, here he was again, rushing in like gangbusters, making her miserable and endangering her job.

  “Dr. Kay told him to get out or she would call the police. She actually picked up a phone and started dialing. When he saw that, he finally left.”

  “Good. I’m so sorry. Why can’t he leave me alone?”

  “There’s more,” said Calin. “That’s why I asked if you were all right.” She paused. “Just a second.” She said something to a coworker, then spoke into the phone again. “Okay, I can talk now. I’m outside.”

  “Tell me what happened,” urged Terri. “Did he hurt someone? Did he threaten you?”

  “He didn’t hurt anyone here, but the whole time he was searching the place, he was ranting about you. He was saying, ‘Terri, you selfish bitch, come out here,’ and ‘I’m going to teach you a lesson in banking’ or something like that. It didn’t make any sense. He was scary, Terri. More so than usual.”

  Terri took a deep breath and let it out slowly. So much for getting reassurance from Calin. This was not helping her paranoia at all. “He’s gambling again,” said Terri. “He called me at the house and demanded money. I told him no.”

  “Well, he’s really pissed off about it. And then, when he was demanding to know where you were, one of the girls mentioned that you were on your way to Vegas and the Grand Canyon.”

  “What?! Someone told him where I was going?” Terri felt like she’d just been punched in the gut.

  “She didn’t know any better. Maybe she was scared. He looked ready to kill. And his parting words to Dr. Kay were, ‘Screw you. By the time the cops get here, I’ll be half way to Vegas.’ He’s coming after you, Terri.”

  Terri gripped the steering wheel until her knuckles turned white. “Calin, did you see what kind of car he was driving?”

  “No, why?”

  “I’ve had this terrible feeling that he’s following me. I thought I was just being paranoid.”

  “Well, you’re not because now you know he’s following you. Look, I have to go back inside. Call me when you get to Vegas, okay?”

  Terri said she would and hung up.

  She decided she wasn’t being too paranoid after all and nudged the accelerator.

  She pushed her little car for all it was worth up and over the last hill and heaved a sigh of relief as the terrain flattened out a bit on the other side. In the mountains around Tonopah, she couldn’t really tell if the red car or the Mercedes were following her, but even if they were, there was no other way to Vegas, so it still didn’t prove anything. Up ahead of her, the family SUV was sticking close to the speed limit, and she was grateful.

  Terri missed the feeling of family. Throughout her turbulent adolescence in Denver, her parents were there for her. Even when they didn’t approve of her choice in boyfriends, they never failed to let her know they loved her. They supported her in everything, and they insisted she save money while going to vet tech school by living at home with them. Reggie used to sleep by her bed every night.

  Then one night, he got up and padded quietly into her parents’ bedroom. Out of curiosity, Terri followed him. There she found him by her mother’s side, his noble chin resting on her hand. And that’s where he insisted on staying, night after night, next to her mother. Two months later the doctors found the cancer. Terri was convinced that Reggie had known from the beginning. When her mother died, her father just gave up. He was gone six weeks later. Losing them had been another reason for relocating to Reno. There were too many memories in Denver. And the profit from selling their place had allowed her to buy a house shortly after she arrived there.

  Her parents’ home had been
too small for a lumbering German Shepherd like Reggie, even though he adored her mom and dad. She remembered his delight the first time she turned him loose in the back yard of her Reno house. He ran in circles on the lawn, a thirty-second sprint that left him panting and trembling and ready for a nap on the patio. He was already a geriatric dog when her parents died, but she was glad to have him with her no matter how long his life would last.

  “Oh, gosh, think of something else,” she chided herself. She wiped quickly at her eyes and reached out and patted the canvas tote bag as if it were Reggie. The photos were the last ones she’d taken of him, and she couldn’t bear to look at them yet. Thinking of Reggie made her cry, and thinking of Gavin made her a nervous wreck. She tried to find something else to think about. Maybe she could count Joshua trees as she drove. She started counting out loud, and pretty soon she was counting as fast as she could with no way to know if she was even close to a real number. Finally she laughed at herself and stopped counting. Her gaze dropped to the side mirror. A huge truck with three trailers attached was passing her on the two-lane! She held her breath and waited for it to go by. Then it slipped into the space between her and the family SUV.