Illusive Witness

by S. Y. Thompson

  Emma helped Ruth up and dusted herself off. By unspoken agreement, they started down the highway together. Emma noticed that Ruth was limping slightly. She hadn’t considered Ruth’s previous injuries when she tackled her to the ground.

  “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine.” Her sharp answer silenced Emma, but then Ruth continued in a softer tone. “My leg gets better every day. It just hurts sometimes if I move too fast.”

  Emma switched her duffel to the other hand, swallowing her guilt. “I’m sorry about that. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

  “I know.”

  An acknowledgement, nothing more. Her sense of remorse deepened. Ruth hadn’t let her off the hook, illustrating that she understood Emma’s actions, but didn’t forgive her for them. The next fifteen minutes passed quietly. No other vehicles approached, for which Emma was grateful. Despite Ruth’s irritation, she would tackle her again without hesitation if she felt she needed to. Emma spied the exit in the distance and searched excitedly for signs of civilization.

  On the interstate, she’d already be able to see gas stations or fast food joints, certainly signs of other people. Not here. There was nothing but more open sky and barbed wire fencing. At the top of the exit, Emma and Ruth had an unencumbered view of their surroundings. Emma took in the panoramic view of the wild mountains to the right and the flat plains to the left.

  Ruth spun in a circle, taking things in before she looked to Emma for direction. Emma could practically hear her ask, “Which way?”

  “Right,” Emma said.

  “Left,” Ruth announced at the same time.

  Ruth rolled her eyes and Emma spoke quickly, giving her reasoning before Ruth could argue. “There will be more people if we go toward Medicine Bow National Forest. We have a better chance of finding help. The only thing we’ll find to the left are those rattlesnakes you mentioned.”

  “Except that this isn’t exactly the tourist season and it’s the middle of the week. Not only that, but how far is it to Medicine Bow?”

  “I’m not sure,” Emma admitted, “but we’ll run into it eventually if we go right.”

  Ruth looked skeptical, but waved for Emma to precede her. They headed toward the mountains. The terrain around the small, paved road became rougher, prairie grass giving way to tall trees and thick scrub. At least here they were out of the sun and had the shade of trees to walk beneath. Emma had tried to sound confident about her decision, but she was as equally out of her element here as Ruth was. Her only edge was her law enforcement experience. As they came around a bend in the road, Emma almost cheered when she spotted the sign that announced a vacancy adjacent to a seedy-looking motel. The sign announced the Mountain Paradise.

  As they closed the distance, the trees revealed the rest of the picture and Emma scowled in concern. A single late-model station wagon resided in the weed-choked parking lot. It sat directly in front of the office, but the whole place had a deserted air. Emma slowed to a stop before setting foot on the cracked lot.

  “What is it?” Ruth quickly scanned the area, her fear evident.

  “It doesn’t look like anyone’s around. I wouldn’t get your hopes up.”

  “There’s a car sitting right there,” Ruth responded stubbornly. “Someone must be here.”

  “Or they broke down like we did and left it behind.”

  Ruth wasn’t listening. She foraged ahead, forcing Emma to follow. Emma would have checked the office anyway. Should the entire motel prove abandoned, they still might find something useful. Like a phone. In any other situation, with any other person, Emma thought she’d probably be annoyed. Ruth was ornery, rarely taking anything Emma told her at face value. For some reason, Emma found Ruth’s obstinacy and skepticism sexy. Then again, maybe Emma just liked bossy women. One thing was for sure: Ruth had changed a lot since the first time Emma saw her. She still possessed that naïve streak, but now, Ruth showed a strength previously hidden that Emma never could have guessed. It just might be enough to see her through all the difficulties that lay ahead with witness protection and persevering until they brought Carlotti to trial.

  “Hey, wait up.”

  She hurried forward, passing Ruth just as she reached the door to the lobby. Surprisingly, it wasn’t locked. The air inside the building was cooler than outside, but not by much. Still, Emma reveled in the respite from the blazing sun. The décor consisted of burnt orange plastic chairs, a matching sofa, one lamp without a shade on a scratched end table and a stuffed antelope head on the wall over the check-in desk. At least Emma thought it was an antelope. She’d never been a hunter so all she really knew was that animal had possessed horns.

  No one stood behind the desk, but a service bell presented a temptation she couldn’t ignore. Emma stepped up and slapped her hand down on the ringer. Her inner musings broke off when a door leading into an interior room opened abruptly. In an instant, Emma’s sweeping gaze assessed the registration clerk. Caucasian male of average height, beer gut and a dark growth of stubble covering his cheeks. Greasy brown hair that looked like it hadn’t seen shampoo in a week. A cheap plastic nametag told Emma his name.

  “Roy” wore a wrinkled cowboy shirt complete with rolled up sleeves and food stains. The shirt tucked into a pair of faded jeans, but she didn’t think that was the product of any driving need for neatness. More likely, Roy just wanted to display the silver mud flap woman on his belt buckle. Combined with the open, facedown issue of Hustler and the leer on Roy’s face, things seemed to be going downhill quickly.

  “Sorry about that, ladies. I had to see a man about a horse.”

  His gaze darted between them and Emma felt her stomach turn. She bit back a comment that it was more like a pony. When Roy offered them a smile, Emma did her best to overlook his rotting teeth.

  “Do you have a payphone I can use?”

  “Are you kidding me? Who uses payphones anymore? Everybody has the latest electronic gadgets these days. I keep saying all this technology is gonna cause serious problems someday, but nobody listens to old Roy...”

  Emma cut him off before Roy could really get going. “What about the motel phone? It’s long distance, but I can call collect.”

  “Sorry, phone’s only for employees. Besides, it’s not working.” Roy leaned toward them in a conspiratorial manner and lowered his voice, though there wasn’t anyone else around. “The owner forgot to pay the bill.”

  “That’s just great,” Ruth said sharply. “So where is the closest phone?”

  “Right up the road at the next exit.”

  “Thanks, we’ll be on our way. Come on, Ruth.”

  “Of course the next exit is ten miles up the road.”

  Ruth grabbed Emma by the open collar of her shirt and pulled her away from the counter. They moved over to the corner where Roy couldn’t overhear their whispered conversation.

  “What do you think?”

  Emma quickly ran some calculations in her head. “The average person walks about three miles per hour. That’s a little over three hours to travel ten miles, assuming we can’t hitch a ride.”

  “I can’t walk that far, Emma. My leg is getting better every day and it’s pretty strong, but I don’t think I can make it.”

  The expression on Ruth’s face hinted at remorse for her physical limitations, but Emma felt like a heel for forgetting the previous injuries. All things considered, it was just short of miraculous that Ruth had done as well as she had. She had nothing to feel bad about. Unfortunately, her condition severely limited their options. Emma pulled her cell phone out of the belt holster.

  “What are you doing?” Ruth hissed.

  “I’m calling Waild.”

  “But you said Carlotti and his goons could track us if we turned on the phones.”

  Emma nodded. “I’m sure Lyle gave them my number so they could do just that. I disabled the GPS before I pulled the battery out, but if I turn the phone on a hacker could reactivate the GPS remotely.”

  “Then you can
’t take the chance.”

  Ruth was right to be concerned, but Emma felt the need to reassure her. “If I keep the conversation short, we should be okay. It’ll take them a few seconds to turn it on, even if they’re waiting for it.”

  “How short a conversation?”

  “Thirty seconds?”

  “Thirty...? Emma, there’s no way you can tell him what you need to in thirty seconds. You have to go to the next exit without me.”

  Even the thought of leaving Ruth unprotected went against everything Emma believed in. She would never consider such a thing with any witness, much less someone she cared for. “Ruth, I’m not leaving you behind.”

  Ruth shook her head, a sad smile gracing her lips. “You have to. We need help. I can get a room and wait for you to come back. If you do get a ride, it should only take you...two hours at most. I can manage a few hours without you.”

  “And if I don’t?”

  “Then you can still call for reinforcements. At the most, you’ll be gone nine hours and that’s if you have to walk the whole way. In the meantime, I can get some water from the room and take it back down to the truck. I’m sure Roy has an old pitcher around here I can use and the radiator should be cooled off enough for me to take the cap off by the time I get back.”

  Nine hours sounded like a lifetime. “Uh uh, no way. You are not going back down to the truck on your own. If I agree to this, you have to promise to stay inside the room while I’m gone.”

  “Emma, be reasonable. No one even knows we’re here and this way we’ll save time.”

  “That’s the deal,” Emma retorted. “Take it or leave it. Either I use the cell phone or I go for help while you stay in the room. You choose.”

  Ruth tried to talk her into doing things her way, but Emma refused to budge. She considered Ruth a capable woman, but refused to do anything that might put her in harm’s way. Emma realized it was a long shot that they were in any immediate danger, but couldn’t bring herself to tempt fate by doing things Ruth’s way. When she finally concluded that Emma wouldn’t give in on this, Ruth finally conceded.

  “Fine, but that means you’ll have to try and find a tow truck, too.”

  “Done.”

  Emma turned back toward the counter to discover Roy checking out her ass. She ground her teeth together, but walked over to the motel ledger to sign in.

  Roy offered another lecherous grin. “Will that be by the hour or for the night?”

  Emma glanced at Ruth and suppressed a shudder. “One night.”

  She signed them in as Emma Smyth and Hortense Johns. Her quirky sense of humor couldn’t resist giving Ruth such a horrible name. Roy checked the ledger, no doubt noting the last names, and raised an eyebrow in disbelief. He didn’t comment, but turned away to retrieve a key.

  “Can we get a room as far from the parking lot as possible, somewhere in the back?”

  “Sure,” Roy tossed over his shoulder. “You can have any room you want, including mine. It’s not like we’re busy this time of year.”

  Emma took the key and shook her head when Roy offered to show them to the room. He was probably hoping to get lucky with two women at the same time. As if. They located the room, as requested, on the far side of the motel away from the road. It was the last one on the end away from the lobby as well. Emma struggled a bit with the lock and shoved the door open against the swollen frame.

  “Whew!” Ruth complained, entering in the lead. She dropped her bag on the single bed and headed straight to the air conditioning unit.

  The system rumbled to life grudgingly as Emma dropped her backpack onto the floor and knelt down to dig inside. She could hear Ruth running water in the bathroom while she retrieved what she was looking for. Seconds later, Ruth emerged, wiping moisture from her face with a rough white towel.

  “What are you doing?”

  Emma stood and offered Lyle’s small revolver to Ruth, butt first. “Take this. There’s no safety so keep your finger off the trigger. Put it somewhere you can reach it easily.”

  “Okay, I don’t like it, but I understand.” Ruth took the weapon, holding it down by her side. Emma was pleased to see that she kept her finger outside the trigger housing.

  “Promise me that you’ll lock the door and not open it for anyone until I get back.”

  “I promise on one condition. Bring back something to eat. I’m starving and I seriously doubt this place has a single vending machine.”

  Emma smiled, still feeling a little sick at what she was about to do. “I will. See you in a bit.”

  She took one last, lingering look into Ruth’s eyes, tempted to kiss her. To Emma’s surprise, Ruth’s gaze softened and it seemed she might actually be receptive. Wishful thinking, she told herself, backing away. Her hand automatically went to check that her own pistol remained tucked into the shoulder holster before she headed out.

  Chapter Nineteen

  EMMA LEFT THE motel, walking fast toward the main highway. Firmly keeping in mind that she wasn’t out for a stroll, she headed west. She couldn’t resist casting a look back at the blue pickup she’d boosted in Los Angeles. It sat right where they’d left it. Then again, Snowy Mountain Road wasn’t exactly teaming with highway patrol who’d love nothing more than to tow or ticket the soul unlucky enough to break down out here.

  She made good time, spotting the next exit two hours and fifty minutes later. Emma figured it would take another ten before she got off the road and her stitches stung, seemingly in response. Walking so fast made her sweat and Emma felt the salty moisture slipping into the fresh wound. Casting her eyes overhead, Emma spotted clouds beginning to gather. Grey and foreboding, they nevertheless provided some shelter from the direct sunlight.

  A loud engine roar made Emma turn. A heavy diesel truck pulled up alongside her and the window lowered.

  “You need a ride, ma’am?”

  “Thank you so much.”

  Emma didn’t hesitate to jump into the vehicle, perceiving no threat from the much older man. His clothing, cowboy hat and the scent of hay suggested he was probably a local rancher.

  “Where you headed?”

  “A pay phone, a gas station and somewhere to get something to eat. Someone told me I might be able to find those things off this next exit.”

  The man nodded. “I’d guess so. Not sure about the pay phone, but I’m sure someone could help you out. Was that your pickup back down the road?”

  No, but she could hardly admit to that. Nor could she pull out her badge and force him to help her. Emma inherently trusted she could count on him, but she’d been fooled before. This could all be a ruse. It was a stretch that a random fella who stopped to offer her a ride was in cahoots with Carlotti, but she’d believed in Lyle, too. They were partners for years and he still gave in to money’s temptation. What she needed was a trained team of marshals to ride in and save the day.

  “Uh, yeah,” she responded finally. “I think it just needs some water in the radiator.”

  Emma never learned his name, but the rancher drove her up the exit and dropped her at a gas station. She obtained a gallon of water, but had no luck with a tow truck. He offered to wait and drive her back to the truck, which Emma happily accepted. She ran across the street while he refueled and grabbed some fast food and bottled soft drinks.

  After Emma retrieved the food, she found a pay phone on the wall back by the restrooms. She chewed on a couple of French fries while she waited for her call to go through.

  “Marshal Blake, where have you been?” Waild demanded as soon as she was put through.

  “It’s a long story. Suffice it to say that our ride broke down, but we managed to get out of sight at a motel. I need someone to come and get us so we can get Ms. Gallagher back to L.A.”

  “I’ll get right on it, but listen there’s something you need to know. Ms. Stanton had some bad news for the team I sent out to keep an eye on her. After you left Laramie, the Stanton woman saw a sedan pull up in her yard. It only stayed a mo
ment before it pulled out and drove over to her neighbor’s house.”

  Emma had an unpleasant feeling that she knew what was coming next. Hadn’t Terry told them that her neighbor was a bit of a busybody? “Yes sir, I’m listening.”

  “The driver was a woman. She got out of the car and talked to the neighbor for a minute. Apparently, Stanton got the impression they were discussing her recent guests. After a moment, the driver jumped back into the car and tore out of there headed west.”

  “Do we have a description of the sedan or the occupants?” Emma was surprised she sounded so calm. Surely, her voice should be trembling considering the way her heart bounced off her ribs.

  Waild hesitated and Emma heard the sound of papers shuffling over the connection. “A light-green four-door rental. Stanton saw an Enterprise sticker on the rear bumper.”

  So they had flown into the small airstrip. She had expected as much. Emma waited for Waild to resume.

  “Stanton said the woman wore dark clothes, but she was too far away for any details. She’s not sure how many others were in the car.”

  The hazards of an inexperienced witness, she thought in frustration. Emma appreciated that Terry had kept an eye on things after they left, but working with so few details put Emma in a tight spot. She had no idea how many adversaries she faced, only that one was female and they drove a non-descript green rental.

  “How long until you can have backup sent our way, sir?”

  This time, Emma heard Waild’s slow intake of breath. She steeled herself for more unsettling news. “I only found out about twenty minutes ago.”

  It had taken Waild that long to get people to Terry’s house. Anger stole over her and Emma had trouble biting back a sharp retort. Typical government bureaucracy. Terry could have died before her protection arrived. Only the fact that she knew Ruth’s aunt was all right allowed Emma to push that all aside for the moment in consideration of more pressing matters.