Nowhere to Run Page 6

  Clearly, there was more Internet research ahead for Seth that evening. As soon as he’d gotten Marie and her belongings safely moved to the motel and had made certain they hadn’t been observed by the truck driver—or by anyone else—he’d go to work digging up more answers.

  In the meantime, he had a normal job to do. Getting fired wasn’t on his agenda.

  Seth glanced along the street, satisfying himself that the departing van had not turned up the driveway to the Hilltop Motel. That was good enough for now. If his gut feelings were right about that driver, Marie would be safe where she was at present. That kind of guy was not the type to casually drop in at a church. Chances were very good that no one had seen him take Marie to Serenity Chapel, either. As long as she stayed put and waited for him, she’d be fine. For now.

  SIX

  It wasn’t that Marie felt unwelcome at the church preschool. She was simply so used to being on her guard that she found it impossible to relax and open up to the other women the way she had hoped she could.

  The children were another story. Patty had taken to the group of three-to five-year-olds as if they’d been lifelong friends. As she chattered away and told her new acquaintances tall tales about imaginary pets, Marie smiled benevolently. It was no wonder that the Bible instructed believers to come as a little child. There was a pure trust and innocence in childhood that Marie wished she could still feel and share with her daughter.

  Would we ever be a normal family again? she wondered. Were they ever normal? In the strictest sense, no. Without a daddy, Patty had missed a lot. And without a reliable spouse, Marie had, too. Poor Roy. There were times when she’d fooled herself into believing that he could change, that he’d actually wanted to reform. But that had been a foolish dream.

  Though she had continued to pray for him over the years, Marie had long ago given up hope that he’d become the kind of reliable, good example of a father that Patty needed. She figured it was better for them to be a little lonely than to live with a man whose temper could explode into violence at the slightest provocation, not to mention the negative influence of his life of crime.

  Shivering from the disturbing memories, Marie looked up at the clock on the wall. It was nearly five—time for Seth to arrive. To her chagrin, she felt a quickening of her pulse, a tremor of anticipation.

  She blinked in surprise. That kind of juvenile reaction was ridiculous. She was overwrought, that was all. And weary. So weary. If only she could rest, could sleep as she had before Roy’s latest crimes had put them all in danger.

  Becky Malloy and the other women had begun to help the children pick up their toys, so Marie joined them.

  “You don’t have to do that,” Becky said with a grin. “You’re our guest.”

  “I want to help,” Marie replied, continuing to urge Patty to follow her example.

  “Will we see you tomorrow?” the young, red-haired pastor’s wife asked.

  “I don’t know. I suppose that depends on whether or not Seth can fix my car.”

  “Well, you’re most welcome to come back if you’d like. We’d love to have you and your daughter visit. One of our older members is baking her famous chocolate chip cookies for our snack.”

  “In that case,” Marie said with a smile and warming cheeks, “I’ll certainly do my best to be here.”

  That brought mutual laughter from all the adults and smiles from some of the children.

  Suddenly, the hair on the back of Marie’s neck prickled and she felt a shiver skitter over her skin. She whipped around. Seth was here! Even having come straight from work, he was a sight for sore eyes.

  The warmth already infusing her cheeks increased until she was certain she must be beet-red. She smiled at him. “Hi, there.”

  “Hi yourself. Ready to go?”

  “I think so.” She looked to Becky. “Is this part of the room clean enough, Mrs. Malloy?”

  “It’s just fine. You two scat. And we hope to see you again tomorrow.”

  Falling into step beside Seth, Marie watched Patty skip down the hall a few paces in front of them.

  When the little girl reached the outer door, however, Seth ordered, “Wait! Don’t go out yet,” and lunged to grab the door so she couldn’t open it.

  Wide-eyed, Patty immediately flew to her mother’s side, hid behind her leg and clung to her.

  Seth was clearly taken aback by the child’s unusual show of fear. He apologized. “Sorry. I just didn’t want her running outside ahead of us.”

  “Why? What’s wrong?” Marie was stroking Patty’s hair to comfort her. Now she frowned and laid her other hand on Seth’s forearm.

  “Nothing, I hope,” he said.

  By the way he cleared his throat and hesitated, Marie could tell he was searching for just the right words. Her grip tightened. “Go on.”

  “I think the same white box truck I’d seen before was parked by the station when I got back there after my break. Do you know anything about it?”

  She felt the high color draining from her cheeks. “Why?”

  “Because…Bob, my boss, took in another job while I was gone and pushed your car outside to make room in the shop. I covered it with a tarp, but that truck seemed to be hanging around just the same. I thought there might be something you wanted to tell me.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like why you’re so scared and what you’re running away from.” He laid his hand gently over hers where it was still resting on his arm. “Maybe I can help you.”

  Marie shook her head. “Just fix my car so Patty and I can get out of this town,” she said with a telltale quaver in her voice. “Believe me, you don’t want to get involved.”

  “I’m already involved,” Seth countered. “Let me help.”

  “How?”

  “I don’t know. I made sure no one was following me when I drove up here, but I can’t tell what else to do if you don’t let me in on your secrets.”

  Scowling, she stared at him. “Either you read a lot of mystery novels or you’ve had personal experience with this kind of thing.”

  When he didn’t answer or comment, Marie studied his face. There was a hardness, a seriousness in his expression that would have frightened her if she hadn’t considered him a friend.

  That was the best way to take him, she decided easily. Only a friend would have warned her, would have gone out of his way to cover her car and hide it. And only a friend would have offered to continue to protect her.

  She didn’t want to place anyone else in jeopardy but she desperately needed an ally. Since the Lord had obviously placed her in Serenity and in the care of Seth Whitfield, she was going to accept the assistance he offered and worry about the consequences later, if at all. Seth would be safe enough once she was on her way north again. In the meantime, she was going to let him help her. She could see no other option.

  “All right,” she finally said. “As soon as it gets dark, you can drive me back to the garage and we’ll get a few things out of my car the way we’d planned. Okay?”

  “Okay.” He was scowling. “Is that all?”

  “Yes,” Marie said flatly. “The less you know, the better off you’ll be. In the meantime, how about taking us back to that pizza place? This time, the meal’s on me.”

  She saw him glance at his clothing and scowl. “If I’d known you’d want to go out again, I’d have stopped to change before I picked you up,” he said.

  “You look fine to me. Besides, if we were too dressed up, we’d stand out from the crowd and folks would be more likely to notice us.”

  “You wouldn’t like that, would you?”

  “No,” she said, sobering and boldly meeting his inquiring gaze. “I wouldn’t like that one bit.”

  Several hours later, headlights off, Seth coasted into the darkest portion of the parking area at the rear of the repair shop. His tires made quiet, crunching sounds on the loose gravel apron while thunder rumbled in the background, highlighted by distant flashes of lightning.
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  Now that it had gotten dark, Marie was no longer wearing the cap he’d given her to disguise herself. She had also scooted down and was holding Patty close rather than having her use the booster seat. Seth chose to allow the breach of rules this time, in spite of his safety concerns.

  “Looks like it’s about to pour,” he said, peering out the windshield at the thick cloud cover. “Do you want me to go get your stuff for you so you don’t get wet?”

  “No, thanks. I have my jacket. There’s no way I can tell you what to bring and what to leave in the car. It’ll only take me a second to pick out a few things.”

  “Okay. What about Patty?”

  “I’ll keep her with me.”

  “Fine, as long as the lightning doesn’t get any closer or we don’t meet up with your buddy from the van.”

  “Then you stay here and watch her. I’ll go alone.”

  “No way. I’m not letting you out of my sight until you tell me what’s going on.”

  “Then I guess we have an impasse.”

  “Not necessarily. Why don’t we put Babe up here in the cab with Patty? That dog can protect her better than we can. And they’ll both be warm, dry and safe.” Seth could tell from Marie’s frown that she wasn’t convinced.

  “Will she do that?”

  “Oh, yeah,” Seth assured her. “Babe is all business when it comes to guarding her flock.” He smiled to try to lessen the tension, hoping the dim streetlamp and ever-increasing flashes of lightning would reveal his expression well enough to make a positive impression on the anxious mother. “And Patty is definitely one of her favorite sheep.”

  Although she still didn’t look fully persuaded, Marie finally said, “Okay. You’re probably right. It’s not like we’re going very far. We’ll only be away a minute or two, and I don’t want Patty to get all wet and catch cold.” She pointed. “Besides, my car is right there.”

  Slipping out of the truck, she waited at the door while Seth brought his dog from the rear and commanded her to jump in beside the little girl.

  “Patty, you stay right there and take care of Babe,” Marie cautioned. “You’re the doggie’s babysitter. Don’t you let anyone bother her, you hear?”

  Patty nodded sagely as she wrapped her arms around the dog’s thick ruff.

  “It’s a good thing the dome light in your truck is broken so nobody could see what we were doing just now,” Marie said as she pulled her jacket closer and joined Seth in the shadows next to the building.

  “It’s not broken. It’s disconnected,” he replied.

  “Did you do that for my benefit?”

  “No. I always keep it that way.” He knew he was probably sounding too alarmist, but he thought it was best to let Marie know how cautious he could be.

  Bent low, they skirted the brightest circle of illumination from the streetlights and approached her tarp-covered car. Louder thunder heralded the quickly approaching storm, and the wind had started to pick up.

  “Care to tell me why that is?” she asked, pushing her windblown hair out of her face and trying to tuck it behind her ears the way she always did.

  Seth avoided answering. Instead, he lifted the edge of the tattered blue tarp, handed her the car’s keys and changed the subject. “Trunk or back door?”

  “Both. Some of Patty’s toys are in the backseat, but a lot of stuff is in the trunk, too.”

  As Marie fingered the key ring, looking for the right key, headlights swept the station yard like the rotating beacon of a lighthouse.

  Seth instantly grabbed her and pulled her into a crouch beside him, one arm around her shoulders, the other hand cupping her head. He hadn’t intended to touch her, let alone embrace her, but circumstances had dictated a faster, more sure response than she’d made and his survival instincts had taken over.

  Barely breathing, he held very still. The scent of her hair was like vanilla, its silkiness even finer than he’d imagined. She was trembling as if the nighttime temperature was icy cold.

  “You all right?” Seth whispered.

  Her head nodded slightly. “Was that him?”

  “I don’t know. It could have been anybody. Even if it wasn’t that van, we don’t want to attract attention and make folks think we’re robbing your car.”

  “Good point.” She shifted her weight away from him so she was no longer leaning against his chest and pushed back her blowing hair once again. “I think they’re gone.”

  “Yeah.” Seth was reluctant to release her even though he knew there was no reason to continue to hide.

  He straightened and took her hand to help her up. “I’ll hold the edge of the tarp and you sneak underneath. If another car comes by, I’ll drop the flap down and you can hide under there till it’s safe again.”

  “Gotcha.” She hesitated and smiled at him. “Thanks. For everything.”

  “My pleasure, ma’am.” His gaze shifted to the nearly deserted street before he looked back toward his truck. “Just make it snappy. The sooner we’re done and out of here, the better it’ll be.”

  All Marie said in response was a fervent, “Amen.”

  Marie had gathered up some of the plastic grocery sacks in which she’d hurriedly crammed so many of their belongings. Their departure from home hadn’t been organized the way she’d have preferred, but cramming things into sacks and pillowcases still beat leaving their personal possessions behind merely because they’d lacked adequate luggage.

  She ducked out from under the tarp and handed Seth the plastic bags she’d chosen. Clearly he was standing guard in spite of the large raindrops that had begun to dot the landscape.

  “Is this all?” His head swiveled from side to side.

  “Almost. One more peek in the trunk and I’ll be done.”

  “Well, hurry it up. I’m about to get soaked standing out here.”

  “You don’t have to snap at me.”

  Although his reply was muffled as she ducked back beneath the tarp, she was certain it was gruff.

  Terrific. She made a face. It wasn’t that she didn’t want Seth to take her plight seriously; it was just that she didn’t need him or anyone else ordering her around. She had enough problems without adding a taciturn stranger to the mix.

  But he wasn’t really a stranger, was he? She’d only known him for a couple of days, yet he was already such a necessary element of her life that she didn’t know what she’d do if she couldn’t rely on his expert assistance.

  Except for the increasing wind and thunder, the country night was quiet, especially when compared with the constant city background noise she was used to in Baton Rouge. Here the air smelled fresh and there were no sirens, no constant drone of traffic, no shouts or shots in the distance to spoil the ambience.

  Consequently, when she heard a sharp, yipping bark, Marie froze and took notice. She closed the trunk with a soft slam and peeked out from under the tarp. The instant her gaze locked with Seth’s, she knew the bark had to have been Babe’s.

  Seth laid a finger against his lips and shook his head when she opened her mouth to speak. “Shush.”

  Moving slowly, deliberately, he lowered the grocery sacks to the pavement and stepped away from them as their handles fluttered in the wind. When Marie started to follow him, he used his arm to block her. “No. Stay here.”

  “In a pig’s eye.” She had expected an argument. Instead, all she got was a momentary look of irritation before Seth turned away and headed toward the rear of the garage at a trot.

  By this time, Babe was starting to sound really upset. Her bark had deepened and become louder, more frequent.

  Marie was already so nervous she could hardly breathe, hardly make her wobbly legs work well enough to race after Seth. She never should have let him talk her into leaving Patty with the dog, not even for a few short minutes, she thought, panicking. Never. How could she have agreed to such a stupid plan? What kind of mother was she?

  A frightened, lost one, she answered, using up her last shred of confidence an
d self-control as tears filled her eyes and clouded her vision.

  All she could do was cry out to God in her mind. Beg Him to help her, to help them all. Her body might not be on her knees before the Lord, but her heart certainly was. That would have to be good enough.

  “Oh, please, oh, please, oh, please,” she mouthed, barely speaking. This couldn’t be happening. Not after all she’d done to escape.

  As she passed the corner of the building, she saw Seth whip around the far side of the truck, shout, and dive out of sight.

  Patty screamed.

  Marie’s heart was in her throat. The child was right where she’d left her, but it took Marie’s mind an instant to process that critical fact.

  “Patty!” she shouted, jerking open the passenger door.

  “Mama.” The frantic little girl held out her arms to her mother and Marie swept her up an a tight embrace as a gust of wind slammed the truck door with a bang.

  Patty’s arms gripped her neck. “Mama. Babe’s gone. I tried to stop her but…” She began to sob inconsolably.

  “It’s okay, honey. It’s okay,” Marie said. “Where did she go?”

  Pointing to the opposite side of the truck, Patty was crying too much to speak.

  Still holding her child close and shielding her with her own torso, Marie edged around the old pickup.

  There was nothing there. Not only was the dog missing, but also so was Seth. That was the last place Marie had seen him, just before he’d yelled and made a leap for someone or something. Now he’d disappeared. And so had Babe.

  She froze, straining to listen. A dog was barking in the distance, but, even allowing for the distortion of the wind, it sounded much too far away to possibly be the border collie.

  There were no lights nearby except those illuminating the used-car lot, and there was no sign of movement in that direction other than the fluttering of the rows of multicolored plastic triangles strung high from pole to pole to attract the attention of prospective customers.