LITMIR.BIZ

       Chapter 4

      Lucky was barking and acting like this was the best day ever. He thought the dog was about five seconds from vaulting into the back seat and licking Laura and the kid to death. “Settle down,” he told the dog, and got a look back that said, Don’t you get how exciting this is? We just picked up friends.

      Laura wasn’t looking at him as if he was a friend. Her face was white and pinched, and he was pretty sure she wasn’t breathing.

      “Nice day for the park,” Rico said. He glanced in his rearview mirror. “I’d feel better if you both buckled up before we take off. I’m sensitive lately to collision issues.”

      Laura buckled the child into the middle seat and herself into the one on the passenger side. The kid said nothing but his eyes were very big.

      “Do you crash frequently?” Laura asked. He could hear the tension in her voice.

      “Well, never in a car yet,” Rico said. The cop was driving by. He turned his head slightly to look at Rico but didn’t seem to recognize him from their short conversation at the hotel. He gave the back seat occupants no attention.

      He could almost see the air come out of Laura in relief.

      “But that’s how I got my ankle injury. I mentioned that I was waterskiing. I fell because somebody almost crashed into the boat that was pulling me.”

      “Accidentally?” she asked, maybe hearing something in his voice that he tried to hide but wasn’t always successful. The circumstances of the accident bothered him beyond the fact that it was a giant pain to have been hurt.

      “You would hope so,” he said. But it had been all so damn odd. The approaching boat had changed course so drastically, so quickly, that the driver pulling him had had no choice but to jerk the wheel.

      “Did they arrest the other driver?”

      “No. Didn’t catch him.” If he’d have been driving the boat, the guy wouldn’t have gotten away. He’d tried to insist that the driver pursue the boat, but everybody had been too damn worried about him.

      He’d wanted the idiot caught.

      And had been so frustrated afterward when it seemed that nobody could agree on what color the boat was, what size or anything about the driver. There had been three people in his boat and he’d gotten three different versions of everything. As was generally the case, firsthand witnesses were not much help.

      He, unfortunately, to his great irritation, hadn’t been much better. The sun had been in his eyes and he’d hit the water hard. But he was fairly confident the boat was red with a silver stripe, even though none of the other people in his boat agreed with him.

      He eased out of the parking space.

      “Where are we going?” she asked.

      She sounded as if she was about ten seconds from throwing herself and the child out of the car. “Relax,” he said. “Back to your car.”

      “Okay. Thank you,” she added.

      “I want Ja-Ja,” the kid said.

      “We’ll get her,” Laura assured.

      “Ja-Ja?” Rico asked. Was there a child he’d somehow missed?

      “Ja-Ja is a doll,” Laura said.

      He supposed boys played with dolls. Why not? “So you took the long way to the store?” he asked.

      “Yes,” she said. She shook her head in disgust. “Listen, I’m sorry I lied about renting the cabin. I drove a long way yesterday and, quite frankly, didn’t think I could get back into a car and drive any farther. And we really needed to have a good night’s rest.”

      “How did you get the entry code?”

      “I didn’t,” she said quickly. “The back door was open.”

      He didn’t think so. It technically was possible. He had somebody who came in and cleaned the cabin and brought fresh linens between guests. They could have left the door unlocked. But he didn’t think it was a coincidence that she was driving a car that had been at one time registered to Melissa Trane, who had been providing care for Georgina.

      “So you just happened to be driving through the mountains and decided to see if my particular cabin was unlocked?” he asked, poking at her a little more.

      “It was the first one that I saw where there were no cars. I thought I’d take a chance. I got lucky.”

      Right. It was time to get to the important stuff. “Are you his mother?”

      She shook her head. “Caretaker.”

      “Where are the parents?” he asked.

      “Traveling. Asia.”

      He was pretty sure she was lying. The explanations were succinct and coming easy. Made him think she’d practiced them.

      He pulled into the lot of the hotel, near her car. “You said that you’d driven all day. Where from?”

      “Tennessee.”

      That was probably true, since the car was registered to somebody who lived in Nashville. “So you drove from Tennessee to Colorado because...” He let his voice drift off.

      “I’ve always wanted to see these mountains.”

      Okay, it was time to cut through the crap. He shut off his SUV and turned in his seat so that he could see her. “Why did you run when you saw the cop looking at your car?”

      * * *

      Since the minute she’d gotten into his SUV, she’d been expecting the question. And she’d read that the best lies were those that were closest to the truth. But Hannah couldn’t hear this particular explanation—it would confuse the poor child too much. So far the fact that they were referring to her as a he hadn’t registered, probably because the little girl was fascinated with the dog, but it was only a matter of time before she would pick up on that, too.

      “I panicked,” she said.

      “Why?”

      She deliberately glanced at Hannah. “I’d be happy to tell you but it’s naptime right now. If you want to wait a few minutes, we can talk then.”

      “Sure,” he said, as if he had nothing better to do. But she didn’t buy it. He’d followed her for an hour. He was asking questions about her and Hannah’s relationship. She wasn’t going to be able to shake him, so she needed to give him an explanation that he’d believe.

      She opened the door and got her and Hannah out. She didn’t look back as they walked up the stairs to their room. Once inside, she had the little girl go potty, washed her hands and face, and tucked her in, with Ja-Ja at her side. “Sleep tight,” she said, and kissed her on her nose.

      Hannah was tired from the park and she didn’t even offer a token protest. Just stuck her thumb in her mouth and rolled onto her side. She was asleep in minutes.

      When Laura opened the door, she saw that Rico was out of his SUV and sitting at the picnic table near the office area. His crutches were leaning against the table. Lucky was on a leash, sitting next to his right leg.

      He’d seemed to buy the explanation that the cabin was open. There was no way that she was burning her friend Melissa. The woman needed her job more than ever since her husband had found somewhere new to take off his boots.

      She closed the door and made sure it was

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