Accidentally Amish (5 page)

Rufus was tempted to urge Dolly to a faster pace to make up for lost time. His crew would be idle and expect to be paid for showing up on time.

“I think it’s better if you don’t involve yourself with the trouble here,” he said to Annalise. “I may know someone in town who can help you get back to Colorado Springs today.”

“What if I don’t want to go back?”

He looked at her out of the side of his eye. “Are you running from something?”

“Of course not.”

“Yet you felt compelled to take refuge in Tom’s truck and my barn.”

“It’s not what you think.”

“That depends on what you think I think.”

“Don’t play word games with me,” Annalise warned. “I’m very good at them.”

“You seem to be very good at a lot of things.”

“I don’t like to brag.”

“You’re definitely not Amish.” Rufus chuckled. “May I speak plainly?”

“By all means.”

“If you set aside your pride, you’ll admit you were frightened last night. You’re used to solving problems, but you’re in a predicament you don’t know how to get out of.”

“No I’m not.”
I know exactly what I’m doing.

“Do you make a habit of jumping into strange trucks?”

“Of course not.”

“So what happened?”

“It’s complicated.”

“So you’ve said.”

“Well, it is.”

“Fair enough.” Rufus could not help noticing the way her gray eyes reflected the colors of the scene around them. “I can respect your privacy. Just do not feel you must solve my problems.”

“You made your point, all right?” Annalise turned slightly away from him and gripped her phone in front of her.

“Good.” He watched her for a moment. Thin strands of hair worked loose from the blue cloth tie and floated against her smooth white neck, intermittently airborne in the breeze the buggy’s motion created. The gold chain around her neck glistened in the sun.

Rufus turned his eyes to the road, his blood pumping hard because of her presence. His life was predictable. Calm. Ordered. This outsider would never understand his way of living, no matter how much she poked her nose into his business. The best thing he could do for both of them was find her a ride back to where she came from.

Westcliffe still lay two miles ahead of them. Mentally Rufus inventoried the tasks and supplies available at the job site at the far edge of town.
Crew
was an overstatement for the two Amish teenagers who worked for him. He had hoped to frame in a new rank of cabinets in the family room of the private home he had helped to build, but he needed the long pieces in the back of Tom’s truck. His mind wandered to cabinets ready to hang in other parts of the house and the sanding and staining still to be done on the downstairs mantel.

Beside him on the bench, Annalise cradled her cell phone in one hand and rapidly jabbed at it with the forefinger of the other. Her motions were too erratic to be dialing a phone number. She was going straight to the Internet, no doubt intending to become an expert in something or other in the next few minutes. During his
rumschpringe
, when he tried out some of the
English
ways of living before he was baptized, Rufus dabbled with the Internet. He knew how easy it was to get information quickly. Perhaps she was researching her options for getting out of Westcliffe and would know more than he did by the time they got to town.

Rufus wished he did not care that she was leaving so soon. But Tom was right. Annalise Friesen had spunk, something that compelled him to turn his head and look at her again.

“How much farther?” Annie raised her eyes to the road before them and shoved her phone into her back pocket.

“About two miles,” Rufus said.

“Is it straight down this road?”

He nodded.

“You were right this morning,” she said, inhaling. “I forget to look at the view.”

“Sit back and enjoy.”

“Actually, I’m wondering if I should walk the rest of the way.” She met his gaze and saw for the first time the violet-blue dance of his eyes. “I just follow the road, right?”

“That’s right. It would be hard to get lost at this point.”

“Then if you don’t mind, I think I’d like to walk.” Annie tightened her grip on her bag and breathed in the mingled scents of roadside vegetation.

Rufus pulled on the reins, and Dolly slowed. “Are you sure about this?”

Annie nodded.

“It feels strange to just leave you on the side of the road.”

Annie shrugged. “It’s a beautiful day and a simple walk.”

“You won’t know where to go when you get there.”

“They speak English in Westcliffe, don’t they?”

“Of course.”

“I’ll be fine. I can take care of myself.”

His Adam’s apple bobbed up and then down as he swallowed his reply.

“I know you think I can’t look after myself or else I would not be here,” Annie said, “but I assure you, I’m fine. Thank you for the accommodations last night, and I hope Mr. Kramer comes to his senses soon.”

“Thank you,” Rufus said.

“Please thank your mother for me as well.”

“I will. If you’re ever down this way again, I’m sure she would enjoy seeing you. I know Jacob would.”

The buggy stopped, and Annie climbed down. To be polite, she looked at Rufus, but she tried not to really see him, lest she decide to get back in the buggy just because he was there. The sensation shivered out of her.

“Look for Mrs. Weichert’s shop on Main Street,” Rufus said. “She sells some of my mother’s preserves. Sometimes her daughter has business in Pueblo. She might give you a ride.”

“I’ll be fine.”

Annie stood still and watched Rufus ease the buggy back onto the highway. Then with her bag slung over one shoulder, she progressed toward town in no particular hurry. Hues of green and brown and red she had never before noticed passed imperceptibly from one to the other. A breeze stirred in a pristine Colorado blue sky and ruffled her hair with a tender touch.

She was free.

She wasn’t suspecting Barrett. She wasn’t dodging Rick. She wasn’t juggling three calls on her phone. She wasn’t reading between the lines of a contract. And while it was not impossible for Rick to discover where she was—he could pull strings and find a way to track her—it was unlikely he was anywhere nearby.

Free.
Please, God, let it be so.

Another mile down the road, a blue-and-red sign announced the presence of a roadside motel. Annie’s eyes followed the direction of the arrow and saw the humble structure set back from the road and up a steep slope. The building was not large—perhaps twenty rooms—and the outdoor green-and-purple color scheme was hideous. Nevertheless, the place whispered her name. Giving into whimsy, Annie turned her steps toward the motel.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket. She paused with one hand ready to extract it.

T
he screen announced, M
OM
/D
AD
. Annie answered the call.

“Where in the world are you?” Myra Friesen demanded. “I just want a peaceful cup of coffee with the newspaper, and the phone won’t stop ringing.”

“I’m sorry,” Annie said. “I’m fine. No one needs to worry. Who called?”

“The police called about your car.”

Annie grimaced. “What happened?”

“That’s what they want to know. It was parked in front of a hotel but not registered to any known guest. So it got towed. Imagine my surprise when I sit down with my morning coffee and get that phone call. I had no idea you still had your car registered at our address.”

“I’ve been meaning to change that,” Annie said. “What did they do with it?”

“The towing company has it. They’ll charge you for storage, you know, if you don’t go get it.”

“I don’t think I can get it today.” She could afford to store the vehicle indefinitely. At least Rick did not have his grubby hands on it.

“Where are you, Annie?” Myra asked again. “You sound like you’re outside.”

“I am.” Annie licked her lips. “I had to go out of town for business reasons, but I’m enjoying the beautiful day.”

“Your assistant called, too. She didn’t say anything about a business trip.”

“I didn’t have a chance to tell Jamie before I left. I’ll catch her up soon. Go back to your coffee.”

“What about Rick?”

“What about him?”

“When he called, he seemed quite concerned that he did not know where you are. Considering how close you two have been, it was odd that he thought I would know your whereabouts when he doesn’t.”

Annie sighed. “Rick and I are not close now, Mom. I don’t tell him everything.”

“When I told him about the car, he was concerned something happened to you.”

Yeah, right. He wishes.

“I’m fine,” Annie said. “I just need to take care of a few things before I come home.”

“You still haven’t said where you are.”

“It’s better if you don’t know, Mom. Trust me.”

“That sounds ominous. Are you going to have to break my kneecaps?”

“Maybe. You know, the usual top secret stuff with a tech company in the cutthroat modern business world.”

Myra laughed. “Next you’re going to tell me not to bother my pretty little head about it.”

“Something like that.”

“I don’t understand most of your techno-garble anyway. Do you want me to get your car out of hock? I could go to your condo for the extra keys.”

“Don’t bother. E-mail me the name of the tow company, and I’ll deal with it.” After a pause, she added, “Use the private family e-mail address.”

They were quiet for a beat, then Myra spoke, “Honey, are you really all right?”

“Fine, Mom. I’m fine.”

“I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

After the call disconnected, Annie considered her phone. For years she literally never powered her phone off. Perhaps the moment had come. It might at least slow down Rick’s search. With no doubt in her mind that it was only a matter of time before he wore down his contact in the police department and triangulated her location, she powered off and stuck the phone back in her pocket.

Her attention reverted to the motel before her. She had not stayed anywhere but a five-star resort in years. Her business dealings required a certain image of success. But this place was a portal to another world. No one would think to look for her here.

Rufus Beiler assumed she wanted to leave as soon as possible. Annie certainly had led him to that conclusion. But a nondescript motel in a place she had never been before might be exactly where she belonged now. The Steamboat Springs reservation had already gone to waste. Westcliffe might be just the place to set up a temporary headquarters and try to thwart the alliance that Barrett and Rick had formed.

Instinctively, she reached for her phone to log on and see if the two men she had trusted most—until a few days ago—had managed to do any damage in the last two hours. The black screen reminded her she had taken step one in cutting herself off from them.

Annie decided. Ten minutes later, she put seventy dollars cash on the counter in the motel’s small lobby.

“We do take credit cards.” The middle-aged woman behind the counter tended toward plump and battled gray. “Debit also.”

“Cash is more convenient for me.” Annie could not afford to reveal any movement on her financial accounts right now. Rick knew too much about them, and Barrett could get into anything he decided to get into.

Except my program,
she thought,
at least so far.

“My name’s Mo,” the woman said. “Let me know if you need anything. Breakfast runs from seven to nine.”

The room was modest and in need of fresh paint, but the owner clearly wanted to bill the place as belonging in the twenty-first century. The television was small, but it was a flat screen with basic cable channels. The high-speed Internet access would let her use her computer without turning on her phone. Annie plugged in both laptop and cell phone to juice them up.

Next she spent a few minutes scrambling the passwords of every online account she could think of, even minor sites she had no reason to believe Rick would be interested in tracking. She checked on the secure server that backed up her software program and breathed relief when she saw no evidence Barrett had hacked his way in, though she saw several new attempts that morning. Annie puzzled over what else she could do to ensure he would never succeed and clicked her way around the keys for another half hour. Then she stretched out on the bed and turned on the television to pass the time until computer and phone were fully powered. Idly, she searched “Amish in Colorado” and read several newspaper reports of the group’s migration west. Every few minutes she glanced at the charging icons to monitor progress.

When she slammed Rick’s head with the duffel back in the aspen grove, Annie surrendered personal items that would have kept her going for a few days. At minimum, she was going to need a fresh shirt and perhaps a baggy T-shirt to sleep in. Annie pulled up Google Maps and looked at the route between the motel and Westcliffe shops.

The walk to Westcliffe’s quaint Main Street was an easy mile with the placid mystery of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains unfolding in constant view. Annie followed the gray highway across ground growth rolling in yellowish stripes before giving way to an irrigated green that signaled a town. A hazy memory niggled at her of a family trip to the Great Sand Dunes when she was small. Her intuition told her she was not far from where she played in a flowing creek with her sister while her mother sat in an orange lawn chair with her feet in the water on a beastly hot day. Other than that, Annie could not recollect being in this part of the state. Now the beauty crooked a finger at her, and she did not reach for the phone in her pocket even once.