Unforeseen Danger (20 page)

Mountain Spring Motel

Rm. 212

Some of Nikki’s excitement at finding it dissipated when she realized what it probably meant.

“I’m so sorry, Jake,” she said softly, and went downstairs to join her mother-in-law.

The day seemed so long without Jake, even though Nikki truly enjoyed Catherine’s company.
 

They kept themselves busy by searching the house, but Nikki found herself continuously glancing at her watch, anxious for
four o’clock
to arrive.
 
Even a visit from her father didn’t distract her long.
 

Catherine left at
3:50 p.m.
to stop by the bank and Nikki paced in front of the window until she saw the white BMW turn into the drive.
 
Feeling an almost childish excitement at Jake’s return, Nikki slung open the front door and hurled
herself
at Jake as soon as he stepped up onto the porch.

He grabbed her and took a step backward to regain his balance.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” he asked.

“Nothing.”
 
Nikki grinned up at him.
 
“I’m just happy to see you.”

Jake’s eyebrows shot up.
 
“Oh, well, in that case—”

Nikki giggled as he swept her in his arms and carried her to the den.
 
Still holding her, he flopped down on the couch.

Nikki twisted around to sit in his lap with her knees on either side of him.
 
Jake placed his hands on her hips and drew her closer.
 
His thumbs stroked the inch of bare flesh between the waistband of her blue jeans and her white T-shirt.

“So you missed me?” he murmured.

“Uh huh.”
 
Nikki leaned down to brush a feathery kiss across his lips.
 
His mouth, warm and soft, parted slightly and Nikki deepened the kiss.

The shriek of the alarm startled Nikki and she would’ve tumbled onto the floor if Jake hadn’t caught her.
 

Jake laughed.
 
“I’m sorry,” he said.
 
“Forgot about that damn thing.”

He gently set her aside and got up to shut the door and punch in the code before it notified the police department.

“Where were we?” he asked, and Nikki climbed back into his lap.
 
A long tendril of hair had escaped from her ponytail and he tucked it behind her ear.
 
“So, how did your day go?
 
How was therapy?”

Nikki made a face.
 
“Physical therapy went great, but I hate having my memory tested.
 
I feel like I’m on the verge of remembering something and it’s like a door slamming in my face.
 
It’s so frustrating.”

“It’ll get better,” Jake promised as he traced his fingers across her cheekbone.
 
“Where’s Mom, anyway?”

Nikki had to restrain a grin at the sudden wariness of his tone.
 
He still acted like he expected her and his mother to tear into each other at any moment.
 
She quickly averted her gaze.

“She left early.
 
I…I slugged her, Jake.
 
I couldn’t help it.
 
She mouthed off to me and I lost it,” she said contritely.
 
“I’m so sorry.”

Jake’s jaw dropped and Nikki did lose it then.
 
He looked so serious, so horrified.
 

She snickered helplessly until his incredulous look turned to a scowl.

“
Geez
, Jake, were we that bad?” she asked.

“You have no idea.”
 
He shook his head.
 
“The two of you put me through hell.”

“I’m sorry for my part in that.”
 
Nikki placed a hand on the back of his neck and smiled.
 
“She’s wonderful, Jake.
 
Today has been good for us.”

“Yeah?
 
What did the two of you do today?”

Nikki’s smile vanished as she replied, “We looked for clues.”

“Oh.”
 
Jake was quiet for a long moment, and then he asked, “Did you find anything?”

“Just this.”
 
Nikki pulled the page from the notepad from her back pocket and handed it to Jake.
 
His laugh surprised her.

“I must say, Nancy Drew, that I’m impressed.”

“I hated to give it to you.”

“It’s okay.”
 
He exhaled softly.
 
“I already knew about the motel.”

Nikki looked at him sharply and he explained, “Matt called me at work this afternoon.
 
He’d pulled that number and the number of a payphone in Whitwell from that morning.”
 

Jake reached around her to flip open his briefcase.
 
He pulled a sheaf of paper from it and handed it to her.
 
The pages were
colored
with different highlighters.

“This is our personal line and the other list is your cell.
 
I recognized most of the numbers immediately:
 
friends, family, and the office, and I called the ones I didn’t.
 
Nothing or nobody that I suspect.”
 
He cleared his throat.
 
“Apparently, you were very careful, or you had another way of contacting him.”

They were silent for a moment, and then Nikki asked, “So, when are we going to the motel?”

“You want to go?”

“Yes, I want to find out who this guy is so we can get on with our lives.”

Jake looked at her for a long moment and sighed.
 
“Well, how about right now?”

***

Jake regretted the trip already.
 

One of the side effects of Nikki’s head injury was that she was sometimes as sensitive to sunlight as a vampire.
 
Her eyes reddened and streamed in the unrelenting brightness of the afternoon sun.
 
Jake flipped her visor down and she rummaged through the console until she found a pair of sunglasses.

A light snow began to fall, dusting the mountaintops like powdered sugar.
 
The fine, tiny flakes caught in the beams of the winter sunlight and sparkled like diamonds as they fell lazily to the ground.
 
Nikki commented on the beauty of the frosty landscape, but Jake was struck by a feeling of uneasiness so profound that he had to fight the urge to turn the car around and head back home.

Suddenly, more than anything, he just wanted to get the hell out of here.

He saw no beauty in the bare, hulking trees.
 
They were skeletons, reaching long, bony fingers to take what they wanted.
 
A chill started in the nape of his neck and raced down his spine.

A goose walked over my grave.
 

The thought ran through Jake’s mind.
 
It had been Mam01a Hawthorne’s explanation for any inexplicable chill, a saying that had always struck Jake as funny.
 
He might’ve laughed if he’d been anywhere else.
 
Anywhere but here.
 
He saw a sign that said US-56 and gripped the steering wheel a little tighter.

“Jake, what is it?” Nikki asked.
 

Jake wondered if his face had gone as white as the knuckles on his hand.

“This is the road,” he said as they started up the mountain.
 
“This is the road you wrecked on.”

Jake’s heart began to pound a little faster as he realized how harrowing Nikki’s ride down this steep, winding mountain road must have been.

“I want to see where,” she said and he saw her shiver, too.
 

He reached to turn up the heater, even though it was warm inside the car.
 
Even though he knew it couldn’t help a chill that started from within.

“Nikki, I—”

“Please?” she asked.
 

Jake drove until he saw where a wooden mile marker still lay splintered and pulled over to the shoulder of the road.
 
He walked around, opened Nikki’s door and took her hand.
 
They crossed the road together and stood by the ruined guardrail to stare down at the blackened spot below where someone had lost her life.
 
Jake felt cold inside as he thought of how close he’d come to losing Nikki that day.
 

He wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in her hair.
 
It was several moments before he could bear to let her go.

“Where was I thrown out?”
 
She stepped over the guardrail.

Jake frowned and stepped over behind her.
 
“I don’t know.
 
I know that you hit a rock, because they couldn’t believe that you hadn’t broken anything.”
 
He walked around and finally spied a large rock several yards away.
 
His heart lurched at the brownish stain on it and he wondered if it was Nikki’s blood.
 
Nikki walked up beside him and tucked her arm in his.
 
He felt her shudder.
  

Together, they made their way down the steep incline to the spot where the Dodge had burned.
 

Nikki lost her footing in the snow-slick leaves and started to slide.
 
Jake grabbed the back of her coat and wouldn’t let go of her after that.
 
They reached the charred spot and Nikki began to kick around in the ashes.
 
There was still a considerable amount of rubble, even though they’d towed the truck.
 
Jake stared up at the main highway and imagined again what it must’ve been like for her, how many times the truck must’ve flipped to get so far from the top.

Jake helped Nikki back up the incline.
 
Although it was getting dark, Nikki wanted to talk to someone at the motel.

They stopped at a gas station to ask for directions and were told that the Mountain Spring was the only motel in the small county.
 
In a matter of minutes, Jake pulled in front of the aging building.
 
It loomed high in the southern sky, a relic from the Civil War.
 
Jake studied the huge white columns with an architect’s appreciative eye.

They walked across an expanse of lush red carpet where a friendly looking young man greeted them in the foyer.

“Oh, hey!”
 
He smiled at Nikki.
 
“Nice to see you again.”

Nikki and Jake looked at each other.
 
They never dared to hope that it might be this easy.

“You remember her?” Jake asked.

The young man’s smile never faltered, but he looked a little embarrassed as he said, “No
offense
, sir, but it’s hard to forget a beautiful lady like this.”

Nikki smiled.
 
“We were hoping someone would remember,” she said.
 
“I was involved in an automobile accident after I left here—”

“Oh, no!” the boy exclaimed, seeming to notice her bruised forehead for the first time.
   

“I don’t remember what I was doing here or who I was with.
 
I hope you can help with part of that.”

Jake could tell the old Nikki charm was working its magic, but the boy’s smile faltered as he glanced back at Jake.
 

Casually, Jake lifted his palms.
 
“It’s okay, man.
 
I’m just chauffeuring her.”

“Please, can you help me?”
 
Nikki pleaded and the boy nearly melted in his shoes.
 
Jake had to turn his head to keep from laughing.

“I think I was in room 212.”
 
She subtly steered him toward the desk.
 
“I found a note—”

“Yes, that’s right,” the boy confirmed.
 
“You had a room that overlooked the garden, because you commented on the statue.”

“Did you see me with anyone?”

“No.”
 
He shook his head.
 
“Matter of fact, you were headed out the door then, right after you checked in.
 
I didn’t see you or anyone after that.
 
Not until you checked out Sunday morning.”

Jake frowned and turned to look at her quizzically, just as she asked, “When did I check in?”

He thumbed through the book for a moment.
 
“Saturday morning.”

“What name did I sign in under?” she asked, and the boy grinned.

“Smith,” he joked.
 
“Everyone checks in as Smith.”
 
He ran his finger down the page and said, “There it is.
 
You checked in under S. Parker.”

Nikki thanked the boy and they left.