Beautiful Bounty(61)

Again, he stopped and surveyed his surroundings, smiling all the while. After a minute, he began to walk again. In another minute he was in the house.

Ronnie moved then. She didn’t know how much time she would have. She went the fifteen paces to the edge of the trees, looked at the house, and watched the curtains for a moment before heading to the shed. Her grandpa left the door wide open. She saw her dirt bike right away. On it was a folded sheet of paper weighted down by a rock. Her helmet sat on the seat clean as whistle.

Hands trembling, she picked up the note. She opened it.

Chipmunk,

I’ve been all up morning sweets, and gave her a really good tune up for you. The gas tank is full. Your mom called me this morning and told me to be on the lookout for you, and to try and stop you if you showed up here. So, anyhow, my little chipmunk, you know how well I listen to your grandma and your mother, which is not very well. l love you girl. Be careful. I taught you everything I know so I am not too worried. But a little worried. I know you’re innocent and if you need anything at all just call me.

Love, Gramps.

PS Give him hell. I never liked him for you anyway. And Grandma went shopping, so let me hear that engine roar.

Tears sprang to Ronnie’s eyes. She loved that man. She grabbed the pen he left on his work table, and tore the bottom of the sheet of paper off. She wanted to keep his note and the rock. She slipped them into her pocket.

Gramps,

I love you. Soooo much. You are the best. Mom is pregnant by the way.

Love always, your chipmunk

PS I’ll give him more than hell. I’ll kick him in the arse.

Ronnie put the note on his table, picked up his small whittling knife, and stabbed it into the paper and into the wood.

Picking up her helmet, the one he lovingly cleaned for her that morning, she put it on over her head, and pulled her bike out of the shed. Her grandpa was in the window watching her. She waved. He waved back, and then gave her a thumbs up sign. Getting on her bike before she lost her nerve, she kicked started it, and the engine started right up. The man was a blessing. One more wave, tears in her eyes, she floored it, giving the bike a full three hundred and sixty degree spin in the yard before she headed to the trails just beyond the rear edge of her grandfather’s property. She rode into the trees knowing her grandfather was watching her the entire time. Yes, that man always had her back. She had always been able to count on him.



***



Ronnie settled into the hotel room in Spragueville which wasn’t far from Quaggy Joe Mountain and Echo Lake. Spragueville was a sleepy town for half the year, but come summer the lake and Aroostook State Park attracted many tourists, and during the winter the ski trails were quite popular for both cross country and downhill. Luckily the town was pretty busy right now with the campers and she could easily blend in and become lost in the crowd so to speak. She’d been here a couple of times before with Gary and some friends on small vacations, but she needed to be safe and keep her wits about her. She didn’t want to be recognized by the locals, so she would steer clear of the most obvious places, and the local hangouts she had been in before.

For her hotel she chose one of the larger establishments figuring the workers would turn over more quickly and she wouldn’t be recognized. She’d stay away from the quaint restaurants and the bars, places she went with Gary and their friends just in case. After arriving here, she hid her bike in a deer blind she and her grandfather used once in the Aroostook Forrest that would not be used since it was not hunting season.

She walked the three miles into town, and went to the local radio shack located in a strip mall. It was a small town, far enough from Bangor, but still when Maine people made news, it made the news. So she wore her disguise hoping it would be the last time. She picked up a throw away cell phone, one with voice and video recording capabilities. She also got an external microphone so she could put the phone in an isolated location, but record good quality voice without risk if she had to block the device or move away from it.

She also needed to call Gary on it, stroke his ego a little, and then maybe her mom too, so she didn’t worry. Her grandfather had probably informed her mother she arrived safely and took her bike, but she felt confidant her mom wouldn’t report her missing to anyone just yet. Her mom was probably worried, but would give her the time she asked for to try to get Gary to confess his role in this entire mess. The phone was necessary too because she couldn’t use her own as it could easily be traced. Even the one she purchased could be traced if they figured out she was using it. She didn’t want to think about the fact that the police might be tracing Gary’s phone now that they were looking into his whereabouts. But she had to end this. She needed to move on from under this dark cloud. She needed to get on with her life without Gary, without these charges, and without Nikko too. The first two thoughts made her angry. The third made her sad.