Who would, right?
“And you want to go home?” she asked, a little shocked. “That’s the last place I’d go!”
When she said it like that, I realized how ridiculous it seemed. If the bikers were still out there, and still wanted to get to me, they'd easily find out where I lived. Especially if Sheila was working with them, or using them as her pawn. And, of course, Sheila knew exactly where home was. “Guess I could get a hotel,” I admitted after a while. “One that takes dogs, I mean. There's that one near the Greyhound stop”
“What?” Karen asked with a laugh. “A hotel? You’re not staying at any lousy roach motel. You’re staying at my getaway cabin tonight. And I’m not taking no for an answer.”
“Your getaway cabin?” I asked, shaking my head. “No, I can’t do that, Karen. I can’t impose on you that way.”
She smiled at me, her full, glossed lips perfect, her pale blue eyes flashing in the light of the gauge panel. “You’re not imposing,” she said. “I hardly ever stay there, especially with mother being sick. It’s just my place where I can disappear every now and then, clear my head. It’s quiet, you’ll have a place for the dogs to run around out back. Because you can’t go home, not with Sheila still out there, or those bikers. You know that.”
I frowned, nodded. “I’m so sorry, by the way,” I said after a while.
“For what?”
“For, you know, not telling you about everything when this all started.”
She dismissed my apology with a wave of her hand. “You’re forgiven, hon. Things happen, people make mistakes. Not the end of the world, as far as I’m concerned.”
“Thanks,” I said. “And you know what?”
“What, hon?”
“You’re a good friend. Thank you. For everything. For giving me a place to stay tonight, and for taking me by Sheila’s. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t come along, if I’d been forced to stick it out with her.”
“Don’t mention it. At all, okay?” She reached over, grabbed my arm, squeezed gently. “What are friends for if they can’t help you out in a tight space?”
I grinned. “Yeah,” I admitted. “You’re right.”
A short while later, we were pulling up at a small cabin on the far edge of town. It was close to her mom’s home, only about a five or ten minute drive. “Well, this is it,” she said as we pulled up outside in the drive, “and you’re welcome to stay as long as you like. Barely anyone knows about this place except for me.”
“I really, really appreciate this,” I said as I got out of the car and flipped the passenger seat down, pulling it forward to let Eli and Wallach out. They both promptly hit the grass, running in excited circles till they calmed down enough to find a place to do their business. I searched for a poop bag for them.
“Ignore it,” Karen said. “You’ll be able to find it better in the morning, anyways. Let’s get you inside so I can show you around.”
“Yeah,” I said, smiling at the first good thing to happen to me since the Frost Security safe house.
“I just can’t believe Sheila would do something like all this,” Karen said as she unlocked the front door and led me and the dogs inside. “Make threatening calls?”
“I know,” I said, sighing as I shuffled in behind her, dogs in tow. “It’s just gotten to the point where I don’t know who to believe anymore, who to trust. I mean, I thought I was going to be safe at the cabin, and I wasn’t. I couldn’t even drive home without someone trying to run me off the road.” I closed my eyes, a sudden vision of the big black truck from the day before filling my foggy mind. I shuddered and shook my head, dispelling the memory. “Now I’m just freaking exhausted.”
Karen’s getaway cabin was bigger than the cabin I lived in full time. Two stories, four bedrooms, attached garage, fully furnished. The amount of money this place must have cost was, by itself, staggering. All so she could have a place to escape to when she didn’t want to be burdened by her dying mother? Don’t get me wrong, it was nice to have a friend who could help me out in a jam like this, but the idea that someone had that kind of money to just throw around was kind of obscene.
I'd never let Karen know that, though.
“I’ll bet you are exhausted,” she said, yawning, heading through the spacious living room, with all its plastic coverings, and disappearing into the kitchen. “I haven’t had half the day you have, or even a tenth, and I’m beat just hearing about it, hon.”