—
AT MIDLAND,they stopped at a convenience store for snacks and then at a Buffalo Wild Wings for a meal before heading south. Kort argued that Box should be chained up and locked in the hidden compartment before they left the RV, but Box looked so defeated that Annie and Rosie made her promise not to run away, or cause a commotion, and Box said, “Like I keep saying, what am I gonna do, call the cops?”
So they all went inside for pulled pork sandwiches and wings and beer, and it turned out Box and Annie were both Cowboys fans, so they watched an NFL roundup channel about games from the Sunday before, until Rosie suddenly stopped eating and said, “Oh, shit. Look at that.”
The other three women turned to a TV screen across the bar that was tuned to a news channel, on which they saw a thoroughly recognizable photograph of Kort.
Kort couldn’t believe it: “How did they do that? How did they do that? Who told them?”
Box said, “Don’t look atme, I don’t even know what your last name is.”
“Did Soto keep a motel key on him? If they ran down the motel room you guys were in...”
“We were in separate rooms...”
“But you were traveling together... Maybe you left a fingerprint somewhere.”
Box, being practical, said to Kort, “Trade chairs with me.”
“Why?”
“So you’re facing away from the room.”
—
THEY FINISHEDthe food in a hurry and as they did, Rosie said to Annie, “Now we’ve got two problems. Can we get them both under the floor?”
“Probably, but they might kill each other,” Annie said.
“Which would solve our problem,” Rosie said.
“Come on, guys,” Box said. “I’mnota problem. I’m asolution.”
“You’re a dead woman, is what you are, if we don’t get that money back,” Kort said. She had orange Wild Wings sauce around her lips, which made her look as though she’d been bobbing for spare ribs.
Not a good look. Box said, “Wipe your face, for God’s sakes. You look like a pig.”
—
BACK IN THE RV,and on the highway, Rosie drove and Annie brought up a Verizon-linked hotspot, went online to the Dallas TV stations,and found photos of Kort, Box, and Poole, as well as a sensational story about Box’s escape, aided by bandanna-wearing outlaws.
The story began: “In an escape reminiscent of the glory days of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, a beautiful young outlaw was forcibly taken away from a Texas Highway Patrol officer as she was being transported from Weatherford to Fort Worth...”
“Kind of like the ‘beautiful young outlaw’ thing,” Box said.
“You are a little Southern rose,” Annie said. “You ever think about switching sides?”
“Aw, for Christ’s sakes,” Kort said in disgust.
“Already played on both teams,” Box said. “That’s how I finally got together with Gar. I knew him in high school, but we never went out then, he was already an outlaw. Then me and a girlfriend picked him up in a Jackson bar, about ten years ago, took him back to his hotel room and flat wore him out.”
“Really,” Annie said. “I thought I picked up something like that.” She turned to Rosie. “You pick that up?”
“I did,” Rosie said. She asked Box, “Why’re you with a man?”
“I like both, but men got thatthang, you know? Women are good, but sometimes you just wanna have thatthang. The muscles, too, and whiskers rubbing your legs.”
“Stop that,” Rosie said. “You’re getting me all hot.”
