“No, no. You don’t have to. I’ll come down and see if I can find her. Thanks, Connie.”
“Not a problem.”
I ignore the way my heart is suddenly pounding and set down the phone. I have to feed Titus, I tell myself, and I have to put my gear away. Once that’s taken care of I do my damnedest not to drive off the road as I race my truck down to the bottom of the mountain.
* * *
The hospital’s a bust. One of the nurses I’m not familiar with tells me that Claudia’s been by the QER and dropped off some flowers for Fern. She’s said she’ll be back in the morning to see Sarah and the other girls on the day shift. If she’s still in town I know there are only two places she could be staying.
My short search brings me to the row of green and grey semi-attached cabins just off the highway. I pull into the Light Grass Lodges. There are only a few cars out front. The bell rings loudly when I open the front door, but Kaleb McCray is already at the desk.
“Hey man,” he says, stretching out his hand. I haven’t seen him in a while, but we try to catch up over at the bar every now and then. We clap palms and he reaches over the counter to pat me on the back. “What brings you over here?”
“Do you have a guest staying here? Name’s Claudia Cade. I checked over at The Mountain View, but Sam said they were all booked up.”
“Oh! Yeah. I—hold on. We’re not supposed to give out guests’ room numbers.”
“She’s here though, right?”
“Yeah she just stopped in and asked for extra towels. When I brought them to her it looked like she was settling in for the night.”
“Uh, yeah if you could call her room and tell her I’m here, that would be cool.”
“Not a problem, man.” He reaches for the phone. “I shouldn’t be surprised you’re here to see her. Haven’t seen a chick that hot around here in years. Of course Shepard Olsen the First has already laid claim to her.”
I don’t respond. He doesn’t need to know that I have no idea what she looks like when she’s not covered in blood or bruises or bandages.
“Miss Cade?” he says, his voice suddenly professional. “Hi, It’s Kaleb at the front desk. I have a Mr. Shep Olsen here to see you.” He pauses for a moment. “Would you like me to give him your room number?” Another pause. “Absolutely. I will let him know. Absolutely. You are very welcome.” He hangs up. The persona drops. “She’s coming up here. She said give her a few minutes.”
“Thanks.”
“So how do you know this chick?”
I turn around and look at the picture of Kaleb’s grandparents mounted on the wall by the light switches. “Kind of a long story.”
“She had a New York ID. Must be a good story if she came all the way out here to see you.”
“It’s not. The double murders back in April. That’s how we met.”
“Holy shit. That’s her?” The chatter around the county about Claudia and her brother, the man I’d killed and the scumbag that survived his run-in with Will’s cruiser didn’t die down until late summer, but I was sure everyone had heard an approximation of the events.
“Yeah. That’s her. Maybe relax a little when she comes in here.”
“Yeah, yeah. Of course. Sorry. That’s some heavy shit.”
“Yeah.”
Kaleb defaults to football and starts telling me about how he’s trying to get time off to use the Seahawks tickets his uncle got him for his birthday. We’re talking about the Rams’ move when I hear the front door click and the bell ring a half second later. I turn around and Claudia is standing there. She looks different than I remember, but I know it’s her. At the time, I was more concerned with her living through the night than I was with her looks, but Kaleb wasn’t wrong. She’s hot as fuck.
She’s shorter than me, like most everyone in a hundred mile radius, but she’s not very short. She’s wearing tight dark pants, some high tan boots, and one of those puffer winter jackets with a fur lined hood that somehow manages to hug her tits and her waist. She has makeup on, but she doesn’t need it. Her hazel eyes and her lips speak for themselves. She’s carrying a bouquet of roses. She smiles at me.
“Hi,” she says. That’s her voice, my brain tells me. I’ve only heard it a handful of times, but it’s burned into my memory along with other things from that night.
“Hey.”
She stands just inside the door for a moment before she snaps me out of whatever trance I’m still in and walks right up to me. She’s just inches from me when she hands me the flowers. “These are for you. Pink is for gratitude.”
I take them. “You didn’t have to.”
