No Escape

Although she promised Lauren she wouldn’t, she couldn’t go back to the motel room after work. Not this beautiful, warm, sunny day. The motel room had become too much like a prison cell to her. It may not be the prison the hospital was, but it was prison enough. Therefore, it was time to break free of the same old routine they’d been following for the last two weeks. If she returned to the room now, she’d only feel as if she were suffocating. Lauren didn’t usually get in until a half-hour after she did, which meant that if she went on a little walk now, she could be back before she returned. She’d never even have to know about it. She punched out, took the strawberry soda she’d bought earlier, and headed out into the bright sunshine. It was such a beautiful day. Not too warm, not too cool. A faint, gentle breeze caressed her as she headed for a residential side street canopied by large oak trees. As she slowly walked down the street, she was surprised by the lack of activity on such a pleasant day. She had expected to see old folks out reading books, young women tanning on lounge chairs, young men listening to portable radios, children at play on their swings, throwing balls for their dogs to fetch. Instead, the neatly landscaped yards were deserted. The only sign that someone had been out and about was a sprinkler swaying back and forth in one of the yards. At the end of the road was a gradual slope that turned into a steep incline that led down toward the train tracks. She turned to look behind her. The street was now barely visible. Hesitantly, she went further down the incline toward the tracks. She loved trains, though they didn’t seem to pass through as much during the daytime as they did at night. When she’d had trouble sleeping, she’d lay in Lauren’s arms as she listened to the train’s whistle blow, wondering where each train was headed and what they were carrying. Suddenly she was all alone with not a soul in sight. A small area across the tracks where tall grass grew gave way to a densely wooded area. She couldn’t tell how deep the woods went. The surroundings gave her a feeling of peaceful isolation. But that would suddenly change. In an instant, she felt as if she were being watched. She glanced in various directions. A black crow hawked ominously overhead. Instead of feeling at peace, she now felt vulnerable, threatened. She tried to shake the feeling of eyes boring into her but couldn’t, so she turned and headed back up the incline. The feeling intensified. She spun around quickly. No one was in sight. She turned and trudged forward once again, quickening her pace. Once she reached the top of the incline, she still couldn’t see anyone in sight, though the feeling of being watched hadn’t lessened. She wished someone—anyone—would come out into their yard, but if anyone truly was watching her and she wasn’t just being paranoid, it was more than likely the police. If that was the case, there’d be nothing anyone who happened to be out and about could do for her. Then again, if the police were watching her, why didn’t they just come out and confront her? What were they waiting for? For her to lead them to Lauren so they could nab them both at once? But that didn’t make sense either. If they knew where she was, then they most likely knew where Lauren was as well. Nonetheless, she couldn’t shake the feeling of an evil presence that was focused solely on herself, be it the police or something else. She broke into a trot. The short, peaceful dead-end street now seemed long and ominous, stretching miles ahead of her. She was running now, literally running scared. She dared not look back. Instead, she just kept running until she reached the main street where the convenience stores, restaurants, and motels were. Only then did her heartbeat slowly begin to return to normal as she tossed her soda can into a wastebasket. She was still somewhat shaken up when she reached their motel room a few minutes later. Panting, she inserted the key card, stepped inside the dim room, then turned to push the door shut. “Where in the world have you been?” Shania yelled out fearfully as she spun around fast to face Lauren. “Jesus, you scared the hell out of me!” “And you scared the hell out of me. Where have you been? Did you have to stay late or something?” Shania considered nodding and not bothering to mention going down by the railroad tracks, but that would be lying, and lying was the last thing she wanted to do with someone she loved as much as she loved Lauren. Especially when there was no benefit in it that would help Lauren in any way. “Shania?” “Well,” she began hesitantly, “I don’t want to lie to you, so I’ll just come out and tell you that I went for a walk down by the tracks.” “You what? Shania, you promised me! I thought I could trust you.” “I know, I know. It’s just that I couldn’t come back here. Lauren, we’ve been so cooped up in here that I thought I would go crazy for sure if I didn’t take a break and get some fresh air. It’s such a lovely day out there, you know?” “Yes, I do know, and I wish I could be out there too, but it’s just not a wise thing to do for now. Keep in mind that we’re talking about just one year and not a lifetime. The more we slack off and take chances, the less likely we are to make it through the year. Besides, where would you rather be cooped up, here or in the funny farm?” “Of course I’d rather be stuck here with you,” Shania answered, running to throw her arms around Lauren. Lauren held her tightly, and a moment later she said, “Look, babe, I’ll compromise with you. We’ll wait until dusk when the sun is setting. That way it won’t be so light, yet there’ll be enough light left to see our way clearly. Then we’ll go for a little walk. How’s that sound?” “Wonderful.” Lauren cupped the sides of Shania’s face and pulled her toward her for a sweet kiss. When she pulled back, she asked, “You seemed pretty rattled when you came storming in here. Anything happen out there?” “No, but I sure had this uncanny feeling of being watched.” ________________________________________ Getting the information she needed had been easy. Almost too easy. Yet she had gotten it, she thought with a smile as her mind flashed back to the night before she left California. “You sexually dysfunctional weirdo!” she had screamed as she chased Gary down the stairs and to the front door with nothing but a sheet wrapped around her. “Couldn’t you have at least told me up front that you couldn’t keep your damn balloon inflated?” “Jesus, Maureen!” Gary sputtered. “You’re such a heartless, insensitive bitch. Maybe it would have been better if what’s-her-name had stayed on the job and you’d been fired back then. I didn’t believe it at first when Tim suggested you were behind her commitment, but now that I see you for the spiteful bitch you are, I know you had something to do with it.” “So, what if I did? Now get out of here! Just get the hell out of here!” Maureen screamed, pointing toward the door. “No problem. I never want to step foot in here again,” Gary spat as he left the townhouse, slamming the door behind him. Maureen stomped back up the stairs, both frustrated and horny. “Why me, huh?” she asked her Siamese cat, who waited for her at the top of the stairs, blue eyes wide with curiosity. “Why is it always me that has to get these types?” The cat meowed. “I really have an uncanny knack for getting such misfits, don’t I? Well, I’m not going to sit around feeling sorry for myself all night. I’m out of here. I’ve got better things to do, and believe me, this is going to be far more interesting than working for that bitch at the medical coding place. In a way, I’m glad she fired me. Gives me time to focus on important things. Meanwhile, we’ll keep it a secret from Mom and Dad. I can’t deal with their damn lectures right now anyway.” She dropped the sheet and pulled on a black turtleneck and a black pair of pants. It was definitely time to get on with business. She made sure the cat’s water and food bowls were full, then she headed out to the blood-red Porsche that she now wished were black. Oh, well, she thought to herself as she revved up its engine. At least I’m dressed dark enough to blend into the night. She pulled out onto the street. Because it was Friday night, many people were still out and about. When she stopped at a red light, she observed a young girl through an ice cream shop window laughing between bites of ice cream, with what might have been her mother. She smiled almost sadly, remembering how her life had once been so simple and filled with joyous moments such as going out for ice cream. Now it seemed that all she did was struggle with love, struggle at jobs, struggle at everything. She was so angry lately, too, but she knew whose fault that was. A horn honked behind her. The light had turned green. “Yeah, yeah, I’m going,” she muttered under her breath. As soon as she reached the therapist’s street, she parked the car at the end of it. She inhaled the fresh scent of bananas emanating from the new air freshener dangling from her rearview mirror. Then she closed her eyes a moment to get her plan set in her mind. However, instead of getting a sense of plans, a vision came to her of her mother slapping her around while her father sat drunk and dead to the world in his favorite easy chair. Perhaps life hadn’t always been so easy after all. She hadn’t seen her parents in months. “What am I going to do with my life?” she muttered to herself. “I go through jobs faster than I change clothes. Oh, stop talking to yourself like a lunatic and stop worrying! Stick to the task at hand and find the bitch that got you in this mess.” She placed her left hand on the door handle and looked around. The street was deserted. She stepped out of the car and shut the door as quietly as she could, then scurried off toward the condo, which was brightly lit. The closer she got to it, the more she realized she could hear someone talking. Knowing she couldn’t simply knock and ask to know the bitch’s whereabouts, she scooted off to the side of the condominium. Concealed in darkness and shrubs, she listened for sounds through an open window, glad that this particular unit was on an end. “No, I don’t think so,” she heard someone say. The blond woman? A slight rustling sound behind her. She turned her head quickly but saw nothing through the hedges at the neighboring house. Just leaves stirring in the breeze, she told herself, willing herself to calm down. She strained to hear over the thunderous clunking of her heartbeat. “Lauren couldn’t tell me that much, Mrs. Cohen, just that they’re in Klamath Falls.” Klamath Falls? “Sure, I can do that, but not over the phone.” Do what? “I’ll let her know the next time we swap e-mail.” Maureen felt a sneeze welling up in her nose. Hurriedly, she pinched her nose as hard as she could stand to. “Okay, I will. Bye for now.” That was it? She waited a few more minutes, but all she heard was the sound of a TV. Once her legs started cramping due to the crouched position she was in, she decided that perhaps she’d heard enough as it was. She slowly stood up, careful not to make any noise, then rushed back down the street to her car. Once home, she ran and fired up her computer. It didn’t take her long to learn that Klamath Falls was a small town in Oregon just above the California border. Yet despite how small the town was, how was she going to find two people out of an estimated twenty thousand? ________________________________________ They slowly headed off behind the motel across the street. They were at the base of a mountain in an area that was somewhat remote, though still close enough to civilization if anyone of evil intent should think of popping out and confronting them. “Gosh, it gets chilly fast up here,” Shania commented, pulling her sweater more tightly around her. “That’s because we’re further from the coast,” said Lauren. The two walked in silence for a while, sipping their cappuccinos. “I’m going to be up all night,” said Shania, “but that’s okay, I love this caramel coffee.” “It is good, and who cares if we’re up late?” Lauren said. “We don’t have to work tomorrow, so it won’t matter if we’re up late having all kinds of fun hour after hour.” Shania giggled as did Lauren. It felt good. It was the first time they’d really laughed in a while, and so they enjoyed it all the more. “Do you miss your mom, dad, and Courtney?” Shania asked after a while. “Sure I do, but I know I’ll see them again soon enough.” “Well, I sure don’t miss Lakeview, but I miss Mindy and doing simple, ordinary things like going out to eat every now and then, browsing in bookstores, walking through malls.” “What do you like to read?” Lauren asked. “Mysteries mostly. Do you read?” “Sometimes. I like historical romance.” Shania wrinkled her nose, getting a chuckle from Lauren. “What’s your favorite cuisine?” Lauren asked. “Seafood and Chinese. How about you?” “I like just about everything, but I’d say Italian cuisine tops my list.” “Does it?” “Yes, Italian and French. Maybe we should make a point of eating out once a week. I think we can do that much without putting ourselves at any more risk than we already have. Besides, we’ve already fallen out of the main spotlight, so it seems, judging by the newspapers and news broadcasts.” “You think they’re still looking for us?” “Probably, although not actively. We aren’t escaped murderers, as we’ve said before. They’ve got more important things to focus on. When it comes to people like us, they just pretty much hope to nab us during a routine traffic stop or something like that. They’re not pounding on every door on the west coast looking for us when they’ve got so many murderers, child molesters, rapists, arsonists, and drug dealers to look for.” “I hope not. It’d make me wonder what the world was coming to if they made us a top priority.” Lauren sighed and said, “It’s getting dark, babe. We ought to turn around and head back.” “I’m with you,” Shania replied, taking one last sip of her coffee and disposing of the cup in a nearby trash bin. ________________________________________ When she first arrived in Klamath Falls, after selling her Porsche and putting her stuff in storage, she had booked a room at the Pretty Vista Motel across from the Super Budget Motel. Using her money from her savings, she paid six hundred and fifty dollars to rent the spacious room for a month and then turned in the rental car she used to make the trip up to the mountainous area, with plans to save up for a car as soon as she could. Shania knew her sports car all too well, so she felt that using a rental car would obscure her presence even more. The room was nice. It was on the end of the U-shaped building, providing a good view of the Super Budget. She dyed her red hair dark brown the night she arrived. “Please don’t tell my folks if you talk to them,” she had begged her Aunt Erin the night before she left. An audible sigh on the other end of the line. Then, “Maureen, are you sure you want to do this by yourself?” “Yes, Aunt Erin. They’ve got to be brought to justice, don’t they?” “For escaping, yes, but Maureen, honey, I don’t see how they’re to blame for your miscarriage and for what happened to Uncle Jonas. Miscarriages happen all the time, and the earthquake is what killed your uncle. That much I can assure you of.” “Well, they certainly had a part in it, and besides, they’re escaped fugitives and I know where they are.” “Yes, and you’re obligated to give that information to the police and to let them handle things while you go and look for a new job right here where you belong.” “I’ll find work up in Oregon while I’m hunting them down, then when we all return, they’ll go to jail and Miss Daly will rehire me,” Maureen said with confidence. “How can you be so sure of that?” “Because she’ll see me as a heroine, that’s why. And she’ll realize what a good worker she lost once things start falling apart as they’ve no doubt been doing since she canned me.” “Oh, Maureen. I wish you’d forget that place and look for work elsewhere,” said Erin. “There are so many other things you could do with your life.” “Yes, I know, Aunt Erin, and I will. But this is what I want to do right now. If I simply tell the police what town they’re in and what state, they still wouldn’t really do anything to seek them out. I’ve got to be able to give them an address. Trust me, I learned the hard way just how the law works.” After a moment’s hesitation, her aunt said, “Well, you’re an adult. No one can stop you from going to Oregon if that’s what you have in mind to do.” And that was exactly what she had in mind to do. What she didn’t have in mind was to drag the police into it. Oh no, she was going to deal with Shania McCarthy all by herself. This wasn’t between the police and Shania; it was between her and Shania, and so they would meet and face each other one to one. If the police got involved later on, it wouldn’t matter. Just as long as she got to her first. On the other hand, she may not let Shania live long enough to deal with the police one way or another. Maybe not even her precious girlfriend. And then things had gone from easy to even easier. So much so that it seemed as if she were under the influence of some sort of divine guidance!