Dempster Road

Chapter 10

Emily put away her cleaning rag and came around the counter as Adelaine entered the hotel lobby looking oddly confused. "Breakfast help any?"

She stopped and her face changed. "Yes, thanks. I do feel a little better." She wandered around the lobby looking at the old photographs and ornaments. "This is quite a collection."

"All my late husband's stuff. He loved antiques and historical oddities. The pictures are the biggest oddity; they're all his ancestors." She gave a merry laugh and Adelaine joined in. "I have some fresh coffee on, would you like some?"

"Sounds lovely. Thank you."

They both went into the dining room and fixed mugs of coffee, carrying them to a table still holding on to some sun, and settling down.

"The offer stands, Adelaine, about bein' a good listener." Emily studied the younger woman's eyes,and felt a tiny shiver at the sudden light that came and went like a candle's flicker. "You just don't seem to be as happy as a young woman your age should be."

"I think I'll be checking out tomorrow so if you want we can settle up after our coffee." The statement was flat and unfriendly.

Emily took in the change of subject as a definite 'keep out' notice. "Certainly. Whatever suits you, dear. Are you heading any place special from here or do you have to get back to- to . . .?"

"I still have another week before I have to head home. I- I'll probably just wander south for a way and then head back north." Adelaine sipped her coffee and gave Emily a puzzling, warm smile. A moment earlier the eyes had resembled ice.

"Well I hope you find whatever you're looking for, dear. A young woman like you shouldn't be travelling alone carrying emotional burdens."

"Why do you say that?" The ice returned.

"You just seem sad that's all. I didn't mean anything particular."

The ice melted and the warm smile returned. "Listen, that couple- the policeman and the woman with him, do you think we might all have dinner together tonight? Sort of a departing celebration?"

Emily felt strange suddenly. The woman shifted from hot to cold in an instant and now why on earth would she want to have dinner with total strangers, particularly calling it a departing celebration? "I- I don't know. I'm not sure if they're even going to be here for dinner."

"Oh, I see. Oh well, maybe a late coffee then." She put her mug down and stood. "I'll pay my bill now."

****

Adelaine finished her breakfast and left the hotel for a walk around the grounds. Too many questions from strangers and too many questions inside her own head required some quiet time for her to just empty her mind. There wasn't much to see. A small creek ran behind the hotel, petering out into a tiny pond covered in algae and filled with weeds.

She stepped carefully over the uneven ground and found a section of fence that wasn't broken where she could sit. Old decrepit out buildings suggesting that the hotel was once a farm property, surrounded by overgrown scrub and rusting implements, hid among some ancient Willow trees back near the creek.

She held her head up, eyes closed and let the warm sun caress her face. The woman had asked some strange questions, she thought and for some reason it had made her uncomfortable. Why?

A noise startled her and her eyes flew open in time to see a large, fat crow swoop down from the roof of the hotel and settle on a rusting oil drum near the edge of the creek. She stared at it and felt a coldness slide over her. The woman with the cop had been damned nosey, and Emily is too accommodating for her own good.

She absently clutched her locket, listening to the voices from the past in her head then stood and brushed the back of her jeans as she wandered around to the front of the hotel. The couple was climbing into the police car, and the woman gave her a little wave. Adelaine just stared and watched them drive off.

****

Stanley tried resting a hand on Belinda's leg but she brushed it away. "Pay attention to the road, Stanley. I don't want to wind up in some farm doctor's kitchen being sewn up because you drove into a tree or something."

"Good grief, Bel, where do you get these ideas. Farm doctor's kitchen?"

"Well there's nothing else around here if you get injured."

"We are not going to get injured." He took her remarks as a slur against his driving. "Maybe you want the wheel, eh?"

"No I don't. I'm just saying."

"Well say something nice instead. Something like . . . gee, Stan, it was great of you to ask me along. When I get this great story for my paper what can I possibly do to pay you back?"

"When I see this great story I'll show you." She snapped back. They both clamped their mouths shut and rode on in silence.

The sun spread a harsh swath across the highway making it dance and shimmer and they both found their sunglasses and put them on. Stan's were mirrored and Belinda became annoyed because she wasn't sure he was always watching the road.

The sign for the motel appeared just beyond a bend in the highway, its sun symbol burst, in a filthy mustard colour with an insipid smile over the gaudy typeface, read Wayfarer's Rest - Eats, Beds and More! Stan turned into the partially filled parking area in front and stopped in an empty spot near the diner door.

"What do you suppose the 'More' is?"

"Probably what you thought you'd get on the way up." Belinda climbed out and slammed the door.

"Such a delightful travelling companion." He said, climbing out and slamming his own door harder.

A teen aged girl with bright blue hair and a gem wedged into the side of her nose was busy sorting menus behind the counter, and she barely looked up as they chose a booth by the window but out of the sun. "Two coffees please." Stan called, smiling when she finally looked up again.

"Just put it on, it'll be a few minutes unless you want the old stuff."

Bored.

"We'll wait. You the only one here?" Stan asked.

"Why?" Bordering on belligerence.

"I need to speak with anyone who was here last night." Stan put a touch of official in his voice.

"That'd be Jill. She won't be in until two." The girl studied Stan, ignoring Belinda. "What do you want her for?"

"Some questions about customers that were here last night."

"You a cop?" Stan nodded. "What's she?"

"This is--"

"She is a customer that wants her coffee and a little service." Belinda snarled. Stan blew out a mouthful of air, and looked at his watch, ten-thirty; it was going to be a long wait.