Gold, Fire & Refinement

Chapter Thirty-Eight

"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." ~John Lennon

Eva Pearl stopped for the night at a motel in Flagstaff, Arizona. Dog tired after too many hours of driving, she didn't know why restful sleep still wouldn't come. All day, she felt restless ... like someone was following her. The feeling started right after she left the condo, and she kept trying to dismiss it. She figured it was just her mind playing tricks on her. In bed, after tossing and turning for hours, she told herself her thoughts and feelings were related to how she would have felt if she had left Vegas before Frank died. If she had somehow managed to leave him, he would have followed her. After she convinced herself there was no need to worry, she finally started to feel drowsy.

Getting into Dallas early the next day, she was only about ten hours from home. She hadn't slept much the night before in Arizona, and she had to get some sleep. If she didn't, she wouldn't be able to keep driving. After seeing a sign advertising a name-brand motel, she pulled off the highway and drove into the parking lot. She went inside, paid cash for a room, then decided to find a gas station so she wouldn't need to stop the next morning. She'd just get up, shower, and head out.

She found a station near the motel, filled up her tank, then paid the cashier using her prepaid credit card. Heading out of the store, she pushed the card into her jeans pocket as she walked to her car. She was about to pull her keys from the other side pocket when something hit her, hard, knocking her down. She must have blacked out for a second, because when she opened her eyes, a young white man, the cashier she paid inside, was wiping her forehead with a damp paper towel.

"You all right, ma'am?"

"What happened?"

"A guy," he said. "Looked like a big old kid, no mor'n twelve or thirteen. Big kid. Came outta' nowhere like a rocket. Knocked you down and took your purse. Guess it's what he wanted."

"My purse?" She couldn't even remember having a purse. Then it came to her. She'd found it in the condo, in the back of the closet. A shiny red shoulder bag. It matched her new red convertible, so she decided to use it. She took it with her into the store because she'd stuffed about three hundred dollars in it for her trip. After using some of the money to pay for her room, she pulled it over her head and then forgot she even had it. The only other thing the purse contained was the directions she printed: Directions to Zarah's house on Strawberry Circle, and the route from Jackson to Silver Water, Mississippi.

A minute later, the cashier was still looking at her with a frown on his face. "You hurt?" he asked. "I can call an ambulance for you, or the police, if you want me to."

"No," she said. "Don't call anyone. I'm okay."

"That boy? He hitched a ride up there on the highway, so he's long gone. A big white Ford truck stopped for 'em, and he hopped on the back. Threw your purse in the bushes." He pointed. "Over there. If you had money in there he probably took it."

"It's okay." He offered his hand, and she took it. She stood up slowly. "I didn't have that much in it. "Thanks for helping me up."

"You want it?"

"Huh?" She didn't know what he was talking about, but he seemed eager to help. She liked him for that.

"Your purse?" he asked. "I can get it for you."

"Sure," she said. "I guess I don't want to leave it on the side of the road."

He was back in a few seconds handing her the red shoulder bag. As she was getting into her car, she looked at him. "Thanks again ... for helping me." She smiled at him. "I'm okay now."

He shrugged his shoulders, mumbled, "K," and walked back toward the store.

Driving away, Eva Pearl didn't want the police involved because they might have found out. Even though she learned how to drive when she was a teenager, never in her life had she ever owned a driver's license.

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