Here and Gone(3)

The woman rang up the drinks, and Audra dug inside her purse, fearing for a moment that she had run out of cash. There, she found a ten folded inside a drugstore receipt, and handed it over, waited for her change.

‘Thank you,’ she said, lifting the bottles.

‘Mm-hm.’

The woman had hardly glanced at her through the whole exchange, and Audra was glad of it. Maybe she would remember a tall auburn-haired lady, if anyone asked. Maybe she wouldn’t. Audra went to the door and out into the wall of heat. Sean watched her from the back of the station wagon, Louise still dozing beside him. She turned her head toward the cruiser.

It had gone.

A dark stain on the ground where the cop had poured his drink out, the ghosts of tires on the grit. She shaded her eyes with her hand, looked around, saw no sign of the car. The relief that followed shocked her; she hadn’t realized how nervous the cruiser’s presence had made her.

No matter. Get on the road, get to the town the woman mentioned, find somewhere to rest for the night.

Audra went to the rear car door, Louise’s side, and opened it. She crouched down, handed a bottle of water over to Sean, then gave her daughter a gentle shake. Louise groaned and kicked her legs.

‘Wake up, sweetie.’

Louise rubbed her eyes, blinked at her mother. ‘What?’

Audra unscrewed the cap, held the bottle to Louise’s lips.

‘Don’t wanna,’ Louise said, her voice a croaking whine.

Audra pressed the bottle to Louise’s mouth. ‘Don’t wanna, but you’re gonna.’

She tipped the bottle, and water trickled between Louise’s lips. Louise let go of Gogo, took the bottle from Audra’s hand, and swallowed in a series of gulps.

‘See?’ Audra said. She looked over to Sean. ‘You drink up too.’

Sean did as he was told, and Audra got into the driver’s seat. She reversed away from the store, turned, and drove back to the cattle grid and the road beyond. No traffic, she didn’t have to wait at the intersection. The car’s engine rumbled as the convenience store shrank in the rearview mirror.

The children remained quiet, only the sound of swallowing and satisfied exhalations. Audra held the bottle of Coke between her thighs as she unscrewed the cap, then she took a long swallow, the cold fizz burning her tongue and throat. Sean and Louise guffawed when she burped, and she turned to grin at them.

‘Good one, Mom,’ Sean said.

‘Yeah, that was a good one,’ Louise said.

‘I aims to please,’ Audra said, looking back to the road ahead.

No sign yet of the town. Five miles, the woman had said, and Audra had counted two markers, so a while to go still. But not far. Audra imagined a motel, a nice clean one, with a shower – oh God, a shower – or, even better, a bath. She indulged in a fantasy of a motel room with cable, where she could let the kids watch cartoons while she wallowed in a tub full of warm water and bubbles, letting the grime and the sweat and the weight of it all just wash away.

Another mile marker, and she said, ‘Not far now, maybe another two miles, all right?’

‘Good,’ Sean said.

Louise’s hands shot up and she let out a quiet, ‘Yay.’

Audra smiled once more, already feeling the water on her skin.

Then her gaze passed the mirror, and she saw the sheriff’s cruiser following behind.





2


A SENSATION LIKE cold hands gripping her shoulders, her heart knocking hard.

‘Don’t panic,’ she said.

Sean leaned forward. ‘What?’

‘Nothing. Sit back, make sure your seat belt’s done up right.’

Don’t panic. He might not be following you. Just watch your speed. Don’t give him a reason to stop you. Audra alternated her attention between the speedometer and the road ahead, the needle hovering around fifty-five as she drove through another series of bends.

The cruiser maintained its distance, maybe fifty yards, neither gaining nor falling back. It lingered there, following. Yes, it was definitely following. Audra swallowed, shifted her hands on the wheel, fresh sweat prickling on her back.

Take it easy, she told herself. Don’t panic. They’re not looking for you.

The road straightened once more, passed beneath rows of cables strung between the pylons on either side. The surface seemed to grow rougher as she travelled, her station wagon juddering. The mountains on the horizon again. She focused on them, a point on which to concentrate her mind.

Ignore the cop. Just look ahead.

But the cruiser swelled in the mirror, the sheriff’s car drawing close. She could see the driver now, a broad head, broader shoulders, thick fingers on the wheel.

He wants to pass, she thought. Go ahead and pass.

But he didn’t pass.

Another mile marker, and a sign that said: SILVER WATER NEXT RIGHT.

‘I’ll turn off,’ Audra said. ‘I’ll turn off and he’ll keep going.’

Sean said, ‘What?’

‘Nothing. Drink your water.’

Up ahead, the turn.

She reached for the stalk to signal, but before her fingers could touch it, she heard a single electronic WHOOP! In the mirror she saw the flickering lights, blue and red.

‘No,’ Audra said.

Sean craned his neck to see out the back window. ‘Mom, that’s the police.’