Before she left the lobby, she peered out the window that faced Main Street. Don’s car was still parked across the street by the Jefferson Expeditions office. She shuddered and backed away.
She turned to face the clerk. “This place is fairly secure, isn’t it?” The vibration in her voice gave away her fear.
He studied her a moment. “Sure, there’ll be someone at the front desk all night. I’ll be locking the side doors in ten or fifteen minutes.” His voice was filled with compassion.
She hurried down the hall and up the stairs. Her hand was still shaking when she stuck the key in the hole. After locking and bolting the door, locking the windows and pulling the shades, Clarissa collapsed on the bed.
Now you can cry.
She stared at the ceiling while the warm tears flowed down her face. How had her life gotten to this point? The words of her would-be murderer came back to her. She had no family. No one to come looking for her if she went missing. She’d never known her mother, and her father had died of acute alcoholism when she was five. There had been a shining moment when she was fifteen. She’d met a boy who said he loved her, and she had believed him. She’d thought she’d never have to be alone again. Once she became pregnant, though, he had disappeared. In the end, she had miscarried, the pain of that loss almost unbearable. After that, her heart had closed off and she’d thrown herself into working hard, knowing that the only person she could depend on was herself.
Sleep came slowly, but every rattling of the window or noise in the hallway woke her. All she had to do was make it through this night. Sondra would be here in the morning. If Don was still across the street, she’d call her friend and change the pickup point. Chances were, with daylight and the streets filled with people, he wouldn’t try anything. It would be best, though, that he not see her get into Sondra’s car.
In the darkness of the room, Clarissa placed her hand over her throat. Don’s beefy hands had almost robbed her of her last breath.
Back at the airport, Don had originally said that he wanted to take her back to California...to talk to Max. Thinking about it now, Clarissa decided that that had probably been a lie. Whether it happened in California or here, Max’s intention had been to have her killed.
Ezra pulled the Jefferson Expeditions van up to the curb by his office. He’d taken it out early in the morning to get it gassed up and pick up some final supplies. An older man with salt-and-pepper hair stood outside the door.
Ezra shut the van door and called over to him, “Can I help you?”
“My name is Leonard Stillman, and if it’s not too late, I’d like to sign up for your survival school that’s headed out this morning.”
Another client would really help his bottom line. It seemed a little odd, though, that the man was showing up at the last minute. “Where did you hear about Jefferson Expeditions?”
“Saw the flyer at the bait shop. I came out here for some fall fishing, but I think this survival school would be much more my speed. I like a challenge,” said Leonard.
“Sure, go on inside.” Ezra moved toward the door and pulled out his keys to unlock it. “Have a seat and we’ll get the paperwork done. I need to get a few things out of the back of the van, but then I’ll be right with you.”
Leonard went inside, and Ezra opened the hatch to grab the length of rope and water filters he’d picked up at the store. He glanced across the street at the Black Bear Inn. In a little less than an hour, Jan, Ken and Bruce would be joining Leonard for a life-changing adventure.
Clarissa came out of the inn just then, glanced around and settled on a bench. Ezra waved at her, and she waved back. He went into his office, shaking his head and wondering why she looked so nervous.
* * *
Clarissa checked her watch for the third time in ten minutes. Sondra was late, and she wasn’t answering her phone. Clarissa tried to free herself of the awful sinking feeling that invaded her mind.
Sondra wasn’t going to show. She shouldn’t have depended on her. Clarissa jumped up from the bench and paced back and forth.
If Sondra didn’t show, she’d have to come up with a new plan to escape from Max. Though she hadn’t seen him yet today, she was sure Don was still lurking around somewhere, waiting to catch her. She sat back down on the bench, twisting the straps of her purse.
Sondra had been a friend. Clarissa couldn’t have read the signals wrong. She’d picked up on the concern in her voice when they’d spoken on the phone. Sondra wouldn’t let her down.
She leaned against the wall of the Black Bear Inn and stared at her phone. There were probably places in Wyoming with no cell phone service. Maybe Sondra had been delayed, but couldn’t call.
Clarissa checked her watch again. She’d wait twenty more minutes. She couldn’t stay out here much longer, where Max’s thug could easily spot her. A car rolled by slowly and pulled to the curb half a block away. Clarissa rose to her feet, expecting to see Sondra. Disappointment raged through her when an older man using a cane stepped to the curb.
Gazing across the street, she watched through the window of Ezra’s office as he picked up backpacks and sorted through a pile of items she couldn’t make out from this distance. An older man sat in a chair across from him, reading a piece of paper.
She slumped down on the bench again, clutching her purse to her chest. She had to come up with a new plan. Max’s hired muscle had tried to kill her last night. That was something she could report. She would swallow her distrust of law enforcement. Ezra had pointed up the street when he’d suggested she go to the police. She walked quite a while before the station came into view, a two-story brick structure with parking lots on three sides.
She took a breath and went over in her head what she would tell them as she made her way toward the steps. But when the door of the station swung open and a man stepped out, the sight of him made Clarissa’s breath hitch. She ducked behind a car. Max stood on the steps, shaking hands with a man dressed in a suit.
As she pressed herself against the back of the car, she pushed down the terror that threatened to paralyze her. That man was probably the police chief or some other law enforcement official.
Shielding herself from view by darting from car to car, Clarissa ran through the possibilities of what she could do. Max was here. And he clearly had fooled the police here just as he had in California. Any hopes that the law would actually listen to her disappeared. There was no one she could trust. She had to get out of this town and fast.
She needed time to figure out why Max wanted her dead, or she’d never be safe again. As she raced up the street, she realized she needed to hide somewhere Max would never find her, until she could work through all that had happened.
* * *
Ezra ran through a last-minute checklist of everything he needed for the survival school. He’d taken the van around to the back entrance. When he opened the door, Jan and Kenneth had already arrived to start loading their packs.
Ezra sat down at his desk and thumbed through the waivers he’d collected. With the addition of Leonard, he had four clients. Six would allow him to do more than pay the bills, but four—along with the clients Jack would be taking out—was enough to keep Jefferson Expeditions going until the next school.
The front door opened and Clarissa, his stowaway from last night, stepped in. “I’d like to go on your survival school,” she stated. He thought he detected fear in her voice.
She’d changed out of the gray suit and high heels she’d been wearing into a pair of jeans, hiking boots, a light blue button-down shirt and fleece jacket. The outfit looked as if she’d just pulled it off a store rack, and yet it showed