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.’
‘Yeah,’ Audra said.
‘Are they pulling us over?’
‘I think so.’
Another WHOOP! and the cruiser pulled out and accelerated until it was level with the station wagon. The passenger window rolled down, and the driver pointed to the roadside.
Audra nodded, signaled, and pulled onto the verge, kicking up dirt and debris. The cruiser slowed and pulled in behind her. Both cars halted, shrouded in dust so that Audra could barely see the other, apart from its lights still spinning and flashing.
Louise stirred again. ‘What’s happening?’
‘The police pulled us over,’ Sean said.
‘Are we in trouble?’ she asked.
‘No,’ Audra said, with too much force to be convincing. ‘Nobody’s in trouble. I’m sure it’s nothing. Just sit tight, let Mommy handle it.’
She watched the mirror as the dust cleared. The cruiser’s door opened, and the cop climbed out. He paused there, adjusted his belt, the pistol grip jutting from its holster, then reached back into the car for his hat. A middle-aged man, maybe fifty, fifty-five. Dark hair turning salt-and-pepper. Solid build, but not fat, thick forearms. The sort of man who might have played football in his younger days. His eyes hidden behind mirror shades, he lowered the wide-brimmed hat onto his head, the same beige as his uniform. He put a hand to the butt of his pistol and approached the driver’s side.
‘Shit,’ Audra whispered. All the way from New York, sticking to county roads when she could, avoiding highways, and she had not been stopped once. So close to California, and now this. She gripped the wheel tight, to hide the shakes.
The cop paused at Louise’s window, dipped his head to peer in at the children. Then he came to Audra’s window, tapped it, moved his hand in a circular motion, telling her to wind it down. She reached for the button on the door, held it as the window whirred and groaned.
‘Evening, ma’am,’ he said. ‘Do me a favor and shut the engine off, please.’
Be casual, Audra thought as she turned the key in the ignition to the off position. Everything’s going to be all right. Just stay calm.
‘Evening,’ she said. ‘Is something the matter, Officer?’
The nametag above his badge read SHERIFF R. WHITESIDE.
‘License and registration, please,’ he said, his eyes still hidden behind the shades.
‘In the glove compartment,’ she said, pointing.
He nodded. She kept her hands slow as she reached across, popped the catch, a bundle of maps and litter threatening to spill into the footwell. A few moments digging and she had the documents. He studied them, his face expressionless, while she returned her hands to the wheel.
‘Audra Kinney?’
‘That’s right,’ she said.
‘Mrs, Miss, or Ms?’ he asked.
‘Mrs, I guess.’
‘You guess?’
‘I’m separated. Not divorced yet.’
‘I see,’ he said, handing the documents back. ‘You’re a long way from home.’
She took them, held them in her lap. ‘Road trip,’ she said. ‘We’re going to visit friends in California.’
‘Uh-huh,’ he said. ‘Everything all right, Mrs Kinney?’
‘Yes, I’m fine.’
He put his hand on the car roof, leaned down a little, spoke in a low drawl that came from far back in his throat. ‘Just you seem a little nervous there. Any particular reason for that?’
‘No,’ she said, knowing the lie was clear on her face. ‘I just get nervous when I’m stopped by the police.’
‘Happen often, does it?’
‘No. I just mean anytime I have been stopped, I get—’
‘I expect you’ll want to know why I pulled you over today.’
‘Yes, I mean, I don’t think I—’
‘The reason I pulled you over is the car’s overloaded.’
‘Overloaded?’
‘She’s bearing down on the rear axle. Why don’t you step on out and take a look?’
Before Audra could reply, the sheriff opened the door and stood back. She sat still, the documents still held in her lap, looking up at him.
‘I asked you to step out of the vehicle, ma’am.’
Audra set the license and registration on the passenger seat and unfastened her seat belt.
‘Mom?’
She turned to Sean and said, ‘It’s all right. I just need to speak with the officer. I’ll be right here. Okay?’
Sean nodded, then turned his attention back to the sheriff. Audra climbed out, the sun fierce hot on her skin once more.
The sheriff pointed as he walked to the back of the car. ‘Look, see? You ain’t got enough clearance between the tire and the top of the wheel arch.’
He put his hands on the roof and pushed down, rocking the station wagon on its suspension. ‘Look at that. The roads around here aren’t too good, no money to fix them. You hit a pothole too hard and you’re in a world of trouble. I seen people lose control over something like this, they shred a tire, break the axle, or Lord knows what, and they wind up upside down in a ditch or hit an oncoming truck. It ain’t pretty, let me tell you. I can’t let you drive like that.’
A shivery relief broke in Audra; this sheriff didn’t know who she was, wasn’t looking for her. But it was tempered by his insistence on stopping her. She needed to keep moving, but not at the risk of getting on the wrong side of this man.
‘I’ve only got a little way to go,’ she said, pointing to the turn up ahead. ‘I’m heading to Silver Water for the night. I can get rid of some stuff there.’
‘Silver Water?’ he asked. ‘You staying at Mrs Gerber’s guesthouse?’
‘I hadn’t decided yet.’
The sheriff shook his head. ‘Either way, still more than a mile to Silver Water, narrow road, lot of switchbacks. A lot could happen between here and there. Tell you what … grab your keys and step back here, off the road.’
‘If I could just keep going a little further, I’ll be—’
‘Ma’am, I’m trying to be helpful here. Now just grab those keys like I asked you and come on back here.’
Audra reached into the car, around the steering wheel, and took the keys from the ignition.
‘Mom, what’s happening?’ Sean asked. ‘What does he want?’
‘It’s all right,’ Audra said. ‘We’ll get it figured out in a minute. Just you stay put and keep an eye on your sister. Can you do that for me?’
Sean twined his fingers. ‘Yes, Mom.’
‘Good boy,’ she said, and gave him a wink.
She brought the keys back to the sheriff – Whiteside, wasn’t it? – and handed them over.
‘Step onto the shoulder for me,’ he said, pointing to the dirt at the side of the road. ‘Don’t want you getting hit by something.’
She did as she was told, Sean and Louise twisting in their seats to watch through the back window.
Whiteside reached for the trunk release. ‘Let’s see what we got back here.’
Was he allowed to do that? Just open her trunk and look inside? Audra put a hand over her mouth, kept her silence as he surveyed the packed boxes, bags of clothes, two baskets full of toys.
‘Tell you what I can do for you,’ he said, standing back, hands on his hips. ‘I’ll move some of this stuff over to my car, just to lighten the load, follow you into Silver Water – I’d say Mrs Gerber will be glad of the custom – and then you can figure out what to do. You’re going to have to leave some stuff behind, I’ll tell you that right now. There’s a Goodwill store, I’m sure they’ll help you out. This here is about the poorest patch of land in the state, and the Goodwill store is about the only one left in business. Anyway, let’s see what you got.’