“Ah, honey, you’re exhausted,” Carol said with concern, then glanced to her husband. “Dave, maybe you better take her back to her RV and help her hook up. She looks ready to fall over.”
Nodding, Dave grabbed a large flashlight off the counter and walked back around the counter to usher her to the door.
“See you tomorrow morning,” Carol called as they left.
Dave kept up a steady chatter about people at the campground that she knew from previous stays as he drove her back to the RV, but she noted that he kept sending worried glances her way. It made her wonder just how bad she must look. Pretty bad, she decided when he stopped at the RV and turned to her to ask, “How’s your health, sweetheart? Everything okay?”
“I’m fine,” she assured him on a weak laugh. “I’m just tired. I’ll be right as rain after a good night’s sleep.”
“Good, good,” Dave said, but didn’t look like he believed her.
With his help, hooking up to the power, water, and sewer was quick work. Mary thanked him for his help, hugged him and promised she’d be by for breakfast in the morning, and then waved him off, before turning to peer at the door to the RV. There were no lights inside, but she wasn’t terribly surprised. Dante probably didn’t know where the switches were.
Sighing, Mary walked to the door, opened it and started inside, hitting the switch on the counter next to the steps as she ascended them. Letting the door close behind her, she then paused and glanced around. Dante and Bailey weren’t there.
Still out for their walk, she thought. After being cooped up in the RV all day, Bailey would probably drag Dante all over the campgrounds. She just hoped Dante didn’t let her chase the deer or any of the other wildlife.
Shrugging that worry away, Mary moved to the panel on the wall before the bedroom door and pushed the button for the living area slide out. The front half of the RV’s left wall immediately began to slide outward, taking the dinette and couch with it. Once it was all the way out, there was a good three or four foot span of open space between the furnishings and the kitchen counter along the opposite wall. Mary then turned to peer into the bedroom as she pressed the button for the second slide-out and watched as the wall at the head of the bed began to move out, taking the bed with it. When it stopped there was room enough to walk around the end of the bed, open the drawers, and whatnot. The cramped RV was now a more spacious little house on wheels.
Relaxing a little, Mary turned on the water heater, and flipped on some lights, then moved to the coffee machine to make herself a cup. She set out a Keurig cup and a mug for Dante as well, but didn’t make it. She doubted he’d appreciate cold coffee. He might even prefer a cold drink.
After setting her coffee on the table, Mary retrieved her sandwich from the front dashboard where it still sat. She had just picked up the plate, and had started to turn back toward the table when she spotted her phone. Dante had obviously put it back in its holder before taking Bailey out, she thought and snatched that up as well. She carried both items to the table and slid onto one of the dinette’s booth seats to eat.
Even after having sat out for half an hour or so, the sandwich was as good as it had first looked and Mary found herself gobbling it down. It seemed like no time before she finished the first half, and that’s about the time that she began to realize how much she’d needed to eat. It was almost nine now, which meant it had been almost nine hours since lunch. Her brain had obviously needed the nutrients, because it was suddenly thinking more clearly than it had since she’d run over Dante. The day’s events ran through her head like a film and she began to get more and more uncomfortable as it went. She had a complete stranger traveling with her, one who was slightly delusional and possibly dangerous.
Where was he going to sleep tonight?
And how well was she going to sleep with him in the RV with her?
Mary sat back at the table with a frown, and then her gaze dropped to the phone and she recalled the calls he’d made. Three of them in all, she thought. Picking up the phone, she opened it to the recent calls page and peered at the number he’d called.
The area code was 416. It had seemed familiar when he’d first spoken it to her, but now it suddenly clicked in. Toronto, she thought. Her daughter lived there and had that area code. FBI based in Canada? Mary’s mouth tightened and she tapped the number, making the phone redial it.
Six
Mary pressed the phone to her ear and listened to it ring, then stilled when a ring was prematurely silenced and a male voice snapped, “Speak Dante.”
Biting her lip, she glanced toward the open window and then cleared her throat and asked, “Who am I speaking to?”
When silence came to her through the phone, she recalled what Dante had said earlier and asked, “Is this Lucian?”