She hated needing help. Hated being pitied as if she were a kicked dog or something as equally pitiful.
“What’s your name?” Alcina asked.
She softly replied, “Josie,” as she put her free hand to her middle, fingers tracing those initials on the belt buckle. She thought quickly. “Josie…Wales….”
“Josie Wales—now where have I heard that name before?” Alcina mused, pulling her mouth as if thinking about it. “Are you originally from these parts?”
“No.”
“Oh, well, it doesn’t matter, does it?” As if unable to help herself, Alcina said all in a rush, “I do have a small room off the kitchen that I don’t rent to tourists. Actually, it’s my ironing room, but there is a single bed and a dresser—nothing fancy.”
Josie snapped up her head. “I don’t need fancy.”
Relief poured through her, lightening her load. She blinked rapidly, stopping herself from outright crying.
Alcina rushed on. “And I guess the whole house could use a spring cleaning.”
“Spring?” Josie started. “But it’s fall…isn’t it?”
Confusion. Again.
Alcina said, “That it is, but it’s hard to get good help in a ghost town at any time of the year.”
“I’m willing to do anything you need.”
“C’mon inside, then. I’ll show you to your room, and after my guests finish their breakfast, I’ll feed you and give you the grand tour. You look like you could use a little rest. Then maybe later you can walk over to the grocery store and pick up a few things for me.”
“Anything! Thank you.”
Alcina stepped back to let her in. And yet she appeared troubled, as if she worried that she might have reason to regret her simple human kindness.
The flesh at the back of Josie’s neck prickled at the thought.
One last look out to the empty street reassuring her, she stepped inside and took a look around at the elegant Victorian decor, as, behind her, Alcina Dale firmly closed the door against the unknown.
FEELING A WHOLE LOT better on a full stomach and from a lie-down, and with the knowledge that she would have a roof over her head that night, Josie Wales set off for the small grocery store at the other end of Main Street.
Other end.
Three whole blocks, with only a handful of establishments lining the winding street cut through low hills open for business—café, law office, bar, whatnot, doctor’s office, home-and-feed, church, grocery, gas station.
And in between sat skeletal buildings in various stages of decay—reminders of a more prosperous era, as were those railroad tracks that went nowhere but along the boarded-up stagecoach stop. The single-story building of volcanic rock had wooden porches traversing the entire length of each side. Other rutted dirt roads on either side of Main Street led to a few dozen homes whose size, condition and state of occupancy varied, as well.
Just outside of Silver Springs, what was left of a row of miners’ shacks stood testament to the town’s origin—the old silver mine. Some were little more than stone foundations. As she’d hiked in from the highway, she couldn’t help but notice a strange-looking couple—squatters?—scurrying about the area, setting out displays that appeared to be made of animal bones. Odd, but nothing to unsettle her.
Not much to Silver Springs, Josie thought, but something about the town drew her, made her think she might be safe here.
Safe. Was she?
Despite the warmth of the late October afternoon, a chill swept through her, suddenly making her feel as if hostile eyes followed her every movement. She glanced around. Two women were chatting outside the doctor’s office across the street. A cowboy was hunkered on a bench outside the bar just ahead, his wide-brimmed hat bowed as if he were asleep. Behind her, an old junker of a car headed out of town. And at the end of the street, a fancy black SUV covered with red dust turned out of the gas station.
Nothing out of place…just like before, when the trucker had stopped his rig to let her out of the cab and she’d sworn someone was watching, though she hadn’t caught anyone at it…and yet…
What was wrong with her? No one could be following her. No one even knew where she was.
It was just that she hadn’t really felt safe since awakening in that hospital bed.
And now she was an outlaw on the run!
She glanced at the black SUV that crept along the street in her direction. The dark-haired driver seemed to be searching for something…or someone.
Her?
Muscles bunched, she was ready to bolt when he looked directly at her…through her…beyond her….
Realizing that she was of no interest to him, after all, Josie trembled with relief. Not that she could help being a bit paranoid. Undoubtedly that’s what was making her feel those invisible eyes on her.
Bringing her forefinger to her belt buckle, she traced the initials again and again.
J.W….J.W….J.W….
Josie Wales was as good a handle as any.
She had to calm down. Get herself straight. Make plans.
Stop imagining dangers where there were none.
Lost in thought, Josie at first ignored the faint sound coming from the abandoned building preceding the bar. But as she drew closer, she realized it was a cry of distress. Heart thumping, she slowed her step in the deep afternoon shadow cast by the structure and strained to hear.
A scrabble was followed by a sharp “Meow!”
A cat.
Relief shot through her. Just a stray animal.
But as she moved on, the cry grew pitiful, the scrabbling more frantic, and she stopped again as she drew even with the entrance.
“Mee-ooww!”
Josie closed her eyes and sighed. Undoubtedly she would be on a fool’s errand, but she couldn’t go on until she was certain the cat was all right.
The door hung crooked on its hinges and she had to throw her shoulder into the wood to budge it. The panel inched inward, then twisted so that the top hinge gave. Levering the unexpected weight, she took a quick look around, but nothing had changed—women still talking, cowboy still sleeping, SUV still inching along.
“Great. Add destruction of property to my crimes,” she muttered. “Not to mention breaking and entering.”
Another cat cry set her in motion.
Break and enter she did, stopping for a moment to let her eyes adjust, the interior being lit only by the smidgen of gray allowed through the grimy front windows, and
