Alice opened the box of Pink Panther Flakes that Jenny had purchased at the grocery store and poured them each a bowl. Tom and Alice ate at the dinette, so she could assist him with his food, and the younger couple sat in the front seats. Simonseemed to feel her gaze because he turned and looked at her. She dropped her eyes and dipped her spoon into the milk.
“You’re going to help me drain the tanks after, Alice.”
She nodded, but she wasn’t going to say okay or yes or give any other signs of agreement. Everything she did was under duress, and she wanted there to be no mistake about that.
Simon was sitting sideways, his legs bouncing as he shoved spoonfuls of cereal into his mouth, one after the other. He got to his feet and dropped the bowl into the sink with a clang. He was clearly agitated about something. Alice wondered if it was about the robbery the night before. Guilt? Or fear of getting caught? To Alice’s surprise, he slipped behind the wheel and started the engine.
Jenny stopped eating. “What are you doing?”
Simon spun the dials on the radio. “I want to hear the news, see if there’s anything about the Dairy Queen.” When he got static on one station, he tried others, but he couldn’t get anything more than seconds of tinny-sounding songs and broken words before they turned to static.
He shut off the engine. “We need to go somewhere with better reception.”
The dishes were washed and put away, Tom was tied up on the bed again, and Alice and Simon, having drained the gray water—and other unmentionables—into a hole he had dug in the soft dirt, were back in the RV. Alice slid into the driver’s seat, and Simon into the passenger side.
“Jenny needs vitamins,” Alice said. “And we’re out of Tylenol.”
Jenny made a distressed sound in the back. “I forgot!” Alice glanced at her in the rearview mirror. The girl looked guilt-stricken.
“We’ll stop at the next town,” Simon said.
They reached Cranbrook a little while later. Larger than Kimberley, it was situated in a valley, and protected by the enormous Rocky Mountains, their peaks so sharp they lookedlike arrowheads angled toward the sky, painted in blue-and-gray shadows and brushed with white.
Redbrick buildings, with arched windows trimmed in stone and flat roofs, clustered together on the streets as though trying to keep warm in the bitter winters. The sidewalks were decorated with concrete planters filled with flowers, and a brick clock tower stood proudly in the town center, overseeing all the comings and goings.
The morning sun was already blinding through the windshield, and Simon, noticing Alice’s squint, handed over her sunglasses. The sweet cereal churned in her stomach.Shewas the one who handed Tomhisglasses. She prided herself on always knowing where his belongings were. It made her feel purposeful, an essential part of their relationship.
She did not want to be essential to Simon. She did not want him to recognize her needs. She wanted himgone.She glared at the road through her sunglasses.
They’d kept the radio on while driving, Simon switching stations so many times Alice wanted to smack his hand. There was nothing yet about the robberies. Alice hoped it would be on the news soon. She wanted people to be on the lookout for anything suspicious.
Alice drove the quiet streets until they found a corner drugstore set apart from the rest of the downtown core. The low-slung wood building had white-and-blue awnings on each side with neat lettering.Harris Family Drugstore.She slowed the RV as she passed in front of the store.
“Okay,” Simon said. “There’s an open sign.”
The parking lot was on the side of the building. Empty, for now.
She glanced at Simon. “Do you want me to pull in here?”
“No. Somewhere out of sight.”
One street over, they found another redbrick building withparking, except this one was a church with a pointed steeple and a white picket fence surrounding a small graveyard.
“Here,” Simon said.
Alice cast a sideways glance at Simon. Did he really want his murdering and thieving soul that close to a church? Simon made a quick, impatient gesture with his hand.
“Go.”
All right then. Alice parked the RV and sent up a prayer.Lord, if you can hear me, please send down a lightning bolt and strike this man before he can hurt anyone else.
Unfortunately, the sky stayed a peaceful blue. Jenny left the RV. She was probably only gone ten or fifteen minutes, but Simon’s leg bounced the entire time he watched out the window. When Jenny returned, she hopped up the metal steps, her body so slight the RV barely moved.
Simon turned his chair around to greet her. “Everything okay?”
“Yes. I got vitamins and Tylenol. Should I give Tom one now?”
“Please,” Tom said from the back. “Two.”
