Of course, there was no answer at Pearl’s, either. Tripp was pacing Hank and Gloria’s kitchen. “They really haven’t been gone long enough to call my buddies on the St. Louis force and send a car to Pearl’s,” he muttered. “And that would only scare them all, if Pearl has just bedded down the whole crew with blankets on the sofas and turned off the ringer on the phone. Which she could have done.”
“I’m glad this is a tile floor. You’d have worn through carpet by now,” Gloria told him. “Can you think and sit at the same time, or is pacing a universal law enforcement guy thing?”
“I can stop pacing. But I can’t sit,” he told her. “Even Laurel isn’t sitting down.”
“That’s only because I’ve already been through enough tonight that I feel drained. If I sit down, I’ll stay there for good.”
She sounded grim, and there were dark smudges of fatigue under her eyes. Tripp felt a pang of guilt for having helped put them there.
“So now will you let me resign?” he asked Hank. “It’s the only way I can do this. Then I’d be free to take Laurel and head towards St. Louis to figure out what’s going on.”
“You are not resigning. But you are going to St. Louis as soon as I’m sure you’re stable enough to drive,” Hank said to him. “I’ve actually got things worked out in such a way that even Gloria approves.”
Tripp looked over at Gloria, who was pouting a little.
“Approves is a bit strong,” she said. “Letting you do this is about as much as I’ll agree to. He’s rigged up this elaborate communications system so that he can manage everything you’ve been doing without going out on the street. Of course, he had to get Verna out of bed to do it. And have Fire & Rescue loan him two officers.”
“Let me guess. Mike and Carrie,” Laurel put in. “It’s the only way I can imagine that both of you would be okay with this goofy plan.”
Hank looked over at Tripp. “She’s pretty good at this. Sure you won’t have a spot on the squad when you get back?”
“The thought gives me the chills. I have enough to worry about just having her in town,” Tripp said. “So let’s get out of here before I think of forty more reasons why this is a lousy idea. Can I take the cruiser so I’ll stay in better radio contact?”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way. Be careful out there. You’ve got some people who are very important to me depending on you.”
Hank’s eyes glittered a little, and Tripp pretended not to notice. If he paid attention to that, he’d lose his own slender resolve. All he could do was nod and motion toward Laurel.
Pearl’s house was dark when they got there. Laurel was sure they’d broken land speed records on the way to St. Louis, but no one had stopped them. “So is the quiet a good sign or a bad one?”
“We’ll know in a minute. It would be just as dark if they were all in there asleep as it would be if they were here and gone. I’m betting on here and gone, though, because I don’t see that boat of Sam’s anywhere. Pearl doesn’t have a big enough garage to store it and her car at once.”
Laurel’s heart sank. She hadn’t thought of that part. As they were going up the front walk to check on things, she saw a tall, slender figure detach itself from the shadows on a near-by porch and come toward them. “Tripp?” she said quietly.
He spun around from the doorway. “Who is it?”
The figure on the sidewalk stopped with raised palms. “Whoa, Detective Jordan? It’s me, Lyle.”
Laurel could hear Tripp moan softly.
“That’s all I need right now—the Richards kid.”
“Can I come up there? Or are you still mad at me? I’ve got a message from Ashleigh. At least, I sort of do.”
“If that’s the case, come on up here,” Tripp said. “We’ll call a truce.”
In the dim light on the front porch, Laurel could see a young man with pale hair, who didn’t look the eighteen years that she knew he was. “First of all, I want to apologize for things this summer. Honest, I had no idea how old Ashleigh was. She said she was in high school, and I figured I hadn’t seen her around at school just because I go to the ROTC magnet academy, and she must have been going to Roosevelt.”
Laurel could feel Tripp stiffen beside her.
“Okay, apology accepted,” he said. “Have you seen her tonight? You must have, or you wouldn’t know I was angry with you.”
“Oh, I knew that a couple of weeks ago from Mrs. Simms. She didn’t waste any time telling me off, once she’d sent Ashleigh down to where you were. But yeah, I saw Ashleigh tonight.”
“Who was with her?” Laurel asked. She was anxious for news of her family, as well.
“A pretty different bunch of people, if you don’t mind me saying. But the old guy had a very cool car. I don’t think Mrs. Simms was going to go with them until she saw that car, man.”
“So they’re gone?” Tripp sounded even more tired than before.
“They didn’t stay long,” Lyle said. “I talked to Ash out on the porch, while they were loading some stuff into the trunk of that car. Not a lot of stuff, but definitely some suitcases. There would have been more room for stuff if they’d let me keep the cat for them like I wanted to. But the old guy said Buster didn’t take to strangers much. Which I thought was odd, because that cat was all over me.”
Laurel tried to hide a smile. Buster was one of the best judges of character she knew, but she wasn’t about to tell Tripp that right now. “So they all left…Pearl and Mr. Sam and Jeremy and Ashleigh—and they had the cat with them.”
“Yeah. Been gone over two hours, I’d guess. They hardly got here before they took off again. Ashleigh had just about enough time to tell me how happy she was, and then they split.”
“Happy? She wasn’t crying her eyes out or anything?” Tripp asked, sagging against the porch wall.
“No, man, it wasn’t like that. She was telling me about this awesome thing she had happen to her today…I guess it’s yesterday now, about knowing Jesus and stuff. She’s not running away, exactly. It’s more like they’re running to something. Or someplace. She’s just keeping the guys company, and they wanted to pick up Pearl to keep things legal, I guess.”
Now it was Laurel who felt lightheaded and wanted the support of the wall behind her. “They’re driving to California, aren’t they. It’s just the kind of crazy thing I can imagine Sam doing for Jeremy.”
“They didn’t say where they were going—just that they had to get started before anybody knew they were gone, or you’d arrest them,” Lyle said to Tripp. “Are you going to? Arrest them? I don’t want to get Ashleigh in trouble. Not when she seemed so happy.”
“We’ll see about arresting them, once I find them.” Tripp sounded very tired. “I just want to find them first. Did they say anything else?”
“Not much. Mrs. Simms and the old guy were talking about highways. I didn’t think there was a Route 66 anymore. Is there still, or was that a fifties thing?”
“It’s not official anymore. But it would make sense as their route if Sam sees this as some kind of farewell trip for Lurlene.”
Lyle’s brow wrinkled. “I thought Mrs. Simms’s name was Pearl.”
“It is. Lurlene is that cool old car,” Laurel replied.
“Man, that is even cooler. To have a car named Lurlene. I hope you find them okay. But maybe not too soon.”
“Son, right now it couldn’t be soon enough,” Tripp said, echoing Laurel’s unspoken sentiments. “Now I’m going to go in here and see if I can’t find anything that tells me whether or not they’re really on old Route 66 heading for Los Angeles or not. And you can go home and go to bed.”
“Will do. Say hi to Ashleigh for me when you see her.”
Laurel was surprised that Tripp stuck out his hand and shook with Lyle as if that “Richards kid” really were another man that had done him a favor. “Will do. And thanks for the news.”
He sighed as the kid went down the steps, and Tripp fumbled with the lock on Pearl’s front door. “Got it. Let’s see what we can find,” he said to Laurel.
“I don’t expect a note. Do you?” she asked him.
“No, but there are a few things I hope I don’t find. Like half of Pearl’s closet empty, or…” He broke off, swearing softly. “Or that—” he finished, pointing to the kitchen countertop.
Laurel looked toward where he was pointing, and at first what she saw didn’t register. Then she realized that she was looking at Mr. Sam’s license plates. “We’ve got a long night ahead of us, don’t we.”
“We do. And our first stop is going to be the local station house, where I hope they’ll do us the favor of running Pearl’s registration on the DMV records. I better go out back to the garage, just to make sure first. But it looks like they planned on us following them and they didn’t want to make it easy.”
A short while later the sergeant on duty who remembered Tripp, kept writing down information as Tripp and Laurel added to their story. “So let me get this straight. We’re apparently looking for four people and a cat, and they’re in a perfectly legal 1964 Cadillac convertible, except that it now has the plates to another vehicle on it. But you don’t want them arrested for stolen plates.”
“That about covers it. We just want to find them as soon as possible. The kids are with their own grandparents and there are no arrest issues there, either. As far as that goes, Pearl has technically shared custody with me for years.”
“I can run the plates, and alert Highway Patrol to give us a heads-up if anybody sees them. If you don’t want them arrested, that’s about all I can do.”
“Works for me. I just appreciate your verifying Pearl’s license number so we know what to look for. We’re in radio and phone contact with the sheriff in Friedens, and you can report through him.”
The sergeant stood up. “Will do. Sure you don’t want another cup of our wonderful coffee, for old time’s sake, Detective? Or should I say ‘Deputy’ now?”
“For the time being it’s still ‘Deputy.’ I could see it going back to ‘Detective’ if anybody will have me when this is over. This is probably more mayhem than anybody in Friedens has been involved with the entire time Hank’s been sheriff.”
“Don’t bet on it,” Laurel said to him. “I remember worse on his watch. If you want, I can tell you stories while we head toward wherever we’re heading.”
“Springfield, Missouri. I can’t imagine they’ve gotten much farther than that already.” Tripp made his goodbyes to the sergeant, and they headed back to the cruiser.
“I’ll bet you’re tired of the inside of this thing already,” Tripp said, patting the dash.
“I am. And I’m just tired, period. How are you holding up?”
“Poorly. But I have no choice but to keep going.”
Laurel thought he looked more tired than she’d ever seen him. As they headed out of the city, down Highway 44, tracing the route of the old Route 66, she silently prayed for her friend and companion. It was a while before she realized that in her mind she’d gone back to calling him Jesse.
Later, she wasn’t sure how long she’d slept on the ride. She only knew that she had been sound asleep until the washboard effect of rough pavement under their wheels jounced her awake.
“What’s going on? Where are we?” It was dark, and Tripp was leaning over the steering wheel.
“On the side of the highway. I think I dozed off a little. Sorry.” He shook his head as if to clear it. “I don’t think I can go any farther. Can you drive?”
“Not for a while. I’m hardly alert enough to unfasten my seat belt.”
“We make a fine pair, don’t we?”
His voice cracked, and Laurel thought he was near tears of desperation.
“I passed up a rest stop a few miles back, and now I’m sorry I did. Noticed a sign for a truck stop on up ahead about four miles. I’m pretty sure I can make that, but then we’re quitting for a while.”
“Fine.” Laurel was so tired she couldn’t argue. It worried her to think that the kids could be out there someplace with a driver as tired as she and Tripp were, but she couldn’t go any farther either right now. Surely if they’d gotten to that point as well, Mr. Sam would have the good sense to stop someplace.
They made it to the brightly lit parking lot of the truck stop without further incident. Laurel called Hank on the cell phone; just to make sure it still worked.
“Now, you know if I’d heard anything, I’d have called or radioed immediately. And I still will,” her father reassured her. “Keep your phone on, get some rest, and know that Gloria and I are praying for you.”
“Thanks, Dad.” She ended the call and put the phone on the dash.
Rolling the window down to let the cool night air into the car, she went around outside to where Tripp was sitting on the hood. His right fist was methodically thumping the metal, not hard enough to hurt, she knew, but hard enough to keep him awake and vent some frustration. When she stood right in front of him, she could see that there were tears in his eyes.
“I can’t do anything else. I’ve done everything I could, and it’s still not enough. Why isn’t it enough?”
The pain in his voice seared her. “I don’t know. I honestly don’t know,” she said to him, putting her arms around the wounded man. He took her embrace, almost staggered into it. “It never is enough, though. What we do alone. Tripp, I know you’re going to be even more upset when I say this, but we need to pray.”
He passed the back of one hand across his face, as if to wipe away the fatigue. “No, you’re right. I have nowhere else to turn and nothing else I can do. It’s a shame that things had to come to this, before I could admit that—but there it is. Okay, Laurel, help me do this. You helped Ashleigh, now help me.”
He took her hands down from his shoulders, and held her fingers in a trembling grip. Then he leaned his head down so they were touching foreheads, giving them as much privacy as one could get in a brightly lit stretch of asphalt such as this.
Laurel didn’t know what to say, or how to say it. She just opened her mouth and let the beginning of a prayer come out. “Heavenly Father, we’re lost. We can’t find Pearl and Mr. Sam, can’t find the kids, and have lost track, almost, of You as well…”
Tripp’s voice was surprisingly strong as he took over. “Lord, Laurel may or may not be that lost. But You know that I am. It’s been years since I’ve come to you for anything. Years since I’ve dared to admit that You are God and You are in control. Help me to be able to do that now.”
The only sounds were the traffic noises from the highway, and Laurel was aware of their breathing.
“Lord Jesus, help me surrender all my flawed and broken life to you. Take it all, for what it’s worth. And please, if you can, give me back my daughter.”
Tripp ran out of words then, and leaned into her even more heavily.
“You all right?” she asked him softly.
“I think so. Can you say ‘Amen’ to all that?”
“Amen. More than once, Amen. Now what do we do, Jesse?”
He tilted his head back and looked up at the dark sky. “Didn’t notice how many stars were out tonight until now. And I don’t know about you, but what I’m going to do now is trust in God and go to sleep. I honestly think I can now.”
Laurel watched in near amazement as he did just that. Tripp walked around to the driver’s side of the cruiser, got in, reclined the seat and relaxed. She couldn’t think of any better testimony to his newfound faith than to join him. Stretching out in the passenger seat, she was sure that she wouldn’t be able to doze off.
His fingers curled around hers where their hands lay on the seat. She could feel the faint motion of his body as he slept. She tilted her head back against the head rest, and prayed silently in thanks and praise.
When the phone on the dash shrilled, Tripp sat bolt upright and nearly hit his head on the roof of the cruiser. Laurel was even quicker than he was to snatch the phone and answer it. “Dad?” she asked in a voice that cracked.
Tripp could tell it was Hank on the other end by her expression as she listened. Focusing a little more now, he realized it was daylight. They must have slept for hours. He felt refreshed enough to go on, which seemed to be what God had in store for them, the way Laurel was chattering into the phone.
“No, Dad. That can’t be. God just wouldn’t let it happen—”
Her voice cracked again, and Tripp’s heart went with it. It was all he could do to keep from grabbing the phone and talking to Hank himself. He tried to catch Laurel’s eye. Hearing half this conversation was killing him.
“Then where are they? Does anybody know?”
She paused to listen, and Tripp mouthed tell me.
“Oh, wait. I just realized Jesse couldn’t hear any of what you’re saying. He’s probably going crazy here. Hold on.”
She put the phone down. “Okay. At first it was bad news, but it’s gotten better. The police in Springfield found the car. It had been wrecked, and the occupants taken to the hospital.”
Tripp’s heart quit beating, he was sure of it. “Are they…” He just couldn’t say any more.
“Tripp, that’s the part where it gets better. There were only two young men in their twenties in the car—local guys. Somebody obviously stole Lurlene from Mr. Sam and made off with her. Now all we have to do is figure out where that happened, and we can find our family.”