The sun told her it was late afternoon and she had to get out of the mountains before dark. She couldn't stand another night there. She hunted in the bushes outside the window where Lonny had thrown the keys, scratching her hands and face. She began to cry, tears blurring her vision as she groped around for them. The least they could have done after taking her so brutally, was find her keys. Her fingers closed over them and she heaved a sigh of relief and wiped her eyes.
Weak, aching, her mind a turmoil of doubt and near insanity, Beth managed somehow to back the camper down the road until she found a place where she could turn around. Looking down at the highway far below, she saw that it was an easy thing to get to in the daytime and she coasted down in low gear, reaching the highway near sundown and stopping, wondering which way to go.
To her right was the way to the Gans' camp. To her left… she didn't know or care. It was away from the Gans' camp and Wilma and Lonny. She spun the wheel left and took off, gunning the camper, driving hard and recklessly until she was well out of the county and it was late and she couldn't keep her eyes open and she nodded over the wheel and missed a curve and plowed into a cornfield where she was thrown from the camper and lay still.
Lucas got back from the hippy commune after dawn. Nothing was wrong up there that he could see. The hippies had given him a good breakfast and he was satisfied with their stories and drove home to find Lonny in his room, sound asleep. He grunted. Strange a boy should go camping then come home so early and go to sleep. Also, driving past the Gans' camp, he had seen nothing of the Carruthers gal's camper.
He drank some black coffee then went out to his patrol car, notifying his deputy and the answering service and deciding to make a check on the camper. He didn't have to. Ken Stillwood, his old friend and neighboring county sheriff had put her plates on call. Lucas checked with the answering service and soon had Ken on the radio.
A routine crackup. Fell asleep at the wheel and missed a turn. The camper was in good shape and the girl had only minor injuries and was in the hospital. "But," Ken's voice crackled through the radio, "otherwise, that gal is in bad shape."
Lucas dipped mike on. "I thought you said her injuries were minor?"
"I did!" Ken was a testy old guy, near retirement. "I meant that something has been going on with that gal. She's been up to something."
"Uh huh. How long is she going to be in that hospital?"
"It's going to be a couple of days before she's aloe to get up."
"Roger. Keep an eye on her, will ya? And let me know if she moves out."
"Why?" Ken asked, gruff and irritable. "What's she done?"
"Nothing, nothing that I know of."
There was a growl before Ken's voice said, "Seems to me to be a nice kid half-scared to death. There's a look in her eyes."
"Just keep an eye on her for me, Ken. Be much obliged."
"Right. See ya."
Lucas pulled out on patrol, shaking his head. It didn't make any sense and something went on he didn't know about.
He shrugged. Whatever it was, it was history now. He drove on patrol, trying to forget about the whole thing. It was all history now and he was pretty sure that Carruthers gal would keep going when she got out of the hospital. Western life being what it was, some people weren't fit for it.
He was fairly sure he would never see Beth Carruthers again. He decided to stop by at the camp and have a cup of coffee with Tina, the Latin-bombshell, and explain why he bothered her the night before.
Outside the admissions office a rented car. He got out, automatically memorizing the license plate. Rented cars were seldom seen in this part of the country. He ambled into the admissions office with his Stetson cocked low over his eyes and saw a young man talking with Tina. The man was a stranger and dressed in an eastern business suit. "Lucas!" Tina said, "Lucas theese is…"
She didn't have time to finish. The young man stepped toward him holding out his hand. "My name is Bill Travers. I'm engaged to Beth Carruthers who is a teacher and I'm 1 King for her. I understand she was here yesterday."
Chapter 7
It was by degrees that Beth came around. She was in the hospital for nearly a week. Bill was by her side constantly. He called back east and told them he had to stay, that his fiancee was seriously ill after an accident and he had to stay with her.
She seemed to be in a kind of shock or coma. She was awake, her eyes were open and they moved, watching Bill or the nurse or doctor, but she said nothing and only shook her head and turned away when food was offered.
The hospital gave her every test, x-raying her from the top of her head to the tip of her toes. Particularly her head, for the doctor feared she might have incurred some brain damage in the crash. Bill was with her every hour allowed and tried to anticipate every wish. He got her camper, saw the damage was minimal and drove it around to the hospital and parked it where she could see it when he wheeled her to the window. He thought she would be glad to see it wasn't wrecked, that the sight of the camper might snap her out of her zombie-like state.
It did, but not in the way he expected or anticipated. Her body had stiffened when he wheeled her to the window and pointed, saying, "Look, Beth, it's in fine shape. Barely a scratch on her." Slowly, as if she were moving underwater, Beth's hands went to her face and she hid her eyes and cried. She sobbed hysterically and he called the nurse who called the doctor who gave her a massive tranquilizer and she again dropped off into a restless stupor.
Bill sat with her the rest of that evening and far into the night as Beth slept and mumbled incoherently. He sat by her bed until the early morning hours until the nurse insisted he go back to the motel and get some sleep, "Else we have another patient on our hands."
Bill went home to the motel and left an early call, forcing himself awake at seven thirty in the morning and phoned the hospital. The news was unbelievable. Beth was awake and cheerful and talking and eating!
Eight minutes later Bill was charging through the hospital, six of those eight minutes having been used up driving there. He burst into Beth's room and saw her sitting up in bed, sipping tea, with color in her face and a smile on her lips. He embraced her and she threw her arms around him and pressed her body up against him. Their mouths met and she shot her tongue into his mouth and ground her body into him. Bill could feel that she was naked underneath the hospital gown and that it was open at the back, revealing the tight, rounded cheeks of her buttocks as he held her and pulled away from her kiss and looked over her shoulder.
He backed off from the embrace with Beth trying to cling to him. "Well," he said, somewhat shaken and out of breath, "you're so much better."
"Yes," she answered.
Bill tried to hide his bewilderment. He put on his best smile to hid behind, It looked like Beth, it even sounded like Beth. But, it wasn't. Those were the eyes of a stranger looking at him in such a… brazen way. And her embrace and kiss. Bill was grateful for her ardor; it had been a while since they had seen each other and she did have an accident and some kind of aftershock, but he hardly expected she would greet him so passionately, so… sexually. Even now she was looking at him with a teasing smile as her torso curled sensuously on the bed and the hospital apron was hanging loose from one shoulder and one long lovely thigh was uncovered and stretched out.
Her hand slowly stroked the thigh and her eyes were half closed as she smiled and said, "It's good to see you again, Bill."
"It's great to see you feeling better," Bill said, trying to keep his smile. Was he wrong or was she making a play for him? Had the doctor given her something that would make her act this way? Was she still in some kind of shock.
Her hand slid slowly up and down her thigh and Bill found himself staring at it. She wiggled one finger, saying, "Lock the door."