Page 110 of The Hitchhikers
Jenny didn’t like this swagger. She’d thought it was an act when Simon had been like that in front of Alice and Tom. Just a way to keep them scared. This man was unconscious. Simon didn’t need to gloat. He was moving around the room. Going through the man’s luggage, taking shirts, tucking them under his arm, and sniffing his cologne. He made a face and dropped it into the suitcase. He found the man’s jewelry samples in a leather case and rifled through them.
“I can’t tell if any of this is real.”
She didn’t say anything, but Simon obviously wasn’t waiting for her opinion. He was already taking the case and picking up keys and a pack of smokes off the table.
“Let’s go.”
He opened the door and looked in both directions, before hanging theDO NOT DISTURBsign on the handle. He gestured at Jenny. “Okay. Come on.”
They both traveled behind the teepees this time until they made it back to their own. Jenny sat at the desk while Simon shoved everything he’d taken from the man into one of the pillowcases, including the jewelry samples. He hid the now-empty leather case under the bed.
Alice was looking back and forth between their faces. She was trying to seem strong, her chin out, eyes angry, but Jenny knew her expressions by now.
Alice was scared. So was Jenny.
She’d seen Simon beat a man. She hadn’t stopped him. She’d stood there, frozen. As if she was watching a movie. Alice hadsaid that not stopping something was as bad as doing it. Jenny felt those words in her stomach.
Simon untied Alice and tucked the twine into his backpack. He pointed in her face. “We’re almost there. Don’t do anything to screw it up.”
Alice sat on the edge of the bed, massaging her shoulder, then stood and stretched her back with a wince. She looked at Jenny, but Jenny couldn’t meet her eyes.
Simon swung his pack over his shoulder and picked up the heaviest pillowcase—the one he’d loaded with the jewelry. Jenny did the same with her pack and the other pillowcase.
Simon grabbed Alice’s wrist with his free hand and pulled her to the door, where he took a moment to look around, before walking outside with her. Jenny stayed close on their heels.
When they reached the Buick, Simon flipped through the keys he’d taken from the salesman. Jenny looked around. The parking lot was quiet. No sign of maids or other guests.
Simon unlocked the back door. “Jenny, go.”
She slid inside, the velvet bench seat soft against her bare legs. She shrugged her pack off her shoulder. Simon tossed his pack and the pillowcase onto the seat beside her.
The passenger door was opening. Simon pushed Alice in first, shoving her over until she was sitting in front of the steering wheel. He dropped in beside her and pulled the door closed. It was heavy and made a loud sound. She looked around. No one seemed to have noticed.
“Start the damn car and get us out of here.”
CHAPTER 39ALICE
The Buick had more power than Alice expected, and she accidentally pressed them all back against their seats as she accelerated out of the motel parking lot, the bumper bouncing against the pavement. When they reached the highway, the big car floated all over the road.
It took Alice miles before she stopped gripping the steering wheel, her back rigid, but she still wasn’t comfortable. She hadn’t had a chance to adjust the side mirrors or the seat, and she had to sit forward like a child to reach the pedals. At least the car was an automatic.
The interior smelled of cologne and cigarettes, the ashtray full. The bench seats were covered in red velvet, matching the red dashboard, door panels, steering wheel, and carpeted floorboards. A pair of black-and-white felt dice hung from the rearview mirror and slowly swung back and forth. Alice didn’t know exactly what Simon had done to the man who owned the Buick, but she hoped his fate hadn’t been as brutal as it had been for the man at the church.
Alice looked up at Jenny in the back. Her face was pale, her eyes blank. In the passenger’s seat, Simon was smoking cigarettes with the same-colored butts as the ones in the ashtray.
The car had a full tank of gas, but they stopped at a gasstation ten minutes later in the town of Bellevue, where Jenny got everyone coffees. Donuts too. Sugary powder fell onto Simon’s bare legs. Only a couple of feet away from hers. Alice despised this forced intimacy.
In the hours that Alice had been stuck in a motel room with Simon and Jenny, she’d done a lot of thinking. She was ready to risk everything. She wasn’t going to spend one more minute helping them get away and ruining lives. She’d tried to get through to Jenny, but that had failed.
The land beside the highway was mostly forested, but through gaps in the trees she’d seen train tracks running parallel. If she could get to them, she could run back to the last town. Simon wouldn’t bother chasing her. It would waste time. They’d take the car and leave.
When Alice thought that they’d driven enough miles since they’d drunk their coffees to explain her sudden need to stop, she said, “I have to go to the bathroom.”
Simon shot her a look, the dark circles under his eyes more prominent. She wondered if he’d slept at all the night before. She’d slept, but restless, and each time she’d woken up, he was standing by the window, a dark shadow smoking a cigarette, just like he was now.
“No. You had a chance in the hotel room.”
“I drank a large coffee since then.”
