within minutes left Ardsley Park.
They traveled east on I-20, went through Augusta and exited off US 25 North going toward Newberry, but they left the main highway after less than fifteen miles. Derek had spent most of the trip reading aloud the reports that Barbara Jean had sent via e-mail attachments and they had discussed the information. A strong wind had blown in from the south, rocking the SUV and forecasting an oncoming storm. Keeping control of the Equinox, Maleah followed the road signs that led them straight to Apple Orchard, an unincorporated town in Edgefield County. Maleah had traveled around the U.S. and definitely throughout the South enough to recognize the signs of a dying small town. Apparently, the only remaining business was the mini-mart / gas station up ahead. To her left, the rusted hull of an old cotton gin near the railroad tracks rose into the eerily golden twilight sky like the giant carcass of an ancient beast. On the opposite side of the road, a centuries-old clapboard church stood vacant. Half the windows were broken and one of the double front doors, hanging precariously by a single hinge, thumped rhythmically in the wind.
They hadn’t met a single vehicle in the past five minutes and she didn’t see even one human being anywhere.
Derek hummed the theme from the old
“Will you shut up,” Maleah snapped at him as she slowed the SUV and turned off into the mini-mart parking lot. “Apparently there are very few street signs around here. We’ll probably have to go in and ask directions.”
“Actually, there are very few streets around here.” Derek grinned.
Did he always have to have a smartass comeback? Okay, she knew that wasn’t true. She was tired, frustrated, and hungry, but she shouldn’t take it out on Derek. And yes, if she had driven through a fast-food place on the way here from Macon, as he had suggested, she wouldn’t be hungry.
Why was she having so much difficulty accepting the fact that she didn’t have to fight Derek for control? He was her partner, a co-worker she had learned to respect, and a man she was beginning to actually like. He deserved better from her.
Derek cleared his throat. “Want me to go in and ask directions or would you prefer to do it?”
“Why don’t we both go in,” Maleah replied. “I need to use the bathroom and I wouldn’t mind picking up something to eat. Maybe a pack of crackers and a Dr Pepper.”
She halfway expected him to mention his earlier suggestion about fast food, but he didn’t. Instead, he got out, came around to her side of the SUV and walked alongside her toward the mini-mart. In the early days of their working relationship, he had acted like a real gentleman, but after she’d bitten his head off a few times, he had backed off. Occasionally, he still did little things like opening a door for her, and she had stopped reprimanding him for his good manners. She appreciated that a lot of men still treated a lady like a lady, but with Derek, she had seen it as condescension. But she had been wrong. So wrong. Derek didn’t look down on her for being female or consider her a member of the weaker sex.
When they entered the Apple Orchard mini-mart, Maleah noted that the place was all but deserted. Odd, considering this was a Friday night. But then, the population might top out at less than a hundred people. Maleah spotted the bathroom and made a beeline in that direction while Derek meandered along at the back of the store where the giant coolers were located.
A few minutes later when Maleah and Derek approached the checkout, the young, bubble gum smacking clerk eyed them suspiciously. “Can I help you folks?”
“We’re from out of town.” Derek grinned at the girl, whose chin-length, dark brown hair was streaked with purple highlights. “We’re looking for someone. We have her address and were hoping you could help us out with directions.”
The plump, pug-faced clerk sported a shiny gold nose ring and a band of script tattoos circled each bicep revealed by her skimpy yellow tank top. A row of belly fat protruded between the end of the top and the waistband of her low-riding jeans. “Who you folks looking for?”
Derek smiled. Few women could resist his charm. “We’re looking for my girlfriend’s cousin.” He glanced at Maleah to indicate she was the girlfriend. “Blondie hasn’t seen her cousin since they were kids, but since we were on our way up to Columbia, another cousin suggested we look her up.”
The girl smiled when Derek leaned over the counter and looked right at her. “You know a woman named Jeri Paulk? That’s my girlfriend’s cousin.” Not taking his eyes off the clerk, he called to Maleah, who had gone in search of a canned cola. “Honey, what’s that address your cousin Barbara Jean gave you for Jeri?”
“I know where Jeri lives,” the girl said. “It ain’t half a mile from here.” She practically drooled while licking her lips, all the while looking as if she could swallow Derek whole.
Maleah scanned the refrigerated coolers across the back of the store, searching for a Dr Pepper while listening to the girl.
“Y’all remember passing an old church right before you got here?”
“Yes,” Derek replied.
“Just go back and turn off on the road by the church. Jeri lives down the road a piece. You can’t miss it. She painted the place bright blue last year. I told her that I’d bet the astronauts could see her place from outer space.”
“Sure do thank you for your help,” Derek said. “Honey, you got our colas and crackers?”
Maleah removed two canned Dr Peppers from the giant coolers and then grabbed a couple of packs of peanut butter and crackers off the shelves on her way back to the checkout counter.
After laying her items down, she said, “Yeah, thanks for helping us out. I sure am looking forward to seeing Jeri again after all these years.”
“Sure, no problem.” The girl rang up their order.
Maleah waited for Derek to pay for the items, then picked them up and headed out of the store. Halfway to the SUV, she handed him one of the colas and a pack of crackers.
“Thanks.”
“Thank you,” she replied. “That was a lot easier than I thought it would be. You practically had that girl eating out of your hand.”
Derek chuckled. “What can I say, the ladies like me.”
She punched him in the arm playfully and they both laughed.
They sat in the mini-mart parking lot long enough to devour the crackers and finish off part of their canned colas. Maleah started the SUV and went back the way they had come into Apple Orchard. She turned at the old church and headed down the narrow paved road that twisted and turned, carrying them farther and farther away from civilization. It was past sunset and darkness was fast approaching. Without lights along the road, Maleah had to rely totally on the Equinox’s headlights to guide them. Just as Miss Purple-streaked-hair had told them, the bright blue house came into view less than half a mile from the mini-mart. Even in the encroaching gloom of nightfall, the small wooden house was visible. An older model Chevy truck and a late model Ford Mustang were parked in the gravel drive. Maleah pulled in behind the Mustang.
“So, what do we say to Jeri Paulk? Do we tell her why we’re looking for her sister Cindy or do we make up some lie like we did back at the mini-mart?” Maleah asked.
“I suggest we play it by ear,” Derek told her. “Let’s see what kind of reception we get. If you’re agreeable, let me take the lead and you just follow along with whatever I say. Can you do that?”
“Of course, I can.”
They got out of the SUV and walked toward the porch. As they drew closer Maleah noticed the broken recliner, the vinyl ripped and the padding showing through, sitting beside two metal lawn chairs on the right side of the porch. Suddenly a dog reared his head up off the floor on the other side of the porch and barked. Maleah jumped. Derek cursed.
The dog kept barking, but didn’t move toward them. The porch light came on and the front door flew open. A bear of a man wearing overalls and no shirt and carrying a shotgun in his meaty hand stood in the doorway. Behind his massive frame, a TV screen flashed and the sound of recorded laughter drifted outside.
“Get the hell off my property,” the man yelled. “I know why you’re here and you ain’t welcome.”
Maleah opened her mouth to respond, but before she could utter the first word, the man aimed the shotgun
