When she was done, the towel went out the window. Leaving the window down, Jo Ann picked Ryan up. “I should throw you out, but you are too cute,” Jo Ann said and then blew a raspberry on Ryan’s stomach, making him squeal.
Trying to keep her mind on the task of keeping alert, Wendy couldn’t help but feel excited about being so close to home. “This is the Arkansas River, girls,” Wendy told them. “That is the town of Ozark on the other side. Arthur and I bought some of our pigs there.”
Crossing the bridge, the girls did glance at the water but turned, scanning around them. Reaching the other side, Wendy turned onto another road and everyone saw a man as he got out of a truck that was parked. With a pistol on his waist, the man put his hand on it as they drove past and then turned and headed inside a house.
“That man doesn’t live there,” Wendy told them. “The family that lives there buys quilts from me.”
“We can come back later,” Sally suggested.
“Nah, I’m sending Arthur,” Wendy chuckled as they drove out of town.
Driving over Interstate 40, Wendy slowed on the overpass and looked to the east at a vehicle that had been blown up. “Did they have a war here?” Sally asked.
“I hope not, that’s a Stryker,” Wendy mumbled, easing the pedal down.
When the GPS told them to turn and Wendy didn’t, Sally looked up as Wendy turned the GPS off. “I know where we are. I told the GPS to take us to Clarksville. In case we had to leave the Tahoe, I didn’t want anyone to know where we were going,” Wendy explained.
They rode on as the girls felt the excitement building and tried to keep an eye out. Then they felt Wendy slow and stop in front of a house. Sally looked at the mailbox. “Alicia Sutton, is this the Alicia that was with you on the ship?” Sally asked.
“Yeah, I was hoping she would be home, since she got off the ship a week before I did,” Wendy said and then gave a long sigh. Turning around, Wendy left the dark house and continued on. The twins could tell Wendy knew where she was. The way Wendy turned from one dirt road to another and would weave around unseen bumps.
When she turned on a dirt road that headed for hills to the north, both girls felt like they were about to explode as trees closed in on both sides of the road.
“You really do live way out,” Jo Ann said from the backseat with Noah and Ryan in her lap.
“Yeah, it took us forty-five minutes just to run to the closest real store, just over twenty minutes for a gas station,” Wendy told them. “But I love it out here.”
Rolling along the dirt road, the twins noticed a creek that ran along the side of the road. Coming around a curve, Wendy tapped the brakes and came to a stop. Sally saw her staring at a yellow sign that said, ‘Dead End’. “What?” Sally asked.
“That sign has never been there,” Wendy admitted, taking her foot off the brake and letting the Tahoe roll away under the idle. “This road leads into the valley,” Wendy mumbled, trying to figure it out.
Not able to help, the girls just looked around at the thick trees and saw several deer. Driving for another few miles, they rounded a curve and saw a house on the left side of the road. “What the hell?!” Wendy shouted and stomped the brakes.
The road ahead stopped in front of the house and dark green grass seemed to form a road, but a fence ran across it. “Hey, those are water sprinklers,” Sally said and then everyone noticed the half dozen water sprinklers watering the dark grass and trees.
“Are you sure you didn’t miss a turn?” Jo Ann asked. “There are trees over there behind the fence. Not big ones, but trees older than I am.”
Waving her hand at the house, “That’s the Kercher house. They go to our church,” Wendy cried out. “See that dark grass, that’s where the road was.”
“Um, there’s a tree in the dark grass past the fence,” Sally said, pointing ahead.
Looking around, Wendy saw a trailer near the creek that had solar panels and water hoses running to it. Turning, she saw the dirt track that led to the dilapidated barn. “I’ll drive through the damn field,” Wendy growled, stomping on the gas.
Driving past the dilapidated barn, the girls saw the track they were on continued past the barn and ended at a dirt road. Wendy stopped and looked back and saw someone had plowed up the road for a quarter of a mile, but the last few hundred yards only had small grass stems sticking out of the dirt.
“I knew I was on the right road,” Wendy sighed with relief and turned back onto the dirt road that had disappeared.
When she reached Ted and Tammy’s, Wendy gave a soft sob remembering sweet little Nicole and then saw two graves beside the house. “I bet Arthur did that,” Wendy mumbled, taking her foot off the brake.
Looking ahead, Wendy’s mouth fell open and her foot just slipped off the accelerator as she looked at Jack and Starlie’s farm. “Holy crap, they must be rich! Look at all the stuff they have!” Sally cried out, rolling down her window.
Vehicles were parked in rows and most were new. “This isn’t theirs,” Wendy mumbled, looking around and finding it hard to believe this was the same valley she’d lived in.
Turning away from Jack’s farm, Wendy saw the business house and there
