*
The detectives stopped by a roadside café for a break. The air was becoming increasingly bitter as they headed north towards the mid-west, hoping that a fresh piping hot coffee would shift their shivers.
The café itself was encased in a steel can which was once a Greyhound bus. It sat in the courtyard of a gas station. Next door, a Sleep Tight Hotel gave refuge to those exhausted from the long drive down the interstate. Vanessa gagged as she spotted the chain’s logo, suddenly reminded of a previous trip where she had forced to stay in a flee-ridden bedroom with a blocked toilet on a bachelorette party.
They ran into the café with their coats over their heads for cover. Inside it was made up of a chequered lino floor and a pastel blue counter with red stools lining the bar. White booths surrounding plastic tables were in place of the original bus-seats. A jukebox played The Monkees and signed black-and-white headshots of celebrities covered the walls.
‘Do you reckon these celebrities actually visited here?’ Darnell enquired.
‘No way, you can buy those headshots on eBay.’
Darnell bought the drinks while Vanessa mapped out their route home on her electronic tablet, calculating to see how many more hours she’d have to endure her colleague. Darnell returned with their order and shook his head as he caught a glimpse at her device.
‘What’s wrong with a good ol’ Triple A map-book?’
‘I’m using Triple A, it’s all on here these days.’ She turned the device around and showed him the application which she was using.
‘It would make an excellent table mat,’ Darnell smirked but his mockery towards her technology was ignored. ‘Anyway where’s it suggesting we go next, as by my reckoning we should take i-74. Unless you want to give us a tour of the Indiana suburbs?’
‘I wasn’t just looking for the directions home, I know where I’m going. I was seeing how long it would’ve taken Lincoln to travel the distance we have. It’s taken us three hours, it would have taken Abe three days, and that’s if he didn’t stop!’
‘It’s amazing how far we’ve come.’ Darnell slurped his filter coffee while casting a judgemental stare towards his millennial colleague’s latte. ‘How’s your warm milk?’
‘It’s delicious, thanks. Hey, we’re only a short drive away from Evansville, where Lincoln lived before coming to Springfield. We could check it out.’
‘What benefit would that be to us?’ Darnell shrugged his shoulders.
‘Well the body snatcher is clearly trying to direct us to Lincoln’s past. Who knows what we might find there. But it might give us some more clues. Maybe he’s visited there.’
Vanessa passed her colleague the device. He squinted, attempting to take in the details.
‘I can’t tell what the hell this is, don’t you have a laptop you can use?’ He passed the device back to Vanessa who used her fingers to zoom into the highlighted passage.
‘It’s the Lincoln Boyhood National Park. As you can see on the directions, it’s only half an hour away.’ The detective nodded before looking outside towards the greying sky.
‘It’s getting dark out there and it’ll be closing soon. I’m sure if anything comes up there they’ll let us know. It won’t take us long to get over here from Springfield if our little friend does decide to make a visit.’
‘Come on, then let’s go home. We can take these to go.’
They transferred their liquids into cardboard containers and waved off the staff as they departed the café. Returning to the car, Darnell stepped into the driver’s seat and put his key in the ignition. Vanessa closed the passenger door just as the rain started a second downpour from a black cloud above. The engine moaned before dying out. Darnell twisted his key a second time, but it made the same noise. A third attempt forced the car to shiver as the engine strained.
‘I think we’ve broken down.’
‘Then call Triple A,’ Vanessa said as she applied her lipstick in the mirror.
‘I’m not a member.’ He made a fist and punched the air, furious with his own thriftiness. ‘I cancelled when we bought the Mercedes. It’s only a year old. I didn’t expect it to break down so soon.’
‘Well isn’t that great.’ She sighed and glanced around the car-park. ‘Look there’s a garage there, see if they’ll take a look at it for you.’
‘Good spot.’
Darnell lifted himself out of his car and ran over to the garage, using a day-old newspaper to shield himself from the downpour. Outside the garage, two men in blue overalls stood covered in oil and smoking cigarettes. A balding man had Manager stamped across his breast while his apprentice had a black mullet and missing teeth.
‘Guys, could you have a quick look at my car, it’s not starting.’
‘Sorry, dude, we’re closing up. It will be tomorrow before we can look at it.’ The manager offered a sympathetic smile before blowing smoke in the detective’s direction.
‘Come on, surely you can have a quick look. We’re stuck here and we need to get back to Illinois.’
‘No can do, I’m afraid. The wife will kill me if I was late and I have to give him a ride home too. Leave it out here, we’ll take a look at it in the morning for you, first thing.’ They threw their butts on the floor, stubbed out the smoke and walked back into the garage, closing the shutters behind them.
‘How are we going to get home?’ Vanessa shouted through the window, looking nervously at the increasing downpour.
‘I don’t know. I guess we could stay there until the morning.’ He nodded towards the Sleep Tight Hotel.
The reception area wasn’t as awful as Vanessa had imagined. It had been recently renovated and still had the aroma of fresh paint. The red carpets had a youthful spring in them and the
