We stopped at Sheila’s house on the way to the cabin. I left him back in the Jeep as I went up and knocked on the front door with the dogs and their things. She answered a moment later.

“Thank you so much for doing this on such short notice,” I said as I passed over Eli and Wallach’s leashes to her, along with the dog food and everything else she might need.

“Girl, I’m just happy you’re okay!”

“Thanks, but I’m fine. Just taking Frost Security up on their recommendation, you know.”

“What? Sorry, I just saw your car out on the highway near your place with the tow-truck while I was on my way here to meet you. What happened?”

“Oh, yeah.” I paused, trying to think of the best way to phrase this next part. “Remember how Richard was worried things would escalate, and how he wanted to move me up to the safe house in case something happened?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, things definitely escalated. A big black pickup tried to run me off the road, but ended up just putting a hole in my oil pan. Car’s screwed for right now, but I’m safe.”

“Thank God,” she said, her hand over her mouth in horror. Her tone changed abruptly, though, to a decidedly more lascivious one. “Wait, so you’re going to a safe house?” she asked, eyebrows raised. “With Richard? Alone?”

“Oh, shut up, Sheila,” I groaned.

“Where’s it at, huh? Up in the woods somewhere? Huh, huh?”

“Sheila,” I hissed. “It’s not like that.”

“Nice, secluded spot somewhere north of town, where no one can hear either of you scream all night long?”

I laughed at her innuendo despite myself. “You know it’s not like that! He’s a professional, Sheila, and that’s why I hired him.”

“Oh, I know how guys are, girl. Especially when they’re in front of a roaring fireplace on a cool evening, with the nearest neighbor miles away. All that professionalism goes right out the window, baby.”

“Oh, shut up,” I groaned. “You’re making this into something else entirely, and you know it.”

My phone rang and my heart jumped. I took it from my back pocket and glanced at the screen. It was just Karen calling. I was tempted to pick up the phone, just to tell her I was fine, but didn’t want to have to start spinning another web of lies. And, with Karen, I’d have to with as big of a gossip as she was.

“This is all we need for the dogs, right?” Sheila asked. “I just want to make sure I don’t need to swing out and grab anything before any of the shops close, or go by your place.” Sheila was the only person I’d exchanged spare keys with, other than the landlord of course, and she dog sat for me on the few occasions I had to travel out of Enchanted Rock on business or pleasure. It was the same for me and her houseplants. Admittedly, I did a lot more watering for her than she did dog sitting for me, but I didn’t mind.

“Nope, you should be good.”

She started to say something, but stopped mid-word as her phone began to ring. She rolled her eyes and showed me the phone’s screen. Karen Ray.

I winced a little.“Wait, hold on. Sheila, I need you to lie to Karen about what happened. She came by the house last night while Richard was there, and I lied and said he was a friend.”

“You lied to her?” she asked, her interest intensifying. “Why?”

“I don’t know,” I groaned. “I just did. She probably saw my car and wants to know what happened. Tell her I’m fine, that I hit a rock in the road or something, okay? That you talked to me a little while ago.”

She laughed. “She’s just going to call you back.”

Crap, she was right. I bit my thumbnail and chewed away at it. “Well, I think I’ll be out of reception. Just, whatever you do, please don’t tell her what’s going on.”

My best friend giggled again. “I still don’t see why you don’t tell her yourself. She’s going to figure it out eventually.”

“Oh,” I said, sighing, “I know. I just don’t want all of the Rock to find out before I come back to town.”

“Okay, okay,” Sheila relented. “I’ll call her back when I get the pups settled in. What do you want me to tell her about why you’re missing?”

“Um,” I thought out loud, “tell her I’m on an unexpected trip with my friend Richard. That’s kind of true.” I sighed. “Isn’t it?”

“Your devious wish,” she said, chuckling, “is my command, mistress.”

“Oh, shut up.” I bit my thumb again. “One other thing. Can you put a sign in the Gallery window, a nice printed one saying that I’ll be back on Monday? That should give me enough time to get this all figured out.”

“Yeah,” she said, “absolutely. I can do that. What else?”

I checked off a mental list of all the things that still needed to be done, things I may have missed. I came up empty, though. “I think that’s it,” I said finally. “If I can think of anything else–”

“You’ll be out of area,” she finished with a laugh, “and you won’t be able to call me anyways.”

I laughed. “Yeah,” I said, “I guess so.”

“You know,” Sheila said, “I do want to say one thing before you go, to just level with you real quick.”

“Yeah?” I asked as I reached down and scratched behind Wallach’s ears. “What’s up?”

“You’re taking this really well. The turtle–”

“Tortoise,” I corrected.

“The tortoise, the bikers, the truck. All this. I’m kind of surprised.”

I looked back over my shoulder at the Jeep, at Richard on the phone with the other personnel of his security office. Just seeing him like that, with his proud bearing, his defined muscles, that strong, square jaw, and the way his eyes took in his surroundings even while doing something as simple as speaking on the phone…it just filled me with a sense of safety. Like I knew, despite what had happened earlier on the highway, he’d protect me to his dying breath. And that, somehow, made this slightly okay. It made the whole experience a spot of bad weather in the entirety of my life, instead of the totality of my existence that it could have become.

“Yeah, girl,” I admitted to Sheila. “Believe me, I’m surprised too.”

“Well, be careful out there,” she said. “I’ll see you Monday!”

“I will,” I promised before we both hugged and I turned to leave.

Both Eli and Wallach whined pathetically as I left, tearing my heart in two. I didn’t want to leave them, but Richard had convinced me this was just easier.

“Ready?” he asked as I climbed back into the Jeep..

I nodded. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

We hit the road. As we pulled out of the Rock and headed north, further into the mountains, I found myself looking forward to the next few days. I mean, I didn’t necessarily want to be in hiding from a murderous bunch of psychos who’d been stalking me for the last couple weeks and leaving threatening messages on my voicemail. But, and this was a really big but, if I had to be in hiding anyways, a cabin retreat with Richard, alone, high up in the Rockies was almost like a mini vacation.

If I looked at it that way, this almost approached acceptable.

An hour or so outside the Rock, just as we were passing an old trading post-style gas station and turning to head off towards the safe house, my phone began to ring. I pulled it out and looked at the number I didn’t recognize.

“Another call?” Richard asked.

I nodded, sighing. “Another call.”

“Answer it,” he said.

I groaned, but still picked up the call and pressed the phone to my ear. “Jessica Long,” I said warily.

“Take the deal, Jessica,” said the modulated voice. “Get out of the Rock. Take the deal.” Something about the voice this time seemed off, though. Like, maybe, they were using a different program to filter it?

“Know what?” I said in a moment of anger. “Screw you.” I hung up the phone, pressing the button furiously, and tossed it back in my purse.

I was sick of this. And more than ready for it to be over.