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“I really have to go. We don’t have anything in the house to eat. I like to cook, so I want to make a trip to the grocery store. Maybe I can invite you and your husband over to my house for dinner next week. How does that sound?”

“That sounds lovely.”

By the time I was walking down her porch steps, I could swear I heard her on the phone. I would bet anything she was calling her mama or grandmother to tell them about Beau.

4

There wasn’t a lot to choose from when it came to a place to crash. I could pay an exorbitant rate at the Whispering Pines Inn or I could stay at the LeeHy motel. I chose the LeeHy motel. It was on the outskirts of Jasper Creek, next to the trailer park. When I passed Blue Ash Village Trailer Park, it didn’t look so bad. Especially compared to some of the refugee camps I’d seen in the Middle East and Africa.

I pulled into the LeeHy and found a young kid behind the reception desk picking his nose with one hand and swiping left with his other hand. He looked to be about fourteen, by the way he slouched behind the counter and didn’t bother to look up when I came in through the door.

“I’d like to book a room,” I said.

“Yeah, by the hour or by the night?” At least he stopped mining for nose nuggets. Instead, he used two hands to handle his phone.

“By the night. I don’t know how long I’ll be, at least three nights.”

“I’m going to need a major credit card, but there’s a discount if you pay in cash.” He did look up at me when he mentioned cash.

I was pretty sure I knew whose pocket the cash would go into. I really didn’t want him to get rewarded for doing nothing, but I didn’t want him touching my card. Plus, I thought it was highly likely he’d be selling my credit card info to a buddy before the night was over.

“How much?”

He told me, and I slid the exact amount over to him.

The kid gave me a shifty look.

“If you want towels, that’s going to be extra.”

Lovely.

“How much?”

“Six dollars.”

I only had twenties. I spied the towels behind him on a shelf. I walked behind the desk and pulled a pile of towels and gave him a twenty.

“How much for a clean room?”

He gave me a confused look, and I sighed.

The Whispering Pines Inn was sounding better and better.

He handed over the card key for the room, which I had no choice but to take from him. I knew I’d dealt with far worse in the field, but goddammit, I was in America. I really didn’t think I should have to put up with this crap. I wiped the card off on one of the towels and handed the towel back to him. He started to say something, but my expression stopped him.

Good.

I picked up my extremely light duffel bag and hitched up my backpack as I tuned out his explanation of how I would find room 201. I was already figuring out my next move for tomorrow. First thing? Figure out where Grady Beaumont lived. But I needed a clear head before I found my potential brother.

When I opened the door to my room, I sighed. It was a shambles. I walked back down to visit with Derek. Eventually he figured out that room 205 had been cleaned, so he gave me that key. I got more towels, wiped off the key card again, and left the hand towel with him.

As I walked to the room, I figured I had a fifty-fifty chance of him being right about the room being clean. I sure as hell hoped he was, because my shoulder was killing me and I needed to take something for the pain.

I was pleasantly surprised when I opened the door and found a clean room that even smelled nice. I saw that there was a fresh carnation in a vase on the small table in the corner of the room. Somebody obviously took their job seriously. I was impressed.

I locked the door, then saw that the chain lock was busted and sighed. Of course it was busted. I dumped my duffel and backpack on the second double bed and headed for the shower and was soon happily under a hot spray with better water pressure than I’d expected.

After I got done, I put on a fresh set of clothes and booted up my laptop. It was one of the few things that had kept me sane at Walter Reed.