Road Trip (4 page)

“Well, we managed to get off smoothly,” she said.

She heard Kate giggle from the front seat. “That’s because you missed all the action.”

“Action?” Annie echoed and even Stella looked up with eyebrows raised.

“Oh, we don’t need to talk about that,” Mary Beth said quickly. “We should talk about the convention. Annie, do you have your speech all ready?”

Before Annie could answer, Stella cleared her throat and leaned forward in her seat. “Now you must tell us what happened,” Stella said. “You cannot simply drop something like that without an explanation.”

“Mary Beth set off the car alarm,” Kate said, ducking as Mary Beth playfully reached over to poke her. “I guess she wanted everyone in Stony Point to be aware we were leaving. I’m surprised you didn’t hear it as you were driving in.”

“It’s not that loud,” Mary Beth said sternly.

“Right,” Kate said, giggling again. “I’m sure only the folks in a six- or seven-block radius heard it.”

“The alarm system is new,” Mary Beth said, “and it comes with a crazy keypad next to the front door locks and a remote control. They only finished putting it in yesterday. I’m not really used to it yet.”

“I imagine those things can be tricky,” Annie offered. Ian had suggested she get a car alarm since her car had been broken into once or twice as a result of some of the mysteries that always seemed to pop up in Stony Point. Still, Annie couldn’t imagine wanting an alarm for her car. She was sure she’d be annoying Alice with it all the time.

“I find them quite obnoxious,” Stella said. “When we lived in the city, we often had dinners out disturbed by the horrible sound of someone’s car alarm. Though I do have an alarm system for the house. We’d always had one in New York.”

“It’s probably harder to set one of those off accidentally,” Annie said.

“Well, not really,” Stella admitted. “But at least it doesn’t bother the neighbors. And it was always gratifying to see how quickly the police responded to the alarm company.”

“Normally, I wouldn’t want an alarm for the car,” Mary Beth said. “I shipped most of the items for Betsy’s display, but we’re still carrying some of them. And we’ll need to carry almost everything on the way back—or at least as much as we can cram in. We may all be sitting on our luggage on the way back. At any rate, I didn’t want to risk Betsy’s work. As we know, Betsy Originals sell for a lot of money these days. Someone could definitely find them tempting.”

“That’s very thoughtful of you,” Annie said. “But it’s not like we’re advertising them on the side of the SUV. I expect we’ll be fine. Still, it’s nice that you wanted to keep Gram’s things safe.”

“You certainly won’t have trouble telling if someone tries to break into the car,” Kate said. “I nearly jumped out of my skin when the alarm went off.”

Mary Beth just shook her head. “Can we talk about something else?”

“Perhaps we could listen to some music?” Stella suggested. “I always find that very soothing as I knit.”

Mary Beth plugged her MP3 player into a dock in the car, and soon they were listening to an interesting mix of music that ranged from Broadway show tunes to classic rock’n’roll. Though Stella sometimes raised an eyebrow, she didn’t comment on any of Mary Beth’s song choices.

5

Annie was amazed at how quickly they zipped from state to state through New England. She had noticed it when she was a youngster and her parents first took her from Texas to Maine, but it was much more apparent now as an adult. The states all seemed so tiny as they drove from Maine through New Hampshire and into Massachusetts before they even stopped for breakfast!

As the hours blurred, Annie tried to decide if she liked driving better or riding. The nice thing about riding was that she didn’t have to watch the road. So if they passed anything interesting, she could look at it without worrying about wrecking the car. She loved the sight of the flowering crab apples and pear trees along the road. She spotted a huge hawk perched in one tree, clearly visible since the spring leaves were only beginning to unfurl.

Still, a long car ride along interstate highways simply didn’t offer that many opportunities for sightseeing. Mostly she saw trees that began to look alike after a while, and lots and lots of cars. She tried crocheting, but she kept nodding off and losing her place. During one unexpected nap, she even drooled. She looked around in horror as she wiped the corner of the mouth, but no one had noticed—or at least they pretended they hadn’t. After that, she stayed a little more alert just from nervous fear of drooling again.

She almost cheered when they were driving into Pennsylvania, and Stella finally said, “Will we be stopping for the night soon? I’m feeling a bit stiff.”

“I was just thinking we should stop somewhere in Pennsylvania,” Mary Beth said. “I’ve stayed in Carlisle before. I seem to remember it having several decent hotels and restaurants. It’s another two or three hours though.”

“I think I can wait that long,” Kate said as she stretched in her seat, “but I’ll be happy to get out of the car too.”

“Me too,” Annie admitted. “I think road trips were a little easier when I was about ten years younger.”

Kate grinned at her. “Well, we could play Truth or Dare. Wouldn’t that be a flashback to high school?”

“But not a pleasant one,” Annie said shaking her head. “And I don’t even want to think about the dares you and Mary Beth might think up.”

The resulting laughter and chatter about all the different things they experienced in high school carried them though the next two and a half hours surprisingly well. Still, the laughing changed to cheers when Mary Beth finally turned off onto an exit and left the interstate. They quickly chose a hotel with an attached restaurant. They all liked the idea of a comfortable meal and a chance to unwind before settling into their hotel rooms.

They each grabbed a bag and headed into the hotel’s small, warmly decorated lobby. The young hotel clerk was friendly and efficient so registering went smoothly. Mary Beth and Kate were sharing a room to cut costs. Stella definitely wanted a room of her own, so Mary Beth and Kate offered to let Annie bunk in with them.

“That’s OK,” Annie said. “I’ll sleep better on my own, I think. I’ll splurge.”

The hotel was able to give them three rooms in a row on the same floor. They went upstairs long enough to freshen up and dump their luggage, and then they met back in the lobby to head into the restaurant as a group.

The lights in the restaurant were a little dimmer than Annie preferred, so she was glad when she made it to the table without bumping another diner or stumbling. Once they were seated, Stella gave voice to Annie’s own feelings.

“I don’t understand dark restaurants,” Stella said with a sniff. “Personally, I like to be able to see the menu, see my food, and see if they keep the place decently clean.”

“Plus, it’s hard to people watch in the dark,” Mary Beth said, peering around the restaurant. “That’s my favorite part of eating out in Stony Point.”

Annie knew Mary Beth loved keeping up with the Stony Point gossip. Between her and Peggy, the Hook and Needle Club stayed on top of nearly everything that happened. Still, Mary Beth did it with such cheerful good humor, it was hard to get angry with her.

“Don’t look now, but there’s a man at the little booth near the restrooms who keeps staring at our table,” Mary Beth whispered.

Naturally, the other three women all turned to look and caught sight of a young man with a three-day growth of beard looking their way. As soon as he caught them looking, he ducked his head. Annie noticed the man wasn’t alone at the table, but they couldn’t see much about the other man because of the high backs on the booth seats. The top of the man’s bald head barely showed over the seat.

“Maybe one of us reminded him of someone,” Kate said, turning her attention back to her menu.

“Still,” Stella said, “staring is so rude.”

Annie smiled. “We did all turn and stare back.”

Stella glared at her a moment, and then turned her attention to her menu. “That’s not the same thing at all,” she murmured. “We gave them a quick look. But Mary Beth said he was actively staring at us.”

Annie knew better than to comment any more on the subject, so she just turned to her own menu. Just then Mary Beth’s cellphone rang.

“I’m so sorry,” Mary Beth said, fishing in her purse for the phone. When she looked at the screen, she apologized again. “I have to take this one.”

Stella gave Mary Beth a disapproving frown, but didn’t scold.

As she studied her menu, Annie couldn’t help overhearing Mary Beth’s side of the conversation. The caller was from the Golden Needle Company and wanted to talk about Betsy’s display. Mary Beth explained how the larger items for the display had been shipped ahead and should be at the convention center, while they were carrying some smaller things themselves. She described the contents of the box Annie had given her.

Finally, Mary Beth told the man the name of the hotel where they were staying in Hagerstown. “I’m going to shut off my cell for the night,” she explained, “so if you need me, you’ll have to call my room.” They exchanged a few more pleasantries until Stella laid her menu on the table and looked pointedly as Mary Beth.

Mary Beth took the hint and quickly finished the call. “I’m sorry,” she said. “Mr. Gold is very excited about the exhibit.”

“Mr. Gold?” Annie said.

“Carlton Gold,” her friend said. “He’s the head of publicity at the Golden Needle Company. I’ve met him at previous conventions where his company has had vendor displays. We carry quite a lot of their products in the shop.”

“He certainly has a fitting name,” Annie said, as the waiter approached the table for their order.

“I think the Golden Needle Company must be family-owned,” Mary Beth said. “The president has the same last name as well.”

Throughout dinner, Annie noticed Stella looking toward the back booth several times. She didn’t comment on it, though. She wasn’t interested in facing the wrath of Stella this early in the road trip. Then as they were finishing dessert, Stella’s eyes turned to the back booth again and the older woman sat up sharply. “The men are gone.” She looked around the restaurant. “They’re leaving.”

Annie looked toward the restaurant door. She caught a glimpse of the bald man just as he was going through the door. He was portly and somehow vaguely familiar. Then the other man, the one who Mary Beth said had stared at them, blocked her view.

“The man’s friend reminds me of someone,” Annie said.

“Who?” Mary Beth asked.

“I’m not sure. I didn’t see his face.”

“He has facial hair,” Stella said in a tone that suggested she did not approve of facial hair.

“Maybe he reminds you of Santa,” Mary Beth suggested with a laugh.

Annie smiled in return. “Maybe that’s it.”

Then the waiter approached the table with their check, and Annie was immediately distracted by the need to divvy up the bill. By the time she got back upstairs to her room, she was glad to get ready for bed.

Crawling into bed, she felt as if she’d forgotten something. She sat up and looked around the dark room. What could it be? Then it hit her. She missed the rustling of the bed as Boots jumped up and found her place to sleep for the night. Annie smiled. Maybe she was turning into a cat lady after all.

A few hours later, Annie sat bolt upright in bed, her heart racing. What was the horrible noise? Then she recognized the sound. It was a car alarm. She climbed out of bed and hurried over to the window. Her room overlooked the parking lot, and Annie quickly spotted Mary Beth’s SUV. Two men stood near the driver’s side door, and one clearly was tugging on the door handle.

Annie grabbed her robe from the end of the bed and slipped her feet into the flats she’d worn in the car all day. When she reached the hall, the room doors on either side of her flung open.

“Someone’s at my car!” Mary Beth cried as the women hurried toward the elevator.

“I saw them,” Annie said. “Two men.”

“I think it was the men from the restaurant,” Kate added.

Stella stood gasping as they reached the elevator. “I couldn’t tell,” she said. “We’re too far away. Did anyone call the police?”

“Not yet,” Mary Beth said. “And I don’t have my cellphone.”

The elevator doors slid open, and they rushed inside. Stella touched Mary Beth’s arm as the elevator dropped the one floor to ground level. “I can’t keep up with you all. My legs aren’t quite as young as yours. I’ll talk to the manager while you ladies check on the car. If he hasn’t called the police yet, I’ll insist that he does.”

“Thank you, Stella,” Mary Beth said. Then the doors slid open. Annie, Mary Beth and Kate ran across the lobby and out into the parking lot.

“Hey!” Mary Beth yelled, just as they spotted the taller of the two men fling open the door of the SUV. “Stop right there!”

The men turned toward them. The shorter, round man was too much in the shadows for Annie to make out his face, but the taller man looked at them in surprise. He backed away from them until he stood in shadow as well. Then he turned and said something to his partner, and the two ran.

The women stopped at the SUV and Mary Beth turned off the screaming alarm. They knew it wasn’t safe to chase car thieves, and they needed to check on their things. It didn’t take long to see that everything inside was undisturbed.

“Looks like we got here before they could steal anything,” Mary Beth said. “Even my MP3 player is still here in the front console—not that I paid all that much for it, but I’d definitely miss my music collection.”

A police car arrived quickly, and an officer took down the details of what each woman had seen. Mary Beth mentioned that she thought the men had eaten in the hotel restaurant earlier, and the officer dutifully wrote that down.

Then the policeman looked carefully at the lock on the driver’s side door. “I can see scratches around the lock. Would you check, please, to see if the car will lock?”

When they saw that it would, the officer took Mary Beth’s cellphone number and promised to call her if they turned up anything on the car thieves. “We’ll send a car to drive through the parking lot a few times through the night. That should keep things quiet.”

The women thanked them, and then made one last check to see that the car was locked.

“You know, I think I’d like to take the box of Gram’s things back to the room with me,” Annie said. “I know that no one breaks into a car for needlework, but I’d just feel better.”

“I can understand that,” Mary Beth said. “Besides, with what your grandmother’s work is selling for, someone would cheerfully steal it.”

“Not that they’d know it was in there,” Kate said. “The box isn’t labeled or anything.”

She opened the back, and Annie checked the box quickly. Everything was still inside. She knew it was silly to worry, but she still felt a rush of relief. She wouldn’t have been able to sleep if she hadn’t checked.

“You know,” Kate said as she looked around the parking lot, “there are several cars that are much fancier than this one. I wonder why the men skipped them.”

Mary Beth shrugged. “Maybe they thought a bigger vehicle would have more stuff in it. Or they saw Annie’s cardboard box and thought something valuable could be inside. Who knows?”

Annie nodded, but somehow she wasn’t convinced. The keypad for the alarm was clear on the door, and the crooks clearly didn’t know how to disarm it. That meant whatever they did had to be done quickly, before anyone came outside to quiet the horrible car alarm. “Still, why go to a car that clearly had an alarm?” she asked.

“Well, I guess if they were smart people, they wouldn’t be crooks,” Mary Beth said. “And if we’re smart people, we’ll grab the few hours sleep we have left.”

The three women trooped back into the hotel. Stella stood up from the wing chair next to the lobby fireplace. She looked curiously at the three of them, but clearly wasn’t going to ask questions.

“We scared them away,” Mary Beth said. “They didn’t steal anything.”

“Oh, that’s a relief,” Stella said. “I saw the police car arrive.”

“I don’t think the policeman had high hopes about catching the crooks,” Kate said as the women filed toward the elevator. The hotel manager hurried out from behind the front desk.

“I’m so sorry you ladies had such a horrible experience,” he said. “I want to give you these vouchers for a free full breakfast at the restaurant in the morning.”

“How nice,” Mary Beth said smiling. “So, nothing missing and free breakfast. At least we had a happy ending.”

“I’ll be happier when I’m back in bed,” Kate said, yawning. “Nothing like ending our first day with an adventure.”

As they headed to their rooms, Annie looked down at the cardboard box of Gram’s things and hoped the rest of the trip would be a little less adventurous.