Chapter Forty-Three
Josh stopped in his tracks. He could see his breath in the cold night as his respiration increased. He reached for the gun in his holster.
The man spoke up again. “Don’t shoot.”
That voice. So familiar, but the man was staying in the shadows. Josh undid the safety strap on his holster. Newer holsters didn’t have this strap, but the one Josh took from Larry was old-school. “Who are you?” he asked, debating if he should go ahead and draw the weapon out.
“I’ll come out, hands up,” the man said, walking forward and doing what he’d promised. “See? No weapons.”
“I can’t see under your jacket,” Josh said.
“Okay, I’ll open it slowly.”
The man did and then came closer. He stepped out into the moonlight and Josh took a deep breath. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Eric?”
“Yep, it’s me. See, you can take your hand off that gun.”
“I don’t know yet if I can. What are you doing here?” Josh asked. “Leaving another note for Maya?”
Eric shrugged. “It’s been nice to do that. At least I feel like I have some sort of relationship with her.”
Josh shook his head. “Well, no offense, but right now, I need to get going.”
“Who’s the lady in the camper? Maya know about her?”
“None of your business, and Maya does. Well…sort of. I mean, it’s not what you think.”
“Good, because even though I’m a wanted felon, I’m still her father. I’d make you pay if you hurt her.”
Josh sighed. “Maybe if you don’t want to see her hurt, you should turn yourself in.”
“If I didn’t know better, I might say the same thing about you,” Eric said. “I’m guessing you’re itching to get going because you might be that loose suspect that escaped a jail transport crash.”
“How do you know about that?” Josh asked, surprised.
“I keep a radio. I know the right channels for local law enforcement. That’s how I can stay one step ahead of anyone searching for me. Why were you arrested and why are you on the run?”
Josh couldn’t believe he was standing here having this conversation with Eric—a wanted felon. Someone he should be arresting. “I’m innocent.”
“Says every person ever arrested.”
“True,” Josh said, sighing.
“You care to elaborate?”
“Not really.”
Eric shrugged. “Okay. Welcome to the fugitive life.”
“This isn’t a joke,” Josh said, thinking that Maya had told him the exact same thing only a short time ago. I should definitely apologize to her later.
“I’m not joking. And I believe you that you’re innocent of whatever you did. I think I heard something about a homicide suspect on the radio chatter. And I don’t know how that woman in your camper ties into it, but I’m sure there’s a good explanation,” Eric said.
“Why do you think I’m innocent?”
“First, I think my daughter has a good head on her shoulders. If she’s living with you and in love with you, then you must be okay.
Plus, she’s hotheaded like her mother. I’d like to pretend as her father that I could protect her, but I think she can do just fine on her own,” Eric answered.
“Then there’s the guys I saw going through your camper taking things.
I’d say they were former law enforcement too. ”
“What? You saw someone in our camper?”
“I did,” Eric said. “I was going to leave Maya a note and saw them. I didn’t recognize them, but I figured they were after me.
I’m sure Maya, being the person she is, has been turning in my notes to the marshals or whoever.
But the more I watched, the more I realized they carried themselves in a suspicious manner.
I saw them going through the camper and taking things—a hat, empty drink bottle, stuff like that.
They wore gloves and were being careful. ”
Josh let out a deep breath. “Great, so my best witness to prove that someone set me up is an escaped felon.”
“Yep,” Eric said. “Look, I know this isn’t ideal for you, but why don’t you and your friend come with me?
It’s not safe for you here. If those guys know about the camper, they might come looking for you here.
I found a great place to stay and maybe I can help you.
If you want, that is. I understand if you don’t.
It probably doesn’t look good for you to hang out with me since you’re trying to prove you’re innocent and everything.
But I don’t think anyone will look for us there.
You and your friend can fill me in more and we can figure out a plan.
I’m pretty good at this fugitive-on-the-run thing. ”
“Yeah, you are,” Josh said, not believing that he was actually thinking about doing what Eric suggested.
But Eric was right—if the guys who were after them had broken into the camper once, it would only be a matter of time before they came back.
He’d done what so many escapees did—gone straight to where he was comfortable.
Often escaped prisoners would easily be found at a girlfriend’s or their mother’s house.
“I can’t believe I’m agreeing to this,” Josh said, “but let me get Elena and we’ll go with you.”
“I’ll wait here,” Eric said.
Josh headed for the camper. How would he explain this one to Elena? Hopefully she’d listen and come with him. When he opened the camper door, Elena waited off to the side, knife back in hand.
“Who is that out there?” she asked.
“It’s okay. You can put your knife down.”
“But you were reaching for your gun,” she said, with a slight tremble.
“That person out there—it’s a long story, but right now he’s trustworthy.
” Josh hoped what he was saying was true.
Eric had committed crimes when he was a cop, which was why he was on the run.
Josh also knew that Eric was right. They needed to keep going.
“We’re going to go with him. Or at least I am.
I’m not forcing you to do anything, but I’d rather we stick together. ”
“You promise that he’s okay?” Elena asked.
“There are things you need to know about him, and I don’t have time to fill you in, but I can promise that he won’t hurt us.
If you want to come with, there’s another backpack in those rear cabinets.
Grab it and I’ll put water and food in it.
Then we need to go. Are you okay to hike again?
I don’t know exactly how far we’re going. ”
Elena followed his instruction and found a blue backpack with a Western River Sheriff emblem.
Everything in their house was either Western River Sheriff or Forest Service.
She pulled it out and they loaded up food, but Elena didn’t put her knife away.
Josh didn’t want to say anything. If it made her feel safer, that was good.
Not to mention she had good knife skills too. It might be better to have her hold it.
“Okay,” he said. “Let’s go.”
Eric was waiting outside and motioned for them to follow him.
Elena stayed behind Josh. Normally, he’d rather have her in front where he could see her, but Josh also figured she probably felt uncertain about Eric.
He didn’t blame her, since she had no way of knowing him and if Josh had told her who Eric really was, she might not have come.
He was only going with Eric because, being a fugitive, choices were limited.
Hopefully he wasn’t going from bad to worse.