Chapter 29 There’s Really Only One Bed
There’s Really Only One Bed
“Car filled with gas,” Morgan said. “Check.”
“Bags in the trunk. Warm clothes for the mountains. Check.”
“Snacks?”
Heidi held up a canvas bag. “Nuts and chips. Fruit, if we want to be healthy. Candy, of course.” She wiggled in her seat. “I’m excited. I’ve never been to the Rockies before.”
“I thought this trip was to get your twenty grand back?” Morgan grinned. Heidi was cute all the time, but her excitement made her extra adorable. The way her shoulders shimmied and how the green streak in her hair fell over her forehead.
“It is. But it’s also to marvel at mountains, drink margaritas from glasses bigger than my head, and, according to Trip Advisor, eat the best Mexican food in Colorado.”
“We can do all of that—after we’ve confronted your ex.”
“Yeah, and that’s where the plan falls down. I still have no clue how to do that.”
“We still have no clue, pardner. There’s two of us in this car.” She paused. “Are you sure you don’t want to postpone this until Lula can come too?”
“I’d love for her to come. She almost certainly would have better ideas about Serena than me.
But it was hard enough for me to get time off work, and no way Lula could get it.
And who knows how long Serena will stay in Leadville?
” Heidi said. “As for confronting her, I think the best option is you bang on her door, and say—”
“What! Why me?”
“She doesn’t know you. She won’t slam the door in your face. At least not immediately.”
“Valid point.” Morgan sucked at her lower lip. “But what do I say?”
“That you’re a private investigator following up on a fraudulent banking claim.”
“Then you should have taken your actual private investigator, Brandon.”
“A bank officer, then.” Heidi shot her a grin. “And Brandon asked me again where you were working. He seems keen to get in touch with you. He mentioned again that he’s not as happy with your successor.”
“Nothing I can do about that. As for me impersonating anyone official, I’m sure it’s against the law, especially when it’s for financial gain.”
“Is it financial gain if you’re only taking back what is rightfully yours?” Heidi asked.
“We still need to think.” Morgan fiddled with the navigation app on her cell phone. “I’m putting in Serena’s address. Did you book a motel?”
“No, just in case we learn Serena is somewhere else and we have to go racing off,” Heidi said. “Although if she’s back in California, we’re not going there. Not this trip, anyway. But Brandon was confident she’d be in Leadville. She’s signed a lease.”
“Let’s go, then.” Morgan started the car and headed for Broadway, which would take them south. Highway 285 was familiar to her—indeed, the first part was the same route they’d taken to Red Rocks, which seemed like a lifetime ago.
She glanced across at Heidi, who was staring out the window.
The snow that had kept them inside over Thanksgiving was now just dirty mounds thrown up by the snowplow along the road’s edge.
They reached 285, and Morgan turned west.
Heidi rummaged in the canvas bag. “I told myself I wouldn’t break out the snacks until we started climbing into the foothills, but, honestly, I can’t wait.” She pulled out a bag of Skittles, ripped it open. “Hold out your hand.”
Morgan did so, and Heidi tipped a handful of candy into it.
The car cruised along the highway, taking the curves as the road climbed through the foothills as easily as the flatlands.
The snow was deeper, fresher, here, the pines and firs weighed down with ice.
When the highway dropped down to Bailey and ran alongside the North Fork South Platte River, Heidi sat forward, staring at the icy water.
“Does it ever freeze completely?”
“Oh yes. There’s a lake near Georgetown that freezes hard enough that they have ice-racing competitions for four-wheel drives. People drive their RVs onto the lake and camp!”
“Has anyone ever fallen through?”
Morgan shrugged. “Probably.”
The road climbed up to Kenosha Pass. Morgan pulled into the trailhead parking and cut the engine. Heidi jumped out of the car. “This is amazing.”
Morgan looked around, seeing the scene through Heidi’s eyes, as if for the first time. They were still below the tree line. The silvery trunks of aspens surrounded the parking lot, and the snow banked up around the edges. A couple sat on the tailgate of their SUV, strapping snowshoes to their feet.
Morgan walked to the edge of the road, to where Highway 285 wound down to the wide, bare expanse of South Park. A bone-biting wind blew strongly, and she shivered.
“Let’s keep going.”
Heidi nodded, they got back into the car, and Morgan drove steadily down from the pass.
“Are you hungry?” Heidi asked. “I am. And I don’t think I can face Serena on an empty stomach.”
Morgan nodded. “I thought we might have lunch in Buena Vista, but Fairplay’s closer.” She slanted a glance at Heidi. “Ever watched South Park, the TV show?”
“Of course.” Heidi’s lips twitched. “And, yes, I know we’re driving across South Park, not South Park.”
“It’s based on Fairplay,” Morgan said. “Or so many people claim.”
“Then we are totally stopping there for lunch.” Heidi leaned forward as if willing Fairplay to appear. “I can’t pass on that.”
Morgan pulled off the highway into Fairplay, passing coffee shops and stores before circling around to pass the entrance to South Park City, a museum where many old Colorado buildings had been relocated.
In the older main street, she found a parking spot in front of a shop selling a mix of polar fleece and hippie-vibe candles. “Bar or diner?” she asked.
“Bar,” Heidi said. “Then I can have a beer with my burger.”
They sat at the counter and ate thick burgers and fries washed down with a cold beer. Outside, the wind howled down the street, and soon the sky was a whirling mass of snow.
“Where are you girls going?” the bartender asked. “Weather could be settling in.”
“Leadville.” Morgan crunched the last of her fries.
“Better get going.” The bartender collected their empty bottles. “It’s two thousand feet higher than here. Snow could be heavier. You should be able to get through if you go now.”
“Thanks.” Heidi signed the tab, then they walked out into the whirling snowflakes.
After Trout Creek Pass, the snow eased for them to drive into Buena Vista, but as they turned north on Highway 24 and the road started to climb again, the snow increased. When they reached Leadville, it was thick on the road.
“We should have booked a motel,” Morgan said. “They all look busy.”
“I wasn’t sure if we’d be staying,” Heidi said. “But I don’t think we have any choice.”
She pulled out her cell phone and opened the hotel booking app.
“Ouch. Looks like they’re taking advantage of the weather to put the prices up.
But there’s one here that’s reasonable. We should be close to it.
There!” Her finger stabbed at the windshield.
“Pull in. I’ll see if I can get a better price as a walk-in. ”
A few minutes later, she returned to the car. “Do you want the good news, the bad news, or the I-don’t-know-what-you’ll-think-of-this news?”
“Just give it to me in one hit.”
“They have a room. It was more expensive than it showed on the app as it’s the last room and they just put their prices up. I took it. The I-don’t-know-what-you’ll-think-of-this news is that it’s a queen room. One queen bed. No pullout beds available.”
“Oh.” A low burn started deep in Morgan’s belly.
One bed. Only one bed. They had to stay here as it was too dangerous to drive farther, and this was possibly the last room in town.
A flickering fire ignited. One bed. They’d go out for dinner, maybe drink too much wine.
They’d get back to a chilly room, turn the heater on, snuggle on the bed, their legs entwined, until it was time to sleep.
Would they sleep?
No. Morgan was very sure that sleep would be a long time coming. “I’m sure we’ll manage.”
“I’m sure we will.”
Was that a tremor in Heidi’s voice? Excitement about the coming night?
Morgan snorted to herself. More like nerves about confronting Serena.