Crime at Cripple Creek (The Sisters Week Series #1)
Page 6
Chapter 7
On the drive back to the cabin all three women were very quiet. Nothing like this had ever happened to them before. Joy still felt ill so Beth was the one who drove. There was no traffic on the road except one other car that drove behind them. Beth pulled off the road onto the dirt road that led up to their cabin before she noticed that the car behind her did the same. At first, that didn’t send up any alarms because there were other cabins before they reached theirs. Assuming the person behind her was going to one of the other cabins, she kept going.
The road is curvy and lots of dirt side roads along the way. All the side roads eventually go to other cabins. Beth is still glancing in the rear view mirror and sees that the other car is still behind her and there’s only one other road before they reach theirs that branches off to another cabin. Now she’s getting worried.
Deciding not to go directly to their cabin, she took the next dirt road and when it reached a cabin, she planned to turn around and pretend she was lost. When she reached the cabin she’s relieved to see a circular drive so she was able to get back out without stopping. She looked in the rear view window she saw the other vehicle slowed down and pulled over as close as possible to the side of the dirt road and then stopped.
As she pulled into the circular drive, Beth saw a man and his dog by the side of the cabin. She rolled the passenger window down and said loudly to the man, “We’re lost and I think we’re being followed. Can you call nine one one, please?”
“I’ll do better than that. I see the car down the road a little ways. I’ll take care of it,” the man answered.
The man reached for something that leaned against the side of the cabin. “I don’t go away from the cabin without my rifle,” he said.
As the man walked down the road, and held his rifle, as his dog followed barking. Beth saw the car back up. She thought to herself that the driver was an idiot. The dirt roads were very winding and with dangerous sharp curves. There was approximately half mile to go before the driver got to the main dirt road.
Beth drove slowly down the road till she reached the spot where the man and his dog were and then she stopped.
“I can see all the way down the hill and the car is still going, but to be safe, why don’t I head down hill on my Harley and check things out,” the man old Beth.
Under normal circumstances Beth would’ve told the nice man he didn’t have to do that, but after this afternoon’s events, she was spooked, so she just nodded her head and thanked the man.
The sisters sat in the car until they saw the motorcycle go by and then they followed. They could go straight to their cabin, but she figured if whoever followed them was parked somewhere and watched and didn’t see them leave the area, he knew they stayed up the hill. The last thing she wanted is for someone to show up at their cabin.
Beth followed till they reached the main road to Cripple Creek. They saw no other car. She stopped and thanked the man for his kindness. Then she decided to go past the road that led to their cabin. Instead she drove away from Cripple Creek because she knew there’s a little shopping center just down the road. Actually it’s not really a shopping center since there were only three little buildings. One was a convenient store and one’s a liquor store and one’s a mechanic shop. She wanted to make sure the car that followed them was not parked at the shopping center while the driver waited and watched.
Arriving at the little shopping center she saw no other cars there, so she turned around and headed to their cabin.
“How did you get so smart?” Lynn asked. “Although Joy and I haven’t said one word, you took precautions. You definitely are the sister with the common sense. You are so good under pressure.”
“Thank you, but right now my body is shaking so much I can hardly think at all,” Beth responded. “I just know we don’t want a stranger following us to where we are staying.”
Along the dirt road to their cabin they saw nothing but a couple of deer. Beth breathed easier now. Just before they reached the cabin there was a gate with a chain and padlock they had to stop to unlock. This made Beth feel a little safer. After Beth unlocked the gate, she got back in the car and drove through. Then she got back out and closed the gate and re-locked it before she drove the little distance to the cabin.
Since their cabin had parking space behind it as well as a circular drive in front, Beth pulled the car around back. This way if someone pulled up to the gate and looked up towards the cabin they wouldn’t see the car. And if it’s the person who followed them before, he wouldn’t be sure if this was the place they’re staying. No one was able to drive up the road but they were able to climb the fence and walk up to the cabin. So she took every precaution she could think of.
Getting out of the car, Beth felt her knees trembled. Her legs felt so weak she had trouble walking. After she unlocked the back door, they all went inside and re-locked the door. Beth then spent a few minutes and closed all the curtains that faced the front road. She wanted no one to see who’s inside the structure. Maybe she was being paranoid, but after the day she had who blamed her.
Beth walked out the sliding glass doors off of the dining area and walked around the hot tub. She saw all around including the front road to the cabin. She went back inside, she announced, “I’m all for getting in the hot tub and relaxing some. How do you two feel about it?”
Joy, who looked much better now, said “I think that’s a wonderful idea. Let’s do it.”
Lynn smiled and told the other two, “Let’s hurry and change and enjoy the tub while it’s still light out. I know we usually get in the hot tubs when it’s dark, but I think we’ll all feel safer doing it today in the daylight.”
While Joy and Lynn left the room and changed into their bathing suits, Beth followed slowly. She couldn’t ignore the sinking feeling in her stomach. She wondered when and how the next shoe would drop.