The Girl From Paradise Hill by Susan Lund

Author:Susan Lund [Lund, Susan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-07-03T23:00:00+00:00

Tess parked her car and was glad to see another car a few doors down. At least if someone was hanging out around her car or door, someone might see or hear. She hauled in her backpack and newspaper, and was careful to lock the door and put on the chain behind her.

She did some research for the article for about an hour, going back all the way to Janine in her quest for all the missing girls and women from the area. There were a few who were deemed truly missing, and others were determined to be runaways who had been seen working the streets of larger cities in Washington and Oregon. Those she crossed off her list, although she couldn’t be sure that some of the girls hadn’t been kidnapped as part of the sex slave trade.

Around ten, she felt thirsty and decided to go to the drink machine for a bottle of water. The vending machine was down the row of motel rooms and around the corner next to the main office. She searched through her change and found the right coins, remembering that it was $2.50 per bottle – which was far too expensive. She kicked herself for not buying a bottle or two when she was at the convenience store earlier.

She slipped on her sweater and went down the row of motel rooms, noting that there was a light on in the room two doors down. She glanced up at the mountain behind the motel. In the dark, it loomed like a huge black hole. Above, the sky was dark and full of stars. With the moon already setting behind the peak, it would be a good night for stargazing if you were into that.

When she got to the machine she saw that the water was sold out. Since it was so late, she didn’t really want to drive to the gas station again. Then she remembered that there was another vending machine in the main office. Luckily, it was open all night, so she went inside and said hello to Andrea.

“How are you doing? Everything all right? No more strangers hanging around?”

Tess nodded and waved her hand. “No. I’m fine. There’s someone just a room away from me now, so I’m not worried.”

“Yes, I put them there so you wouldn’t be all alone. A nice older couple on a trip to the Scablands.”

Tess smiled and held up her bottle of water. “Got what I came for. The other machine’s out of water.”

Andrea nodded and picked up her pen. “I’ll let them know first thing in the morning.”

Then Tess made her way back to her room, passing the older couple’s room and wondering what they looked like. Not many people stopped in Paradise Hill; there were better, classier hotels just down the road another fifty miles. Maybe they were tired and so they stopped instead of driving through.

She opened her door and went inside her room, closing the door behind her. Before she could flip the safety lock, she heard something from the bathroom – a creak that didn’t sound right.

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