"And your side?"

Spencer glanced at the door as a little girl appeared.

"Mommy?" Keeping her distance as much as possible, Jessie crossed the room toward where her mother sat.

"Yes, sweetie. Come here." For some reason, Ruth's stomach knotted at the thought of her daughter being in the room with this suspicious woman, though she had concluded to her own satisfaction that Spencer Rollins hadn't killed anyone. However, she couldn't help but be skeptical about the rest of the story. It seemed pretty outrageous to think that the feds were really trying to kill her.

"Hi, I'm Spencer. You don't have to be afraid of me." Spencer set her empty plate on the floor beside the recliner.

"My name's Karen, and this is my daughter, Megan."

"Hello, Megan. Your mom and I were just talking. I'm going to leave tomorrow so you don't have to worry about anything."

Jessie wouldn't answer.

"Did we wake you up?" Ruth asked tenderly, brushing the blonde curls back. "Why don't I come in a read another story? We're all ready to go to sleep now."

Spencer took that as her cue to head back down the hall. She felt a lot better now that she'd eaten, but another night's sleep would be a good thing. She was still exhausted.

And tomorrow she'd be a target again.

CHAPTER 13.

RUTH WAS PRETTY sure that there had to be a shortcut or a bypass that everyone in town knew about and used to get from one end to the other, but today was not a good day for experimenting with alternate routes. Until she learned her way around, she thought it best to stay on the main road. That meant one stoplight after another, and many long minutes alone in the car with her enigmatic passenger.

"Where exactly are we?"

Ruth shot the dark-haired woman a sidelong glance. "What do you mean? This is Manassas."

"Yeah, I got that from the sign on that building back there. But I mean what highway is this and where does it go? How do I get back to DC from here?"

Beats the hell out me, Ruth admitted to herself. "I'm not sure."

"You don't ever go to the city for anything?"

"We haven't lived here very long."

Spencer considered this new bit of information. Come to think of it, Karen had shared very little about herself. Then again, it wasn't like they were friends or anything.

The three of them had eaten a quiet breakfast, then the mother and daughter had gone to the landlady's house to visit the puppies. The little girl stayed with the landlady when Karen said she had a quick errand to run.

"So where are you from?"

"Maine," Ruth answered nervously, knowing that her license tags had already given that away. Changing those to Virginia plates was a top priority. She'd try to do that this afternoon.

"What brings you down here?"

"The usual...a bad marriage...a new start." None of that was a lie.

"What kind of work do you do?"

"Enough with all the questions!" she groaned in exasperation. Okay, that wasn't the right response, she admonished herself, pushing her hand through her hair. She was going to have to deal with people's natural curiosity, and this was not a good start.

"Sorry." If there was one thing Spencer understood, it was a private nature. And on top of that, it made perfect sense that this woman wouldn't exactly feel comfortable with opening up to a suspected murderer anyway.

"No, it's okay. I'm just not used to talking about myself."

"It's alright. I have to learn not to be so nosy."

The pair rode along through town silently, finally spotting the turnoff up ahead for Super Wal-Mart.

"Here we are."

"This is where you found me?"

"You're kidding, right?"

"No, I really don't...it's just that...things aren't real clear to me about the other night. Getting smacked in the head can do that, I guess," she joked, touching the tape on her brow. "I really don't remember us meeting."

"Well, that's because we didn't exactly meet. You got in my car while I was in the store, and I didn't find you until I got home."

"Oh." That explained why she hadn't been pushed out and left in the parking lot. But it still didn't answer why the woman hadn't called the police once she'd reached home and found her there.

"Yeah, you were kind of out of it," Ruth added.

The blue-eyed woman looked around in confusion. It had been dark and raining the other night, and none of this looked familiar. The store was surrounded by woods in the back and on one side, and she wasn't sure where she'd left her bike.

But that wasn't Ruth's problem, Spencer knew. She'd obviously worn out her welcome.

"Listen, I appreciate this - everything - more than I can say. When this all gets cleared up, I'll stop by and settle up for the food and stuff."

"It isn't necessary."

"I know. I just want to find a way to say thanks."

"You don't have to." Again, Ruth heard the edge in her own voice, and told herself to calm down. "Really, it's okay. Sometimes we all need a little help."

Spencer nodded. "Well, if there's anything I can ever do for you...," she had no idea what that might be, "I'm in the book. DS Rollins. Call me."

"Okay." Ruth pulled in and drove through the lot. "Where do you want me to drop you?"

"I guess at the front door. It's going to look pretty funny for me to just walk into the woods and disappear." She might have to wait several hours until dark, she realized grimly. But then if she did that, she'd have trouble finding her bike.

Ruth looked at the woman beside her and knew that wandering into the woods wouldn't get her half the attention her appearance would. Her eye and forehead were black and blue, and her denim jacket was stained with blood. Her pants were filthy, and her hair looked as though it hadn't been washed in a week.

"Why don't I just drop you over at the edge? Then you can just go straight to your bike."

"That would look kind of suspicious, don't you think?"

"Maybe," Ruth said diplomatically, "but I doubt people would notice that as much as they'd notice you walking around the store. You don't exactly blend in with this...," she touched the denim sleeve, "colorful attire, not to mention your equally colorful face."

Spencer conceded that the woman had a point. "Yeah, I guess you're right," she sighed. Frustration seemed to be her constant companion, and it was made worse when the large raindrops began to pelt the windshield. "Oh, boy."

Great! Now Ruth felt guilty about putting the woman out in the rain. But Spencer Rollins wasn't her problem, she kept telling herself. Jessie was her problem, and so was everyone back in Madison who was probably looking for them by now. She couldn't be in the middle of this, and she couldn't do a thing about the weather.

"I'm really sorry," she offered.

"That's okay. I really appreciate everything you did."

The Taurus stopped at the wood's edge. Spencer grabbed her rain suit from the back and opened the door.

Ruth watched her climb out. "Take care of yourself. I hope everything works out." God, that was lame. I hope you're not killed or anything.

"Thanks. Thanks for everything."

Spencer closed the door glumly and climbed the muddy bank to the edge of the woods. Any moment now, the sky was going to open up and douse her good, but she needed to get out of sight before stopping to put on her rain gear.

Ruth couldn't shake the feelings of guilt, no matter how much she rationalized her decision. But it had to be this way. Too much was at stake here with her and Jessie, things Spencer Rollins knew nothing about. She wished she'd been able to explain it all, so she wouldn't seem so callous.

Absorbed in her thoughts of the injured woman's problems, Ruth fell in behind a line of traffic, mindlessly turning left before she realized her error. The road she was on led out to the interstate. That was in the opposite direction from the trailer, so she immediately started looking for a place to turn around or circle back. A cutoff up ahead looked promising, and she followed a couple of cars as they turned.

The rain was heavier now, and she turned her wipers up a notch. On her left was a wooded area; in fact, she realized, it appeared to be the same woods where she'd dropped her passenger, except on the other side. Peering through the trees, she tried to catch a glimpse of....

Fuck! Ruth slammed on her brakes, narrowly avoiding the stopped car in front of her. Did the idiot just stop in the road or what?

The flashing blue lights up ahead sent a shockwave to her bones. From here, it looked like a checkpoint of some sort. Her only driver's license was for Ruth Ferguson, a fugitive. It was too late to turn around without being seen, and already, three more cars had lined up behind her.

Her knee bounced uncontrollably as she inched forward and saw with relief that the commotion wasn't a checkpoint after all. Apparently, it was just a minor accident of some sort, because there were yellow lights from a wrecker on the other side of the road. As she drew closer, she followed the patrolman's direction to keep right, finally seeing what all the activity was about: Two uniformed patrolmen were guiding a red motorcycle down the embankment. And parked behind the wrecker was a black sedan with government plates.

So they'd found Spencer's bike.

With a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, Ruth realized that the woman she'd dropped off was at this very moment walking right into the hands of her pursuers. That man, the one in the raincoat standing in front of the government car, might even be one of the men who Spencer said wanted her dead. But surely the Manassas police would keep her safe, and she could explain what happened.

But what if everything that Spencer had said was true? She might never have a chance to tell her story. She might be killed in their custody, and they'd just report that she tried to escape or something. Not like it hadn't ever happened before. Suddenly Ruth felt as though she held the woman's fate in her hands.

This is not your problem, the voice said. Your priority is Jessie. Spencer Rollins will be okay.

Even as her conscious mind repeated that mantra, Ruth slowed and pulled onto a gravel road. When traffic cleared, she turned back toward the wrecker, looking away as she passed the patrolman again. Two quick turns later, and she was back at the spot where she had dropped her passenger.

Leaving the car at the edge of the pavement, Ruth got out and scampered hurriedly up the bank and into the woods. Pushing through the wet underbrush, she fought the urge to call out, not wanting to give their presence away. Through the rain, she could make out the figure of the tall woman moving slowly in the woods up ahead. If she could just catch her before she went too far. Running faster, Ruth hurdled a fallen log and charged through the slippery forest floor in pursuit.

Spencer looked about anxiously as she scoured the woods for her bike. She hadn't remembered walking this far when she came upon the Wal-Mart. Thinking she'd just been following the wrong angle, she turned to her right, freezing in place as she caught movement behind her from the corner of her eye. Crouching behind a rhododendron, she waited and watched, shocked to see that the blonde woman had followed her into the woods. Stepping out, she started to call out.

Frantic, Ruth ran faster, waving her hands and gesturing wildly for Spencer to stay quiet and get back down.

"They've got your bike," she whispered, joining the taller woman behind the bush. "They're just over the rise at the edge of the road. It's the black car, just like you said."

The blue eyes grew wide at the sudden danger.

"We need to get back to my car. Let's go!"

Spencer didn't need to be asked twice. Stealthily, the two women moved back through the woods, finally sliding down the muddy bank to where the car was parked.

"Get in!"

Still shaking, Ruth started the engine and turned around. In seconds, they were back on the highway toward town, both gasping for breath in the wake of their near miss.

"How did you know?"

Ruth shook her head, still in disbelief at what had almost happened to both of them. "I took a wrong turn and ended up on the road on the other side. They were bringing a red motorcycle out of the woods."

"And you're sure the black car was there?"

The blonde woman nodded, "with the government tags."

Spencer sighed hopelessly. "I don't know what to say, Karen. I can't believe you came back for me."

"I couldn't let you just walk into that. I still don't believe that the feds want you dead, but on the off chance that they do, I just...."

"Thanks, for whatever reason. You may have just saved my life."

"It was her bike, no mistake about it," Pollard reported. The store's surveillance photos from Saturday night showed a blurry image of someone wearing black and white running into the parking lot from the area where the phones were mounted. The pouring rain that night kept them from making a positive ID, but if it had actually been Rollins, it was doubtful she was running to her bike. The lot itself was out of the camera's range.

"Goddamn it! That means she left in somebody's car. Are you sure you cut her off before she told Diaz?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. I even got Diaz telling somebody about it on the phone; that she didn't know where she was."

Akers sighed with annoyance. "Look, we need to tighten the screws on that woman."

"Cal, I can't just tap her phone at the IRS."

"Talk to her boss. Tell him what you're doing and why. If you run into any trouble, say you think she's holding out. Rollins doesn't have anywhere else to go."

"I think you should get in the back and cover up. It's best if Viv doesn't see you when we get back to the house."

With Spencer's only real option gone now, and with Ruth starting to get a sense of the danger the woman was in, they'd turned and headed back to the trailer. At the very least, Spencer needed some time to come up with a new plan, a plan for coming forward that wouldn't mean risking her life.

The tall woman squeezed between the seats and curled up in the back, pulling the plastic tarp over her.

"I'll go in and make sure they're busy, and you sneak back into the trailer."

Ruth couldn't believe she had given in to her conscience and let this woman come back. She had so much at stake with hiding Jessie, but she couldn't bring herself to turn her back on someone who had absolutely nowhere to go.