The Heartless Prey

3. His Promises

***

She didn't even know she had fallen asleep until she heard the sound of a crow outside the trailer. She opened her eyes and realized that she had slept through the entire night. The sun was just cracking over the dawn.

Chris didn't approve of her falling asleep on him. The two other bunk beds had been thrown down onto their side. The groceries were thrown throughout the kitchen. One of the windows, luckily on the back side of the trailer, had been pulled out of the frame and was thrown onto the floor, cracked. The blankets, sheets, and pillows from the other beds were thrown throughout the trailer. Chris, however, was nowhere to be found. Laura took the time to fix what she could, but someone was definitely going to think there was a wild party in here regardless of what she did.

She changed out of the clothes she woke up in and threw on a white t-shirt and shorts that she pulled out of her backpack. She exited the trailer with her backpack on. She threw her backpack into the back seat of her car, and heard a whistle behind her.

It was Tim, walking towards her from the check in trailer. His eyes widened as he saw the front door of Laura's trailer from the outside.

"Holy shit", he said aloud. He looked at the deep claw marks along the door. "I, I guess coyotes got into camp last night."

"I didn't even notice", Laura told him, closing the car door. "Look I..."

"Yeah I know, I'm, I'm sorry", Tim began. Laura looked a bit confused, and he continued. "I'll be manning the front desk all day today because Daisy isn't here today. No call, no show." Tim shook his head.

"Really?", Laura asked.

"Yeah. It's not like her to do this. This is the first time she's done a no call. I always tell her, even if you're hungover just let me know. No harm no fowl. And it usually isn't a big deal considering she lives right there", he said pointing to the check in trailer. "I'm a bit worried, to be honest."

What Laura really wanted to do was just get out of here. Hit the road away from here before Chris came back. "Well, I'm not sure if it's anything to worry about", Laura began. "But last night the two of us went to a bar, I think it was, 'Barn', or 'Haystack', or something."

"Oates?"

"Yeah, that's the one. We went down there, had a few drinks, she met...". Laura stopped where she was at. Maybe she shouldn't be telling Tim Daisy's business. But what if something had happened to her? "Well she and I went to a bar and she ended up sticking around with some guy we met down there. Dylan Dorchester."

Tim raised his eyebrows. "It's not like her to not come back after a night out though".

Laura looked behind Tim, at the highway. Standing in the middle of the road was Chris. Standing there, and watching her intently. Watching every word she said to Tim. Listening, even. By the time she looked back at Tim to listen to what he was saying and looked back, Chris was gone. But definitely not far.

"I'd like to help you find her, but, I really need to get moving", Laura told him.

Tim looked frustrated. "Alright. You drive safe. I'm going to get things closed up here and I'm going to Oates to see what the hell is going on." Tim hustled back over to the check in trailer.

Laura went back into the trailer to get her small wallet and her cell phone. She picked up her cell phone and saw that she had a missed call. 'Akira Kurosawa'. Laura thought for a moment, and decided not to call back. She jammed the phone into her pocket and picked up her wallet from the table. She opened her wallet to see how she'd budget the trip. It wouldn't cost too much to get to Salt Lake City.