Roxi's Mountain

Meanwhile, Vincent has long since closed his eyes, and as the constant hum of rolling tires puts him further under, there comes a nudge from Benny. “You’re snoring.” Startled awake, Vincent mutters, “I didn’t sleep well last night, had too many weird dreams.” Thinking of his own tormented sleep, Benny shifts down while coming to a T in the road. To the right is the scenic loop back to town while on his left is the forestry department’s service road. Idling the rig, Benny looks at Vincent and says, “No turning back now.”

“Let’s get to it,” says Vincent. Shifting the rig into gear, Benny does just that.

Back in town, to his hands he looks. And, like always, she is there, talking to him. Telling him where to look.
Outside of this, O’Malley is calling for cab service and speaking quietly into the headset, one look at Lewis and he knows better to leave him alone. Carrying on in making sure arraignments met, O’Malley follows up with speaking to a staff member employed at the Evergreen Inn. Ending the conversation, he sees that Lewis is still busy looking at something he cannot see. Thinking the man beyond his world, he leaves him be.
Within walking distance of the café, their cab ride to the Inn is short lived. Each checked into separate rooms, both meet up shortly, and then walk over.
Inside the café, there are a few patrons that are either sipping coffee or dragging a fork along. At any rate, the scent of it all has both ordering. During their wait, O’Malley turns to Lewis. “You alright?” He gets it. “Yeah. I’m good. Hungry though.”
Interrupting their flow of words, is plates of steaming food set before each of them. Cooling off his pile of spuds with a douse of ketchup and a heavy sprinkle of pepper, he goes to town on the eggs over easy.
Ticket paid, tip under the coffee cup, the two make their way outdoors.
Rosewood is awake with its passerby’s going about their business. “Where to,” O’Malley asks.
“How about we pay a visit to the Sherriff.” “Hold on.” He waits as O’Malley does his thing. Within minutes, comes their ride.
He is mean looking. Sour in sitting behind that desk. With nothing to bask in, comes his sharp tone. “Heard about you.” There is no love felt in the man’s words. “Good. That saves us from going through formalities.” Gruff and to the point, the sheriff puts his elbows on the desktop. “Folks around here are afraid, and they got good reason to be. What’s worse is now I got weirdoes coming and going. Ghost seekers they call themselves. Paranormal junkies. And now here you are. What’s out there that none of us can see except you?”

Brought up to never to lie, Lewis tells the sheriff, “I just got here, so, I don’t know.” It takes a minute for the sheriff says, “Alright then. Go on now, I got work to do.”

 

Out on the street, Lewis says, “I think we should pay miss Purdy a visit.” O’Malley calls for a ride, and within minutes, the two board a cab.

In a low tone, O’Malley gets busy telling Lewis, “She runs a trade school free of charge. Hard work paves the way is the school’s motto. Made national news but she declined to appear which I find interesting.” Lewis kicks in. “She’s hiding something.” “Could be why she doesn’t like her picture being taken.”

Curious, Lewis asks, “Any exiting photos?”

“Nope, none that I can find. No birth record either.”

“And yet she runs a charitable organization. This visit could be interesting.”

“They always are.”