‘If you feel tired pull over,’ she told him.

  David reached up and gently touched her hand.

  ‘As long as we find somewhere to stay by the time it gets dark,’ he said, quietly. ‘I don’t want to drive through the night. Getting used to driving on the other side of the road is one thing but I don’t want to do it in the dark.’

  Amy gazed out at the countryside stretching away in all directions and she shook her head gently.

  ‘It’s huge isn’t it?’ she murmured. ‘A massive country.’

  David nodded.

  ‘The traffic’s thinned out a lot too since we got clear of the Denver suburbs,’ he told her. ‘I don’t think I’ve seen more than ten cars in the last half hour.’

  ‘I didn’t expect it to be as green as this,’ Amy said.

  ‘It’s not Arizona you know,’ David said, grinning. ‘We’re not driving through Death Valley. But then again geography was never your strong point was it?’

  She slapped him playfully on the shoulder and turned towards the kitchen where the kettle was boiling. She made their coffee and returned to the passenger seat, placing David’s drink in one of the holders. She sipped her own drink and leaned forward to switch the radio on.

  ‘Let’s see what American radio sounds like,’ she said, smiling.

  There were several stations of the usual vacuous pop music that filled the RV courtesy of the stereo system but Amy continued changing stations until she found something different. Finally, a voice boomed out;

  ‘So come and join us this Sunday at our celebration of the word of God and...’

  Amy switched it off.

  TWENTY-NINE

  David had taken to the RV more quickly than he’d expected. He had been slightly reticent about driving a vehicle of such a size and also on the opposite side of the road to that which he was used to, but he’d kept his reservations to himself. There had been no point worrying Amy with his trepidation. It had been something he hadn’t really considered when they booked the holiday he had to confess. Not until he’d been confronted by the vehicle had he actually begun to feel the kind of nervousness that comes with driving a rental. And on a different side of the road.

  Now, he guided the RV effortlessly along the wide straight roads of Colorado, feeling as comfortable behind the wheel of a vehicle as he had at any time in his life.

  He glanced up ahead and saw that there were some thick grey clouds gathering. It was too early for dusk to be building in the sky so he wondered if they were heading for bad weather. He hoped not. It would be unfortunate if their first day in this beautiful country was to be spoiled by rain or something worse.

  ‘What have I missed?’

  He felt Amy’s hand on the back of his neck and she slipped into the passenger seat, gazing out at the vast panoramic view.

  ‘Nothing,’ David told her. ‘I saw a couple of trucks and that was it. Did you enjoy your shower?’

  ‘I didn’t have one in the end, I just splashed my face with water to wake myself up,’ she told him.

  ‘I thought you were quick,’ he chuckled. ‘Were you scared I’d crash while you were in the shower?’

  Amy smiled.

  ‘Mitch was right, though,’ she said, grinning. ‘This RV has everything.’

  ‘He did tell us,’ David reminded her.

  ‘Yeah, about ten times.’

  ‘You wouldn’t think there’d be any overcrowding in cities when there’s this much space would you?’ David offered, making a gesture with his hand. ‘So much land.’

  ‘This wouldn’t be farmland would it?’

  ‘Some of it might. The rest is just waiting. Waiting until someone buys it and builds houses on it I suppose.’

  ‘Imagine living out here, in the middle of nowhere.’

  ‘Some people do don’t they?’

  ‘My Dad always used to say he liked being alone. He could never understand why people needed company.’

  ‘That sounds like your dad,’ David chuckled. ‘Anti-social bastard.’

  Amy laughed too at the mention of her father.

  ‘I still miss him you know,’ she said, quietly.

  ‘Of course you do, he’s only been gone just over a year hasn’t he?’

  She nodded, the smile fading.

  ‘Do you think the time ever comes when you forget about people who’ve died? When you just can’t remember them?’

  ‘I’ve never thought about it.’

  ‘Will we ever just forget about Daisy?’

  ‘No,’ David said without hesitation. ‘Never.’

  ‘How can you be sure?’

  ‘Because we don’t want to forget her,’ he insisted.

  They drove a little way in silence, only the drone of the engine accompanied their thoughts, then Amy spoke again.

  ‘I wonder what she’d have said about this,’ she mused. ‘The flight, the RV. Everything.’

  David smiled.

  ‘She’d have loved it,’ he said, quietly. ‘We’d have had to sedate her she’d have been so excited.’

  They both laughed.

  ‘Perhaps I’m just trying to forget why she’s not here,’ Amy said, after a moment or two.

  ‘She’s not here because of a freak accident. A chance in a million. There’s no other reason.’

  ‘She’s not here because of me.’

  David exhaled deeply and shook his head.

  ‘You’re the only one who thinks that, Amy,’ he said, flatly.

  ‘I’d do anything to have her back. Just for a second. Just to hold her. To tell her I love her.’ Amy could feel tears forming but made no attempt to stop them. ‘To tell her I’m sorry.’

  ‘You’ve got nothing to be sorry about,’ David told her. ‘It wasn’t your fault. I’ve told you that.’

  ‘It doesn’t matter how many times you tell me. I’m not sure I’ll ever believe it.’

  David glanced at her and saw that she was staring blankly out of the windscreen. He yawned, trying to stifle it but not succeeding.

  ‘Are you tired?’ Amy wanted to know.

  ‘A little bit,’ he confessed.

  ‘I’m not surprised,’ Amy told him.

  ‘It’s catching up with me a bit now.’

  ‘We should pull over soon. Stop for the night.’

  ‘Is there somewhere near? A hotel or motel or something? Didn’t you say there was an RV park?’

  Amy flipped open the glove box on her side and sifted through the leaflets inside. She nodded.

  ‘There’s an RV park in about eighty miles,’ she said. ‘A hotel called Pine tree Lodge in about fifty.’ She looked across at him. ‘What do you think?’

  David nodded.

  ‘Pine tree Lodge it is then,’ he said.

  THIRTY

  ‘I think it’s going to rain.’

  Amy spoke the words wearily, her eyes fixed on the banks of thick cloud that had been gathering in the West since they arrived at the hotel.

  ‘I thought that earlier,’ David replied. ‘Better it does it during the night while we’re here. I hate driving in the rain.’

  ‘So do I,’ Amy murmured.

  ‘If it stays dry do you want to drive for a bit tomorrow?’

  ‘OK,’ Amy replied.

  ‘I’m not forcing you into it.’

  She turned and smiled at him.

  ‘I know you’re not,’ she said. ‘I’d like to. If you trust me.’

  ‘You’ll be fine,’ David assured her.

  He was laying on the bed in their room at the Pine Tree Lodge, glancing at one of the newspapers left on the table in the centre of the room. Amy continued to stand by the window, occasionally reaching for the glass of mineral water she’d placed on the sill.

  In the background, the television set droned on. They’d flicked channels when they’d first put the set on, experiencing the kind of excitement that only comes on a holiday from the novelty of viewing TV in a different country. They checked all the channels, finally settling for a local station and a news bulletin that was still going on forty minutes after they’d first switched on.

  ‘Do we really want to go down into the restaurant to eat?’ she asked. ‘We could have room service in here couldn’t we?’

  David lifted his head from the newspaper and nodded.

  ‘What have they got?’ he wanted to know.

  Amy glanced at the room service menu and raised her eyebrows.

  ‘Are you hungry?’ she wanted to know.

  ‘I could definitely eat something,’ David confessed. ‘I’ll have a steak. Just this once.’

  Amy chuckled and reached for the phone, hitting the number that connected her with room service.

  She placed their order, watching as David swung himself off the bed.

  ‘How long before the food arrives?’ he enquired.

  ‘They said about forty minutes,’ Amy told him.

  ‘I’ll have a quick shower before it does,’ he said, disappearing into the bathroom.

  Amy nodded then crossed to the bed, glancing at the paper David had put down, then at the television set.

  She was about to change channels when the story that was running caught her attention.

  ‘...missing for three days. Police say they have reason to believe the latest child could have been abducted by the same person or persons responsible for the disappearance of five other children in this area during the past three months...’

  Amy turned up the volume and moved to the end of the bed, perched there as she watched the flickering screen of the television.

  ‘All of the missing children were aged between five and ten and are believed to have been abducted from crowded public areas like shopping malls. Police have asked parents to be extra vigilant in view of the disappearances.’

  Amy shook her head slowly as she watched.

  ‘Anyone with information about these missing children is requested to go to their nearest police station or FBI office immediately. More than 1,000 children go missing in Colorado every year although many of these abductions are usually attributed to family members. However, in this case, police suspect that a stranger is responsible for the abductions..’

  Amy held the remote in front of her, ready to turn off the TV or at least to mute the sound but she hesitated when several photos were displayed. They showed each of the missing children.

  Two boys and three girls.

  Amy knelt beside the screen as a photo of the latest missing child was shown.

  ‘Oh God,’ she murmured.

  The child was seven. Her hair was blonde and cascaded past her shoulders. The picture that was in shot showed her smiling happily.

  Amy reached out and touched the screen.

  ‘Daisy,’ she said, softly.

  There were definite similarities between her dead daughter and the child on the screen. Same colour hair. Same wide and warm smile.

  Amy rubbed her eyes and looked at the screen again.

  The picture of the child had vanished only to be replaced by another.

  Amy let out a sigh then got to her feet. She retrieved her glass from the window sill and drank what was left in it, gazing out once more at the night sky.

  She wandered across to the bathroom, pushing the door open and stepping into the steamy room. The sound of splashing water was coming from inside the cubicle and she could see the silhouette of her husband through the frosted glass door. Amy smiled and sat on the edge of the bath, watching him. For a moment she considered telling him what she’d just seen on the television but she thought better of it. What good would it do? Why tell him? She smiled as she watched him, realizing that he was still completely unaware of her presence.

  She watched him wash his hair with the small bottle of shampoo the hotel supplied and, when he was washing the lather from his hair, she tapped on the shower door.

  David turned quickly, surprised by the sound.

  ‘Did I scare you?’ she said, still smiling.

  ‘Yeah, I thought it was Norman Bates,’ he told her, grinning.

  David eased the frosted glass shower door open slightly and peered out.

  ‘Are you all right?’ he asked, wiping water and shampoo from his face. ‘I won’t be long.’

  Amy smiled at him.

  ‘That’s OK,’ she said. ‘Take your time.’

  David washed the rest of the lather from his hair and prepared to turn off the shower.

  ‘No, leave it on,’ Amy told him. ‘I wondered if you wanted some company,’ she said.

  David smiled.

  THIRTY-ONE

  Amy’s smile broadened and she began unbuttoning her jeans, sliding them over her slender hips and pulling them down, kicking them away before slipping off her blouse and bra. She hesitated a moment then pulled off her knickers and dropped them onto the floor with the rest of her clothes.

  When she was naked she stepped beneath the jets of water.

  David allowed her to stand in front of him, feeling her body against his as the jets of water hit her.

  ‘It’s hot,’ she said, tilting her head back as the water ran in rivulets down her body.

  ‘It’s meant to be,’ David told her, smiling. ‘To wash all the dirt of the road off us.’

  Amy chuckled.

  She ducked her head forward, soaking her hair then she moved back slightly and reached for the shampoo.

  ‘I’ll do it,’ David told her, pouring a handful of the liquid into his palm. He smoothed it over and through her hair and used his fingertips to massage the shampoo into the soaking strands. As he did so she moved back against him. He lifted her hair away from the nape of her neck and kissed her there. Slowly, gently. Amy let out a long deep breath and turned her face slightly but David continued kissing her neck, feeling one of her hands reaching back to brush against his thighs.

  He used his fingertips on her scalp, kneading gently, pulling the slippery hair so that the long strands were rinsed clean as she turned her head in the jets of the shower.

  Her skin felt so smooth as he ran his hands up her arms and over her shoulders. Flesh that was always silky and soft now felt slippery smooth beneath his fingers. He’d almost forgotten how good she felt and how good she looked without her clothes. Amy turned her head a little more and David kissed her lightly on the lips but it wasn’t enough for her and he felt her lips part, felt her tongue pushing urgently into his mouth and he welcomed it.

  They held each other tightly, almost ferociously, unwilling to let go. Amy snaked her arms around his neck and held on as if she was falling. David moved closer, pressing his growing erection against her and she slipped one hand down to envelope it in her fingers, squeezing it and feeling its stiffness. They broke the kiss as David ducked his head and flicked his tongue over each jutting nipple in turn, sucking the swollen pink buds between his lips, raking his tongue over them as Amy gasped her pleasure.

  She increased the pressure on his penis, tightening her grip on his shaft and David slipped one hand between her legs which she parted eagerly. He brushed his fingers over her mound then moved lower, feeling her slippery stickiness there, almost surprised at how moist she was. She moved back against the wall of the shower, guiding him towards her swollen lips, parting them with the tip of his penis which, a moment later, he pushed forward.

  He slipped inside her with one gentle thrust, sliding deeper until he was completely enveloped by her wetness. They both gasped from the pleasure and also because it felt as if they’d suddenly re-discovered how pleasurable this sensation actually was.

  David stood motionless for a moment, just looking into Amy’s eyes then he began to move gently inside her.

  She gasped and murmured something he couldn’t hear beneath the lashing jets of water but she gripped his buttocks as if to force him deeper and he responded. Each long, slow thrust into her made them both shudder and Amy kissed him deeply, her nails digging into the flesh of his back.

  He brushed some strands of wet hair from her face but she merely gripped his buttocks harder and pressed herself against him with an urgency he hadn’t felt for a long time. They kissed again and he could feel, as well as hear, her breathing accelerate. He cupped her breasts, thumbing her nipples then ducking his head to suck them again, drawing them between his teeth.

  She said his name breathlessly, rotating her hips to match his thrusts. When he slid one hand down to gently caress her swollen and sensitive clitoris she could control herself no longer.

  Her orgasm hit her quickly and almost unexpectedly. Her body stiffened and he held her tightly to him.

  He felt her muscles tighten around his shaft and she let out a wail of pure pleasure, her body tensing and flexing as he slid deep within her. For what seemed like an eternity, the waves of pleasure racked her body and she clung to him once more, savouring the sensation but also wanting him to stay where he was. As the feeling subsided she allowed one arm to slip from his shoulders, her body shaking. The warmth that seemed to radiate from between her legs filled her whole body, it engulfed every muscle. She felt as if she was floating.

  David increased the pace of his thrusting, eager to reach his own release now.

  They kissed as he drove deeply into her, her muscles tightening around him, coaxing him closer to his peak.

  She touched his face with her fingers and he looked into her eyes as he felt himself reach his climax. With a loud grunt he felt his pleasure explode. He shuddered as he filled her with his fluid, thrusting as deeply as he could to prolong the feeling. She held him to her, enjoying his release almost as much as he did and, when he finally allowed his penis to slip from her, she kissed him again.

  They clung to each other as if stitched together, frozen there beneath the shower spray like a flesh covered statue. She felt his seed trickling from her, mingling with the water, running down her thighs to be washed away in the warm torrents.

  If she’d believed in a God of any kind, Amy might have prayed that feeling never ended.

  ‘I love you,’ she whispered.

  ‘I love you too,’ he told her.

  It was all that mattered for now.

  THIRTY-TWO

 

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