“What’s good?” he asked scanning the page.
“If I were you, I’d definitely have the Country Breakfast. It’s the one at the top.”
“Juice, three eggs, any style, choice of ham, link or patty sausage, or bacon,” he read. “Cottage fries, hash browns, biscuits and gravy, grits or seasonal fruit, toast, English Muffins, short stack of pancakes or homemade biscuits and fresh preserves.”
“That sounds pretty good,” he said. “I’m hungry too.”
The woman arrived with their coffee. “Now, what ken I getcha?” She poised her pencil stub over her order pad and looked expectantly at Elgin.
“I’ll have the Good Morning platter, please. Scrambled eggs, bacon, fruit cup and biscuit.”
“And you?”
“I’ll have your Country Breakfast, please. Orange juice, eggs over easy, link sausage, cottage fries and fruit please and a double order of biscuits and preserves.”
“You must be hungry,” the waitress commented as she finished scribbling.
In a moment, she returned with a water glass of orange juice.
Harm, expecting a juice glass half the size, looked at it quizzically and then at Elgin.
“I guess you looked like you needed extra vitamin C,” she responded, trying not to giggle.
Shrugging, he drained the glass in a few gulps and replaced the glass.
“So, you say your place is about another three hours?”
“Uh-huh.”
The door opened and a man and woman came in, dressed in jeans and T-shirts. They took a table on the other side of the room. The waitress went to their table.
“Howdy folks,” she greeted them brightly. He ordered coffee and she ordered tea and the waitress retreated again.
After bringing the newcomers their drinks and taking their orders, she reappeared at their table, burdened with platters and smaller dishes.
“Okay, here ya go,” she grunted, retrieving plates and placing them on the table. “One Good Mornin’ and one Country.” She set a regular sized dinner plate in front of Elgin and a serving platter in front of Harm and a soup bowl of mixed fruit off to the side. A covered basket, two tubs of butter and a rack of small glass jelly jars, red, orange and purple.
“Getcha anything else?” she inquired. “Catsup er hot sauce fer yer eggs? More coffee?”
“No, I think we’re fine.”
“Well, you holler if you need somethin’. Enjoy.”
Harm stared at the mountain of food facing him.
“Christ,” he exclaimed in a hushed whisper, “look at this. These must be ostrich eggs. And there’s gotta be half a pound of sausage here. I didn’t realize when they said ‘Country’ they meant enough food to feed one.”
“Well, I’m sure you can handle it.”
He could almost feel the sharp point of her jab. She was making fun of him, convinced he couldn’t get it all down. Well he’d show her.
They ate in silence but he could almost hear her counting the bites, waiting for him to throw in the towel and admit defeat. Fuck you, bitch.
She sipped her second cup of coffee when he finally forced down the last bite of potato and dropped his fork.
“Whew,” he breathed, “that’s quite a feed.”
“I’m surprised you finished it,” she purred. “Takes quite a man to handle the big jobs.”
“Yeah, well if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to see a man about a horse.”
He stood and looked around the room.
“In the back,” she helped. “Down the hall, all the way to the end. Can’t miss it. Got a picture of ‘John’ Wayne on the door.”
Stuffed, he could barely move and the men’s room seemed to be on the other side of the moon. Inside, he checked the single stall and went to the urinal. A few moments later, the door opened and the other male patron took his place beside Harm.
“Anything?” the stranger asked.
“Just that we’re still about three hours from wherever we’re going. We stopped here to eat and top off the tank before we start into the mountains.”
“Jan’s keeping an eye on her. When our friend hits the powder room, she’ll try and strike up a conversation. See if anything drops.”
“Wave her off,” Harm replied. “She’s a smart cookie and despite the façade, she’s nervous as a cat. Caught her watching our back practically as often as me. If she sees you coming in here and then Jan starts asking questions, she’s bound to add it up. I don’t want to take any chances on blowing this. Again.”
“Okay. We’ll peel off here then. GPS is tracking you from about two miles back. We’ll keep in touch.”
“Thanks.”
Finished, Harm washed his hands and left, still weighed down with the enormous breakfast. It had been a stupid, childish thing, he realized now, taking her up on what had amounted to a dare. Something Jeanne might have…
Stop it, he told himself, angry that she’d surfaced so unexpectedly, especially in the same thought as this woman.
Returning to the main dining room, Harm saw that the booth and the table were empty. Oh well, it couldn’t be helped. Women used the restroom in places like this and perhaps Jan could glean something useful in passing.
Raising his hand, he signaled to the waitress.
“Can I have our check please?”
“Lady already paid it,” she answered uncertainly. “Right after you went to the men’s room, she asked for the check, got up and went down the hall. Expect she’s in the ladies.”
“Thanks.”
A couple more minutes went by and Harm checked his watch again. Why the hell did women always take so long in the bathroom?
Jan appeared at the other table but didn’t sit down. Instead, she threw Harm a panicked glance and tilted her head ever so slightly toward the rest rooms. Picking up her jacket, she moved back down the hall. After waiting a few seconds, he stood, stretched and followed her, trying to appear casual and unhurried.
He found her just around the corner, pretending to use the pay phone.
“She’s gone,” Jan blurted out, anxiety and fear making her voice a harsh whisper.
Chapter Seven
Harm felt his heart miss a beat and his blood go cold.
“What do you mean, ‘She’s gone’?” he growled, leaning down into the smaller agent’s face.
The young woman flinched and went pale.
“She…she called the waitress over,” the woman managed to stammer, “paid the check, got up and came down here. I thought she’d gone to the ladies’ room so I waited a few seconds and then followed her. I didn’t want to make her suspicious. When I got there, the door to one of the two stalls was closed so I went in the other one and pretended to use the toilet. When I came out, it was some other woman.
“I got back out here as quickly as I could and then realized there’s an exit up there, just before the ladies’ room door. It leads to the side of the building. Nate’s out checking the parking lot and the woods now. The trees come up to within about fifty feet of the door.”
“Okay,” Harm breathed, trying to think, “she can’t have gone far. Go on out the front and scout the street. Make like you’re window-shopping or something.
“I’ll go out and help Nate. We’ll meet back at my car in five minutes. My radio and cell phone are packed in my bags. She didn’t want me to bring them and I couldn’t take a chance of her spotting them. If you see anything, contact Nate on his radio. Now get going.”
Jan scurried away and Harm almost ran down the narrow hall to the door, opening about midway down the side of the building. On his left, down near the rear corner, sat two big, green dumpsters, one open, one closed. To his right, part of the gravel parking lot and the road beyond. Directly in front of him and curving as far as he could see, a stand of tall pines against a pale blue sky.
It would be so easy he thought. Pretend to be coming or going to the men’s room, hanging by the side door. A gun jammed in her back, a hand clamped over her mouth, “make a sound and I’ll kill you,” a car parked just outside the door. Gone in a matter of seconds.