Anyplace But Here (Oklahoma Lovers 4)

“I’m hungry. Can I get something to eat?” She hadn’t eaten since lunch the day before, but mostly she needed something to drink, and a chance to use the privy on the train.

“Later,” he mumbled and was soon snoring.

Guthrie, Oklahoma Territory

Hunter once again stood outside the Depot as the waitresses began to leave the restaurant for the night in groups of twos and threes. Only this time he wasn’t waiting for a young lady with bright blond hair. Last night he’d caught up with one of the waitresses who told him Helen Parker was the closest thing to a friend Emily had while she’d worked at The Harvey House. Apparently, Emily had been as closed mouth about herself with her co-workers as she had been with him. The girls he’d questioned knew very little about her.

Miss Parker had been off the night before, so tonight he waited patiently, hoping to catch her as she left. Fortunately, he’d been told she was the only red haired employee, so she should be fairly easy to spot.

He was so busy running various scenarios through his mind of what had happened to Emily that the woman he was waiting for almost passed him by. “Miss Parker!” He hurried to the group of women chatting away.

His target turned and smiled slightly, recognition in her eyes. “Hello, Mr. Henderson.” She broke away from her group and walked up to him.

“You know me?”

“I spent enough time teasing Emily about you.” Her smile faded and she hugged herself, a small shudder running through her. “I wish I knew what happened to her.”

His first reaction was one of disappointment that she didn’t seem to know any more than he did, but then his Ranger experience kicked in, and he asked, “Can I walk with you a bit? I have some questions that might help find Emily.”

She shrugged. “I don’t really know very much, but I’ll be glad to talk to you. Anything to help Emily. She’s really a sweet girl.”

“Did Emily ever talk to you about her family? Or where she came from?”

“No. She mentioned her home in Louisiana, but I had my doubts about that.”

“Why?”

“Well, one time she mentioned something about walking to the beach from her house, but the town she said she came from in Louisiana isn’t anywhere near a beach.”

“Shreveport?”

Helen nodded.

The same thing she’d told him.

“The night Emily disappeared, were you working?”

“Yes. Saturday nights are our busiest so none of the girls have off.”

They turned the corner heading to the boardinghouse. Hunter tamped down his feelings of panic and hopelessness. So many times he walked this path with Emily, and now she was out there somewhere, in trouble. This girl knew no more about her than he.

“Did you see Emily leave the building Saturday night? I understand she walked out in the middle of her shift, with a full station of customers.”

“I think I saw her leave her tables for the last time. But it was such a hectic night, and once she left I had to finish up her customers, so it’s hard to remember.”

“Why do you think you saw her leave her station for the last time?”

By this time they’d reached the boardinghouse, so they both stopped and continued the conversation. “I remember hurrying past her while she was talking to a man. Actually, now that I think about it, she wasn’t really talking, just kind of staring at him like she’d seen a ghost.”

Hunter’s heartbeat sped up.

A man.

“Then what happened?”

“She followed me into the kitchen, and I asked her if she was all right because she was very pale and shaking.”

“Go on.”