Chapter 2: Home and Hearth

It was still dark outside when Adam woke up. His diurnal rhythm had him up between five and six every morning, almost regardless of what time he went to bed. After being behind the wheel nearly all of the previous day, his body was screaming for exercise, so he dressed in sweats and sneakers and went for a run along the roadside. Willie was still out cold when he quietly pulled the motel room door closed.

He stayed under the street lights so he could be seen by passing drivers. As he jogged along in the cold air at a fairly brisk pace, his mind drifted and he began taking stock of his situation. Since he'd left Polk, Illinois seven months earlier, probably only a couple of steps ahead of the law, he'd lived and worked in a few small towns, sometimes as a short order cook, sometimes as a day-laborer at a construction site, and for about two months with a contract janitorial service.

He kept pretty much to himself, knowing intuitively that the less people paid attention him, the safer he'd be from any interest by the justice system. More than once, he'd given serious thought to going back to Ohio and facing whatever charges might be leveled against him for killing a dirtbag pedophile who'd managed to coax a seven year-old boy into the bushes. He'd seen the kid go into the thicket and got curious. He followed and found the predator holding the kid by the wrist and trying to make him touch his exposed dick. Adam, real name Errol Hansen, lost it and grabbed the guy, pounding him twice in the face as hard as he could. Too hard, as it turned out, because he broke the guy's neck and he died right there on the spot. Sticking around for the cops didn't seem like the best option at the moment.

Months before that had happened, he'd dropped out of college and become a drifter by choice, looking for some elusive thing that might motivate him to choose some productive path for his life. Now he felt like he was a drifter by necessity. Adam Conklin (his maternal grandfather's name) was the second alias he'd used since the killing. The first, Bradley Parker, was the name on a social security card he'd been given by a friendly and sympathetic deputy in Polk. It was the card of a homeless man found dead of exposure under a bridge near town. Adam only used it if he took a job where he had to fill out a job application, but he was always afraid they'd find out at some point that the SSN had been issued to a person now deceased. When he could find jobs that paid cash, he stayed with the name Adam. Of course, if he ever got pulled over by the law for any reason, like a traffic stop, he'd have to use his real name because that's what was on his driver's license. He planned to fix that as soon as he figured out how.

He was fairly certain from careful web searches that there was no manhunt underway to find him, and he doubted the establishment lost any sleep over the death of a known child molester. In fact, he doubted if the law even knew exactly who they were looking for. So maybe the aliases and staying on the move was paranoia on his part, but he preferred to think of it as exercising reasonable precaution. The object now was to avoid contact with the law for any reason. As long as he could manage that, he felt reasonably safe.

As he turned around somewhere near the middle of town and headed back toward the motel, he thought about Willie. What an attractive and appealing woman she was! But she was also an enigma. He didn't think she'd been actually lying to him about anything, but she certainly hadn't been completely forthcoming. Not that he had any right to expect her to be. He'd given a hitchhiker a ride, and that was all there was to it.

But she had offered to show him around Taos and they'd just spent the night in the same motel room, so their relationship had moved a little beyond the motorist-hitchhiker association. When he picked her up, she mentioned something about her destination being just outside Taos. He wondered where that was, exactly. Was she going to be staying with a friend, or even a lover? Adam mentally chastised himself when he felt a sudden flash of jealousy at that thought. As if he had any right!

Well anyhow, he'd grown to like her, so he'd just enjoy whatever time they could spend together until he drove her to her final destination. Then he'd probably head down to Santa Fe or Albuquerque and start looking for work.

As he neared the motel, he saw what looked like a decent cafe just down the road. He'd treat Willie to a good breakfast when she woke up.

She was already up and dressed when he stepped into the room.

"Morning, Adam. Where ya been?" Then she looked closer at his sweaty face and sweat-soaked running togs. "Never mind. You've obviously been out for a run. I wish you'd kicked me out of bed to go with you, because I really need it."

He wiped his face with a hand towel. "You were sleeping so peacefully, I couldn't bring myself to wake you. You up for some breakfast?"

"Starved!"

"I saw what looks like a nice cafe a couple hundred yards toward town. Let me grab a quick shower and I'll treat this time, okay?"

"Deal! I'll make a couple of calls in the meantime. How's the weather out there?"

"Um, pretty crisp, probably in the mid-thirties, but the sky's clear so I think it's gonna be a nice day. Do I still get that two-dollar tour?"

"That's about all it will be worth, but sure. After that, I'll give you directions to my place."

That caught him by surprise. "Your place? You live here?"

"Yes. Well, no, I haven't lived here before, but I do now. Starting today. When my grandmother Wilhelmina died a couple of years ago, she willed me her house in Taos and a fair amount of money to go with it. The day I turned twenty-one was the day I packed up and left my folk's house. That was four days ago. The call I'm making is to her lawyer here in town to tell her I'm here to take possession."

It took Adam a few moments to take it all in. "Whoa! So you're landed gentry!"

She shook her head. "I wouldn't go that far. It's more modest than you're probably imagining."

He glanced at the alarm radio on the night stand. "It's only seven o'clock. You saying your lawyer is already in her office?"

"No, I'm calling her cell number because she wanted me to let her know as soon as I was in town. She needs to send someone up to the house to open it up and make some calls to get the utilities turned on. I guess the propane tank needs to be filled, too. We've got plenty of time for our tour."

"Yeah, thanks. I'm looking forward to it. So give me ten minutes to make myself presentable and we'll go get you a nice birthday breakfast."

"I'll be waiting."

In keeping with the cafe's southwestern motif, they had some amazing huevos rancheros, coffee and juice for breakfast. After a quick potty stop in the motel room, they checked out and began their tour of the city.

Taos has quite an interesting history. The oldest part of town, Taos Pueblo on the north side may have been inhabited for a thousand years. Of course, the locals were subjugated by the Spanish conquistadors and their priests in the fifteenth century, so the pure Indian culture degraded after that. In 1640, there was a little uprising when the natives couldn't take it any longer. They rose up and killed their priest and a few of the Spanish settlers. They abandoned their pueblo for a while, but eventually moved back and resettled it.

Willie showed him some of the art studios (all closed) and some of the performing arts locations. He loved the adobe architecture and thought how efficient it must be in the heat of summer.

By lunchtime, they'd seen about everything she had any knowledge of. The temperature had risen into the low seventies and they were sitting under a tree in a park working on some take-out burritos and iced tea.

Adam was reluctant to part company with her, but it was time. He reached behind her to toss the wrappers into the trash bin and said, "If you'll give me directions, I'll drop you off at your new home before I head south."

She asked, "Do you really have to go? I mean, there's no job waiting for you or anything, is there?"

"No, but there's nothing here for me either, and I think I'll have better luck finding work in a bigger city. I'm sure you have lots to do in your new house. I really appreciated the tour, but now you have a life to get on with."

She laid her hand on his arm. "Well I was just thinking; I'll bet the place is gonna need some major cleaning after being closed up for so long, and I was wondering if you'd be interested in helping out. I'm gonna need to do some serious shopping as well, and of course, I don't have a car yet. The place has five bedrooms, so there's plenty of space. It's free room and board. Are you interested?"

He smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I'm definitely interested, but I thought maybe there might be a boyfriend hidden away somewhere."

"Nope, I'm all alone in the world; or at least I will be if you drive off and leave me."

"In that case, count me in, at least for a while. We wouldn't want to leave you stranded and alone in the big city, would we?"

"Thanks, Adam, I really appreciate that. The first item on the agenda is to go to the lawyer's office to sign off on a lot of paperwork. I'm supposed to meet her at one o'clock, so I guess we can head on over there."

He handed her the car keys and suggested, "Maybe you should be the driver today. It'll save you having to give me directions every two minutes."

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea." She took the keys and stood. "Shall we?"

The law offices were located in a building that looked like a conglomeration of individual adobe structures stacked together in a haphazard fashion that wound up looking good, somehow.

As they entered the suite, a cute, very Indian-looking receptionist looked up and asked, "Miss Downey?"

So that's her last name, he thought.

"Yes, I have a one o'clock appointment with Mrs. Torres."

"She's expecting you. Have a seat and I'll let her know you're here. Would either of you care for something to drink?"

They both declined and dropped into expensive leather chairs. They'd been waiting for less than a minute when a tall, strikingly attractive lady in her fifties came out to greet them. She smiled broadly and held out her hand. "Miss Downey, it's so nice to finally meet you in person. Your grandmother talked about you all the time."

"Thank you, Mrs. Torres. I'm anxious to get this business taken care of once and for all. As you're well aware, my father has done his level best to screw it up."

The lady acknowledged Willie's frustration. "I know, dear, but that's all been dealt with now, and there are no more obstacles. Please follow me back to my office and we'll finalize everything." She looked approvingly at Adam and added, "Is this your young man?"

Willie shook her head and said, "Well, not in the sense you mean. This is Adam... ," She looked at him and blushed, realizing she had no idea what his last name was.

He was quick to fill in the gap. "Conklin. Adam Conklin. It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Torres. I'm just along to help Willie get settled into her new home. We're friends."

The business in Mrs. Torres' office took only about twenty minutes. There were a few legal forms to sign, and some bank documents establishing Willie's new checking and savings accounts. When they began to discuss actual dollars and cents, Adam stood and said, "Um, this stuff is none of my business. I think I should wait in the lobby."

Willie said, "Oh, that's okay, Adam. I don't mind."

But Mrs. Torres agreed with him. "That's very considerate of you, Mr. Conklin. Perhaps it's best."