Chapter 17
Sam told Missouri that he and Amelia were going to Canton, Ohio to meet Sheriff Mills, and filled them both in on what his coded message had meant. But nothing he said had convinced Missouri she needed to come with them. Finally Amelia had convinced her to at least get away from her house for a while. Missouri packed a small bag, called her nephew, Walter, to water her plants and pick up her mail. Walt didn't ask any questions, Missouri had needed to 'take a few days off' before. Sam had taken the Impala and found a auto storage facility. When he got back, Missouri was packed. They transferred as much gear as they could out of the Impala's trunk and into Missouri's car; then they drove both vehicles to the locker and left Dean's car behind them. They were headed east on I-70 in less than three hours.
By noon, just after they had crossed the state line; Sam was shocked when Missouri said they should stash her car and pick up a new one in Independence, Missouri. She told them she 'knew someone' who owed her a favor. "Don't look at me like that. You don't know anything about my life, Sam." She said when he had looked at her with a questioning stare. When they got to her friend's place, she hauled a wad of cash out of her bag, and told the guy what kind of car they needed. Missouri told Sam to take his stuff out of her car. Just as he finished unloading her car, the guy pulled up in a mini-van. Her car disappeared as they were loading the gear into the back of the van. They would have been back on the road in less than an hour except Missouri had also asked where they could get a good ID made. So, in less than two hours after they had arrived in Independence, they were headed east again in a ugly but dependable Dodge Caravan with title and registration, Sam had a perfect Missouri State Driver's license, with the name Eliot Ness under his picture and a disposable cell phone thrown in for free.
x
They drove all afternoon, stopping only for gas and once at a fruit stand near an exit ramp. Sam obeyed all the speed limits and rules of the road; they couldn't take any chances at getting pulled over. The evening rush was just easing up as they approached St. Louis. She told Sam to take the third exit, and Missouri gave them directions to another 'friend's' house. She told them to wait for her in the van, and she went to the front door. After a brief conversation with a woman who looked remarkably like Missouri, she returned to the van. "Okay. I'll be good here."
'What?" Both Sam and Amelia asked.
"My friends have been monitoring the news and police scanners all day and there hasn't been a peep about any of us all day, here or in Kansas." She had been getting her bag out of the back while she had been talking. She opened Amelia's door and had her move into the front passenger seat. "Listen, a young white couple on a road trip won't get any attention, add an old black lady to the mix and you stand out like a sore thumb." By then she was reaching into her bag and pulled out a thick envelope. "Here, take this." And she shoved the envelope into Amelia's hands. "I'll be fine. I'll wait a few days and then head back to Lawrence. I know your new cell number; I'll call when I'm sure it's safe to come back and get Dean." She tapped the hood twice. Sam nodded and started to drive off.
"Sam!" Amelia shouted. 'We can't just leave her here."
He was used to being a fugitive, and apparently Missouri had some experience as well. But their behavior completely baffled Amelia. She could sense they both knew what they were doing and this was the safest for all of them. But, knowing they were both doing this as much for her safety as well as getting Dean out of Purgatory only made her miss her new friend even more.
x
Sam stopped to top off the gas tank as they crossed into Illinios, at a station near where I-70 and I-55 meet. He figured they still had two and a half days to get to Canton, about 500 miles. He could make that in less than a day. He had an idea. He spent a couple minutes thinking about it and checking the map, then headed for the ramp to I-55 Southbound. He didn't bother to tell Amelia about the change in plans, thinking she had already seen what he was thinking. "What do you think?" He asked.
"About what?" She replied after a few seconds. That's when he noticed she had been crying and not paying any attention to his thoughts.
"Amelia, I'm sorry this has all been so abrupt for you. Missouri knows how to take care of herself." He noticed the tissue box left between the seats and handed her one.
She sniffled, blew her nose and then looked at Sam. Suddenly her eyes went wide open. "Oh. Yes, I think getting Cassie to help us would be a good idea."
"If we can't use a sheriff's connections, then a newspaper editor's will have to do." Sam smiled at her and rolled his window down to let in the cooling evening breeze as they sped up the ramp onto the freeway.
X
They reached Cape Girardeau, Missouri right after midnight. He hadn't been able, or maybe hadn't wanted, to stop and tell Cassie he was coming. But he also didn't want to go knocking unannounced on doors so late at night. Sam took the first exit into town to look for a motel to grab a few hours sleep. It had been a long time and several hundred motel rooms ago, but he'd swear it was the same one he and Dean had stayed in seven years ago. He'd also swear it hadn't been painted, hell, he wasn't sure it had been cleaned, in those seven years either; it was a dump. Amelia has wrinkled up her nose at the smell when they opened the door. At least Sam hoped it was the smell, not that the motel only had single rooms left and that they'd have to share a bed again.
She told him to grab the first shower, despite his protests that he doubted there would be enough hot water for two showers. By the time he stepped out of the bathroom, the room smelled fresher and the sheets looked crisp and clean. He wasn't sure how she had pulled it off but was too tired to care. By the time she got out the bathroom he had salted the door and windows and he was half asleep sitting at the foot of the bed. When he stood to get the bathroom window, she took the salt and pushed him back onto the bed.
As he crawled up the bed and flopped down on top of the sheets, it occurred to him this would be the third night they had shared a room and the second they shared a bed. Sam was sure that should mean something, but just didn't know what. By the time Amelia came back into the room he was passed out from exhaustion. She smiled at gorgeous man laying there, so tired he didn't have a single thought or dream going through his head. She wished they could have a window open because they were now quite a ways further south and close enough to the Mississippi River the humidity had already made her feel sticky again. She was going to wear one of the T-shirts Sam had offered her the first night, but she forgot to ask him for it. 'Oh well, he's already asleep' she thought to herself as she slipped out of her clothes and under the sheet. 'She'd be up and dressed before he woke in the morning' she told herself as she drifted to sleep.