Shadow of Doubt by Melissa Gaye Perez Page A

him.
    Jordan re-emerged with bags in hand.  He sat them near the door.  I guess I'd better put Myron downstairs in his kennel.    I don't wanna come home to my house torn apart.”
    He disappeared below to lock the little pooch in his 6' x 12' pen he had built just for him under the house.  He made sure he had plenty of food and water to last for days.
    Dolly sat quietly for a while as they drove, still feeling a little depressed.  Still no one had reported her missing and no one had recognized her in the photo that had run in the local newspaper.
    “Did you call Lydia and tell her we were leaving?  You promised her you would,” she suddenly remembered as she turned to face Jordan.
    “Hell no...I can't stand that...woman,” he muttered with an evil little grin.  “It's none of her damn business where we go or what we do.  You're not some kind of criminal on parole or anything like that.  You just don't know who you are!”  he laughed out.
    Dolly couldn't help it.  She burst into laughter as well.  She loved Jordan's smile and felt she was going to enjoy this trip very much after all.
    Then Jordan flipped open a cooler on the floor between them, reached in and handed her a cold can of beer.
    “Here…if you travel with Jordan Scott you gotta get drunk on occasion.  It's the rules,” he told her grinning widely.
    Dolly smiled curiously at him but took the can and watched Jordan reach in and grab himself a can of soda.
    “Why aren’t you gonna have a beer?”
    “Cause I'm driving,” he stated.
    “Oh...this is good,” she then replied after bravely popping open her beverage and tasted it.
    “Drink up, there's plenty,” he told her as he placed his own can between his muscular legs so he could reach over and flip the lid of the cooler shut again.
    They drove and talked and laughed for what seemed like hours.  Dolly was glad now to see Jordan actually enjoying her companionship for once.  The thought of returning to that dreadful shelter sent chills of horror through her body.  She no longer felt like she was in Jordan's way, they were actually having too much fun together.
    “I'm gonna tell Lydia you got me drunk,” she then stuttered out as they teased with each other.
    “Better not I'm still not too sure you're old enough to be drinking that stuff,” he remarked looking at her wondering again about her age.  He just couldn't make up his mind.  Was she or wasn't she old enough to be out on her own.  “Of course she was, or she wouldn't have been out in the water alone that night to begin with,” he convinced himself.
    “Well...I'm drinking it anyway,” Dolly said as she raised her pilsner can in the air as if to toast him and took another drink.
    Jordan laughed at her.  He thought she was cute indeed and was rather glad she was here to brighten up what would have been an otherwise long and boring trip.  The trip he has made so many times alone...but never had he enjoyed it quite the way he was enjoying it this time.
    They arrived in North Carolina much into the darkness.  Jordan backed his trailer into the spot he had reserved for them, unhooked it from his truck and began hooking up all the electrical and plumbing connections.
    Dolly watched with amazement.  “He must do this a lot,” she thought as he expertly finished up, and rather quickly.
    “Madam,” Jordan playfully stated as he opened the door to the trailer and swung his arm to motion her to enter ahead of him.
    “You're such a gentleman,” she stuttered back then stumbled up the two steep steps, Jordan breaking her backward fall with a firm powerful hand and a gentle push to the mid section of her back.  He shoved her inside.
    “Don't let that get around,” he teased.  “I'm not supposed to be helping damsels in distress.”
    “This is cute,” Dolly admitted as she fell to the couch just inside the door and looked around the small room.
    The kitchen and living room ran together with a small fold down table on