Jules Hinton's Strange Trip:Chapter Six by JCH and Kas  

         By 2:00 p.m. the next afternoon they had passed the outskirts of Dallas, heading east on the interstate.  Jules had gotten in touch with Ed who, it turned out, had a friend looking for a bike.  The guy had a second hand car--an old Camaro--that he was willing to trade for the bike, even in the condition it was now in.  Ed brought along some of the band and they pushed the bike up a ramp and onto his friend’s pick-up truck. Transferring his insurance to the car had taken a little longer, along with the title transfer and tags.  Jules knew enough about cars to know that it could easily make the trip.  Keep it at 55, check the oil every day and watch the temperature.  They had spent another night at the motel, then left early the next morning.
         They had been talking for several hours but Jules could not remember any of the conversation and that bothered him.  It wasn’t that he wasn’t paying attention.  Well, there were other things on his mind, not the least of which was the nagging thought that he really did not know anything about this girl.  A chance meeting at a roadside diner, then another one at an out-of-the-way club.  What had she told him about herself?  Well, she was hitchhiking.  A general distaste for the course her life seemed to be taking.  That was about it.  But then, what had he told her about himself?  Jules thought about asking her out right, but then she started trying to find a good station on the cheap radio and the moment seemed to pass.
         Jules had given up on the aspirin making the headache go away.  It did help make the pain a little more bearable and Jules decided that was good enough for him.  For the time being.
         It was late, after midnight, and they had stopped at a fast food place to get a bite to eat.  They had talked about riding on through the night, taking turns driving.  In the end, however, they decided to get a room in the chain hotel adjacent to the fast food parking lot.  They’d sleep a few hours, eat a good breakfast, then leave early in the morning.  Jules found himself looking forward to getting back home.  He’d see Tim, visit his mother, get a clean bill of health, and then leave again.  But would Nikki want to keep traveling with him?  He hoped so, but he would not allow himself to get his hopes up.  Everyone always left him.  Always.  And she would too.  Someday.

         Nikki was taking a shower the next morning when Jules went to check on the car.  He hoped that the tires would hold out.  He found himself missing the motorcycle.  But at least it wasn’t a brand new bike, just an older model that he had worked on just for the trip. He also needed to check the oil and water in the old car.  Jules froze.  There was a man circling it.  Even though he was in civilian clothes, Jules knew immediately he was a cop.  The cop was looking in the car window, at some of the bags in the back seat.
         “Can I help you?” Jules asked.
         “That sure is a nice car,” the man said.  “With a little work...  Yours?”
         “Yes.” Jules answered warily.  “I just bought it.  Well... traded it to a guy for a motorcycle.  Someone slashed the tires a couple of days ago.  The bike tires.”
         “That’s a shame,” the cop said.  “I used to have a car like this.”
         Jules didn’t like the tone of the man’s voice.  Did he suspect him of something?  If he did, he should just come out and say it.  “I have the title in the glove compartment.  I could show it to you.”
         “I’m sure you could.”  The cop looked at Jules for a long moment.  “Where are you from?”
         “Virginia.”
         “Long way from home.”
         Jules didn’t reply.  Just looked at the man, nodding.
         “Well, you have a nice day, sir.  You enjoy your trip.”
         “Will do.”  Jules watched the man walk across the parking lot to an unmarked police car.  He got in and appeared to be looking through some papers.  Jules just shook his head as he went back to the room.
         Nikki had just finished dressing as he unlocked the door.  “Ready to go?” she asked.
         More than you know, he thought.  “Sure.  If you are.”
         He opened the door and came face to face with the cop.
         “Can I ask you a few questions?” the cop said.
         “I thought you already did.”
         “I need to ask you a few more.  Maybe you’d like to come to the station with me.”
         "Maybe I wouldn't," Jules said, without really thinking about it.
         “What is this about, officer?” Nikki asked.  “We were about to head out.”
         “It won’t take long, Miss.”
         Jules did not like where this was going.  “I don’t see any need for me to go to the station.  If you have any questions for me, you can ask them here.”
         “O.K.  I will.  Have you been to the convenience store across the road in the past twenty-four hours?”
         “I haven’t been there in my entire life.  What is this about?”
         The cop ignored him.  “Do you mind if I look through your bags?”
         “Yes, I do mind.  If you think I’ve done something, just say it.  If not, we’ll be leaving.”  Jules was about to walk past the man, but the cop pushed Jules hard against the wall and frisked him.
         And then read him his rights.
         “What’s the charges, man?” Jules insisted.
         “Armed robbery, sir.  As if you didn’t know.”  He said as he put the handcuffs on.
         As the cop pushed Jules out into the hallway, Nikki was screaming at him.  “What are you doing?  He’s been with me the whole time.”  And then to Jules, “Don’t worry, baby.  I’ll get you out.”

         “You’ve been read your rights, Mr. Hinton.  I want to remind you that you don’t have to say anything without a lawyer present.”  Jules had been sweating it out in a room about the size of a broom closet.  The cop who had arrested him had been replaced by two more cops.  One was a slightly overweight man who introduced himself as Detective O’Connor.  The other was a middle-aged African-American woman who Jules assumed was O’Connor’s boss.  She was the one who had reminded Jules that he did not have to talk to them without a lawyer.  He thought she was probably expecting him to confess then and there.
         “I don’t need a lawyer,” Jules said.  “I haven’t done anything.  Like I told the idiot who arrested me, we got in town late last night.  We checked into the hotel and went straight to bed.  I woke up and went outside to check on my car.  That’s when your genius came up to me.”
         “What time did you get in town?”
         “It was around midnight, I think.”
         “You think?”
         “Yes.  It was around midnight.  We went to the fast food place near the hotel first.”
         “The fast food place across from the convenience store?”
         “I guess so.  I think I saw it when I was looking out the window.  I thought I’d probably stop there and get some gas before we headed out this morning.”
         “Did you go?”
         “No, we didn’t get the chance.  I was arrested first.  Listen, can I make a phone call?”
         “You’ve already made one.”
         “I couldn’t get in touch with who I was calling.”
         He had made a call to the hotel room earlier but no one was there.  He assumed that Nikki, wherever she was, was doing something to help get him out of this mess.  He wasn’t anymore fortunate the second time he tried to reach her.  In the back of his mind, he wondered if she had split town the first chance she had.  If he had been in her shoes, that what he would have done.
         After the second phone call, he decided he’d get a lawyer himself, a public defender.  While he was waiting for the lawyer to come, they took him to the back of the jail.  He was strip searched, finger printed, made to wear an orange jump suit and flip flops, then put in a cell with three other guys.  It was his first time in jail.

         “What are you in for?” one of the guys asked.  He had been in the same cell with these guys for more than an hour before they approached him.  They had been playing cards and had barely looked at Jules.
         Jules had seen movies about prison life and while this wasn’t exactly prison, he assumed the rules still applied.  Never let them think you’re afraid.  But do make them think you’re crazy.  That was why Jules had sat on what he figured was his bunk and began rocking gently back and forth from the moment he was put in the cell.  Every once in a while. he would began repeating, "This cant be happening to me.  This can't be happening to me."
         “I knocked over a convenience store,” he said.
         “Shit, man.  So did I.  How much did you get?”
         “A few hundred,” Jules replied.  “But it’s not doing me much good right now.”
         “Don’t worry about a thing.  The cops around here are a bunch of stupid fucks.  By the way, I’m Gary.  Scott and Bobby are the goons in the corner.”
         Jules shook hands with them all, then told them stories about all the other times he had never been in jail.  Before long, the four were fast friends.  They even invited him to join their poker game, which he made sure to lose.
 
         The door opened down the hall a few hours later and a fat cop walked up to the cell.  He talked much louder than was necessary in the small confines of the jail.  “Hinton!  Jules!  Verne!  Come with me.  We’re about to nail your sorry ass on this armed robbery.”  He unlocked the cell, then led Jules down the hall to another room.  There were four other men already there, all about Jules’ build and general appearance.  Jules knew he was about to be part of a line-up.  He started to object that he had not been allowed to see his lawyer, but decided not to.  He had nothing to hide.
         He was the middle one and it struck him how similar he looked to the other four.  Probably all criminals, he thought.  Although he knew from watching TV that some of these guys were probably friends of cops or just people of the street.  He may have been the only one to have come out of a jail cell.  After five minutes of turning left, then right, then stepping up, then back, he was led back to his cell.  It would be another two hours before Jules saw his lawyer.  He introduced himself as Max Klein, then apologized for not getting there sooner.
         “I’m real sorry about this, Mr. Hinton.  You shouldn’t have even been arrested.  The old woman behind the counter couldn’t identify you.  And the surveillance video wasn’t much help either.  The tape probably hadn’t been changed in five years.  The cop who arrested you is a little wet behind the ears, too.  Either way, you’ll be getting out as soon as the paperwork is finished.  You can get your car out of impound and leave all this behind.”
         It was a great relief to Jules.  He knew he was innocent, but wasn’t naive enough to believe that innocent people never went to prison.  Now all he was worried about was finding that Nikki had left him behind.  If she was still around, she certainly would have come to visit him.

         The first place he went after being released was back to the motel, straight to the front desk.  The man there told him that there was no record of a Nikki Cauthen renting a room that night.  She also had not kept the same room in his name.  (He had got the room in his name the night before.)  Jules was about to walk out of the motel, get in his car and leave this place behind when the man behind the counter called him back.
         “I almost forgot.  She left her bag in the room.  The maid found it when she was getting it ready for the next rental.  Would you like it?”
         Jules was instantly worried.  Why would she leave her bag?  The answer, of course, was that she wouldn’t.  Maybe it wasn’t even her bag.  But when the man walked out of the backroom with it in his hand, Jules recognized it immediately.  He took it out to the truck before looking in it.
         Everything was in order.  And that was what worried him.  If she had split without him, she might leave her bag, but would never leave everything in it.  All of her clothes, her make-up and her personal hygiene products were in there.  It was on his second look that he found the envelope.  Inside were forty crisp 100 dollar bills.  He had wondered how Nikki had financed her hitchhiking days.  And now he knew.  A thousand questions sprang to mind, followed quickly by possible answers that he tried to ignore.  Best not to think about it for now, he reasoned.
         Jules went back to the police station.  The cop who had arrested him was behind the desk, though he pretended not to recognize Jules.  Jules tried his best to explain why he thought Nikki was missing.
         “Relax,” the cop told him.  “She probably just got freaked when we arrested you.  She’ll turn up.  Or maybe she won’t.  But I’m sure she’s fine.  But if you’re still worried about her this time tomorrow, come back in and fill out a missing persons report.”
         Jules walked back out of the station scared and worried for Nikki.  Then, he saw an ambulance speed down the road with the lights flashing and siren blaring.  He jumped in the truck and followed it.  Sure enough, there was a hospital a mile down the road.  He went to the Admissions desk.
         “Yes, I’m looking for a Nikki Cauthen.  She may be a patient here.”
         The woman typed her name into the computer as quickly as he said it.  “Sorry.  No one by that name in the record.  Are you sure she was brought here?”
         “Not totally.”  He thought about it for a moment.  “Could you check for any Jane Does in the ER?”
         She went back to her computer.  “Yes, there was one brought in a few hours ago.  It was a DOA, a Caucasian woman in her mid twenties.”
         Jules closed his eyes.
         “Why don’t you go through those doors and take a left.  Follow the signs from there to the ER.  Maybe you can ID the body.  For your sake, though, I hope you can’t.”
         The walk to the ER seemed like to take forever.  For a moment, he had to lean against the wall as his knees began feeling weak.  He stopped the first nurse he saw.  Don’t let it be her, he prayed.
         “The lady at Admissions sent me.  She said I may be able to identify the Jane Doe that was brought in.”
         After five minutes of searching, the nurse found the paperwork on the patient.  “She was taken to the morgue.  I’ll call ahead to tell them you’re on the way down.”  She gave him directions on how to get there.

         Jules sat in the car with his head in his hands crying.  It hadn’t been Nikki.  He knew that even before the attendant had pulled the sheet from over the body of the corpse.  He had caught a glimpse of the hair from under the sheet.  Even though it was dark like Nikki’s, it was obviously not as curly as her hair.
         But he didn’t know why he was crying.  Was it relief that it wasn’t Nikki?  Grief that someone somewhere was wondering if their loved one was alive?  Or a release of his emotions of the last week?  What was he going to find out when he saw the doctor?  Did he have a tumor like his father?  Or was he just going crazy?
         He went back to the motel to rent a room.  She might come looking for him.  He made sure to park the car where it could be seen from the road.  But all he ended up doing was pacing the room and looking out the window every five minutes.  He was about to leave again when the phone rang.  He prayed that it would be her.
         “Mr. Hinton, this is Detective O’Connor.”
         “Yes.”  Jules wondered what they thought he had done now.  Robbed a bank?  Murdered someone?
         “I’m glad I caught you.  I wasn’t sure if you were still in town.  I was told that you were asking about a Nikki Cauthen.”
         "Yes, sir.  I’m very worried about her.  Do you know anything?”
         “I know where she is.  I’m about to head there myself.  She was just taken to the hospital about forty-five minutes ago.”

         The first person Jules saw when he walked through the doors at the ER was the nurse who had helped him less than two hours before.  She led him down a hall to a room where Nikki was sitting on the end of an examining table.  She looked good, he thought.  All except for a black eye, and a few scratches.  Detective O’Connor was standing in front of her with a pen and notepad in hand.
         “Hey, you,” she said.  He went to her and they hugged.
         “What happened?” Jules asked.  He was facing both Nikki and the detective.
         “I’ll leave the two of you alone for a moment.  I’ll be down the hall getting a cup of coffee if you need me.”
         Jules closed the door after O’Connor left and turned toward Nikki.  “How are you?”
         “I’m fine, Jules.  I was just afraid that you’d think I ran off on you when I didn’t come to the police station.”
         “It never crossed my mind.  Well, maybe once.  Or twice.”
         She smiled.  “Well, I didn’t.  O’Connor said you’re not a suspect anymore.”
         “I’m glad to hear that.  But I’d rather hear about you.  I was worried.”
 She breathed heavily.  “After they arrested you, I called a lawyer out of the book.  He told me to come by his office.  So I left my bag in the room and walked to the office.  It was just right down the road.  But I didn’t make it there.  I was walking behind the grocery store on the other side of the hotel when this car came up beside me.  Before I knew what was happening, I was attacked and thrown in the trunk.  The guy drove around for a long time, then took me to a dirt road.  That’s where he tried to rape me, but I got away.”
         He didn’t know what to say.  “Nikki, I’m sorry.  I mean, I wish I had been there for you.”
         She smiled.  “You’re here now.  That’s what counts.  I’m just glad you got out of jail.  I guess that means you have some kind of police record now.”
         “Yeah, I’m a rebel.  A dangerous kind of guy.  At least, that’s what my cellmates think.”
         “I’m not sure I want to know.”
         O’Connor knocked on the door and stuck his head in.  “I hope I’m not interrupting.”  He walked in without waiting for a reply.  “I talked to the doctor.  She said there was no reason for you to stay the night.  I hope you’ll stick around town long enough to look at some mug shots in the morning.”  Nikki gave him a blank stare.
         “I don’t know how much good it’ll do.  I didn’t really get a good look at the guy.”
         “Anything will help.  We’ve put an APB out on the car you described.  I think we can catch this guy.  If there’s nothing else, I’ll leave the two of you alone.  Mr. Hinton, I hope there’s no hard feelings about this afternoon.”
         Jules shrugged and looked at Nikki.  “How do you feel?”  Detective O’Connor slipped out of the room.
         “I feel fine.”  She stood up and hugged Jules.  “But I’d feel a lot better if we could get out of this place.  Did you go by the hotel?”
         “Sure did.  I got another room and picked up your bag.”
         “Good.  I feel like going to bed.”
         “Yeah.  I could use some sleep too after today.”
         “Sleep?  Who said anything about sleeping?”
 
         Jules stepped back from the window and let the curtain fall.  He had taken another glance out at where he had parked, and this time he had seen the car.  A second later, he calmed down, once he had recognized one of the officers from the station.  He wondered if they were looking for Nikki or keeping an eye on him?  But who knew where the man was that had attacked Nikki.
         Nikki was taking this good, Jules thought.  Almost too good.  She was resting peacefully in a hot bath while he was pacing the room.  Almost raped, but she’s treating it as nothing more than a minor traffic accident.  And what were the chances of him being arrested for something he didn’t do and her being kidnapped just an hour later on the same day?  It wasn’t that Jules disbelieved her; the black eye was more than the proof that he needed.  It was just that she was taking everything too well.  He had been the one crying in his car after seeing the dead body of some woman he never knew.  Well, crying at the thought of never seeing Nikki again.  Never knowing if she was alive or dead.  Or maybe relief that he had not been able to identify her body.
         “Jules?”
         “Yes, Nikki.”
         “Why don’t you come join me?  The water’s terrific.”
         Jules stepped into the bathroom and leaned against the door.  Just seeing her there, even with the bruises, was enough to make his blood begin to boil.
         “Listen, are you okay?  You just seem to be shaking these things off like they’re nothing.”  He didn’t wait for her to cut in.  “It’s like I’ve become a magnet for strange events lately.  Or maybe it’s just Texas that we need to get out of.  I don’t know.  But, listen, what do you want me to do?  Do you want me to take you home?  It won’t be out of the way at all.  I’d do anything for you.  I want you to know that.”
         Nikki slid further down into the soapy water and closed her eyes.  “Do you think that this the first time that something like that has happened to me, Jules?”
         “I don’t know.”
         “Okay, well, let me tell you then,”  the sound of irritation rose into her voice from somewhere, giving it an edge, something that Jules was not expecting.  “What I said when we met wasn’t entirely a joke.  There are a lot of sick people out there.  And I seem to have met most of them.  One place is the same as another.  You think sometimes when you travel to another place that seems... so far from your home and everything that you know will be different.  But it’s not!  The people in one place still stare at you with their ugly, hateful eyes staring from their ugly, hateful faces.  I’ve seen men that remind me of my grandfather who have said things to me that would make your skin crawl.  You can’t get away from it.  I came to that conclusion a long time ago.  You just can’t go around thinking that everyone you meet is going to be as... as kind and friendly to you as someone from your hometown.  Or as good to me as you’ve been.”  She had opened her eyes and was staring at him as if drilling her words into him.  He had found himself nodding in agreement with her.
         “I hate to say it, but maybe it is different for guys.  I can't imagine having to deal with that sort of thing.”
         “What?  Stupid, sick people?  What about being arrested for something that you didn’t do?”
         Jules got the feeling she was trying to change the subject.  “That’s nothing compared to what you went through.”
         “Yeah.  Whatever.  I don’t want to talk about it.”
         “Maybe it would be better to get it off your chest.”
         “Maybe it would be better to get something off your chest.  Like that shirt.  I imagine you could use a bath after your time in the big house.”  She smiled, any hint of anger gone as suddenly as it had appeared.
         Jules snorted a laugh and began to pull his shirt over his head.

         The phone rang, waking him with a start from a dream about riding the bike.  He grabbed the phone awkwardly, pulling himself carefully out of Nikki’s arms.
         “Hello.”
         Nothing.  Someone was on the other end of the line, though.  He could hear a sharp intake of breath and then a dial tone.
         “Who was it?”  Nikki asked, awake now, and staring at him in the half-light streaming through the curtains.
         “Nobody.  Nothing,” he said, hanging the phone up and pulling his half of the bedspread back over his legs.
         “I thought maybe it was the police again,” she said, stifling a yawn with the back of her hand.  But she was watching his face.  He tried not to let his worry show.
         “Probably just a wrong number.”  Which reminded him that maybe he would try to call his brother again in the morning.  Just to let him know where they were now.  But he would never tell him what was going on now.  Never tell him about his arrest or what had happened to Nikki.  Jules stared up into the darkness.  He felt Nikki snuggle closer and slip an arm across his chest.
 

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