The next morning I woke up at about eight, got dressed, gathered my things, and left the motel, heading south along the road. I briefly stopped for breakfast at a café I’d spotted the previous day, and then began my drive towards the area where PowerJack had dropped off the radar.

Soon I found myself getting lost in thought, admiring the landscape. I’d always liked driving through the mountains. To be honest, I liked the mountains, period. The steep slopes, strewn with trees, boulders, shrubs, gave me a sense of peace. Almost every vacation I had, I spent hiking – I was considering thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail one of those days. If it hadn’t been for my job, which required me to keep contact with people, I would have gladly moved out of the city to somewhere more natural and remote.

I shook myself as I felt my car shudder a little bit, as if the engine was struggling. Weird. While the road was a bit steep, it wasn’t that bad, and a mini SUV like the one I was driving should have no problem climbing it.

I was getting to a hairpin turn when the engine blew up.

Well, I say “blew up” but it was rather a half-choked BWOMPF. No flames, but a cloud of steam suddenly emerged from under the hood, and the car lost all power; I barely managed to use what momentum it had to pull over on the outside of the turn before the engine died completely. I quickly pulled the handbrake, grabbed my stuff, and hurried away from the vehicle; it wasn’t the first time I’d been in a car that had had serious trouble, and I didn’t want to get caught inside it should it catch on fire.

After a few minutes I was seeing no flames, so I dropped my bag on the ground and cautiously approached the car. Steam was still billowing from under the hood, but there was no other outward sign. I reached inside and popped the hood; when I opened I could clearly see what had caused the problem – one of the pistons was poking through the top of the engine. I was no mechanic, but I could tell that car wasn’t going anywhere.

I sighed. What a way to start my investigation. I walked over to my bag and pulled out my cellphone, to call the car rental agency and tell them what had happened.

No signal. Of course there would be no signal. I was deep into the mountains, there was no way I was going to be able to make a call from there. And, as my rotten luck would have it, the car had broken down almost precisely at the midway point between Deer Lodge and the town I was planning to visit that morning.

I thought about my options: I did have a signal back in Deer Lodge, I could walk back there. Walk the twenty or so miles back there, along the road, through the mountains. Or I could walk the twenty or so miles to my destination, and hope I would get a signal there.

Deer Lodge it was.

I wasn’t that bothered about having to walk, I’d done my share of long hikes in my time, it was more that I was annoyed that I would waste the whole day, and probably even more until the rental agency could get a replacement vehicle to me. But it couldn’t be helped. I sighed, and started walking.

I had made it about half a mile when I saw a pick up truck climbing the road towards me; I waved it down, and it stopped on the side of the road, the driver’s window rolling down.

It was Claire.

“Oh, you’re a sight for sore eyes, Claire,” I said.

“Good morning, miss Shaeffer!” she replied, cheerily. “What are you doing here?”

I smiled. “It’s Tonia. And I’m afraid my car broke down about a half-mile uphill from here, so I was walking back to Deer Lodge.”

Claire smiled in return. “Well, jump in, Tonia! I’ll give you a ride.”

I walked over and opened the passenger side door, then paused. “Don’t you need to get back home?”

“Nah, it’s fine,” Claire answered, waving me inside the car. “There’s nothing that needs doing right away except for milking the cows and feeding them, and I can ask a neighbour to do that. We do small favours like that for each other all the time.”

I nodded as I fastened my seatbelt, and she turned the car around, starting back the way we’d come from. “And besides,” she continued, “I can’t just leave you alone to walk back to town, can I?”

“Appreciate it.”

While going back to town we started chatting, going back to the things we’d discussed in passing the previous evening. Talking with Claire was very pleasant. At one point Claire excused herself, saying she needed to sort out something; she pulled out her cellphone, connected a pair of earphones to it and dialled. We’d gotten out of the no-signal zone, obviously. After a few moments, Claire started speaking with the person on the other end of the line.

“Hello, Damian? It’s Claire, Claire Rose.” A moment of silence, and then she continued: “Yeah, I’m fine, thank you. Listen, I’ve been down in Deer Lodge to run some errands, but I’m running a bit late. Do you mind having Andy run over to my place and milk the cows?” Claire said. “And also let them out to graze, I’ll feed them this afternoon when I get back.” Another brief silence. “Great! Thank you so much! I owe you one. Bye!”

She hung up, and then turned to me. “That was Damian Kent, he owns the farm next to mine. We’ve known each other for years.” She paused. “Er, I say farm next to mine but it’s, like, a good five miles away down a dirt trail. Y’know, Montana,” she said, shrugging.

I nodded. “Must be nice having someone who you know has your back in case of need.”

“Don’t you have anyone like that in your life?” Claire asked.

“Nah, not really,” I replied. “I mean, there’s my sister, I can always count on her for small favours. But she’s family, and has her own stuff going on, I can’t burden her too much.” I thought a bit. “Emily, maybe? My editor Emily Whitney, I mean. But everything I’ve ever asked of her has been work-related, we don’t really talk outside that.”

“Sounds rough.”

“Yeah, it is. And also I don’t know why, maybe it’s my job or something, but I’ve never been able to hold down a relationship down for very long.”

That wasn’t exactly true; I knew precisely why I always broke up with my girlfriends after only a couple months. In a relationship every partner has to have their own personal spaces and, most importantly, their secrets that were kept from the others. However, since I could always tell when someone was lying – even though I had to consciously use my powers I invariably fell for the temptation to do so – I tended to be naturally distrustful of everyone. All my relationships had disintegrated because I simply couldn’t leave well enough alone, and always went looking for what my significant other was hiding.

Claire smiled. “So I gather there isn’t a Mr or Mrs Antonia Shaeffer waiting at home?”

I paused. Had she just said that? I guess she had. Huh. I didn’t think a country girl from Montana would so casually imply she wouldn’t have a problem with someone being in a homosexual relationship. Surprising.

“No, there isn’t,” I answered. “And at this point I don’t think there ever will. After all, who’d ever take an old lady like me?”

“Never say never,” replied Claire, shrugging. “I mean, I’m not one to mind an age difference.”

I turned my head to look at her, and noticed the barest hint of a smirk on her lips.

Was she–

Was she flirting with me?

Nah. Can’t be.

We rode the final miles to Deer Lodge in silence. I asked Claire to drop me off at the motel, so I could call the rental agency right away (I had left the number in my room that morning, since I didn’t think I would need it).

“Here we are,” she said, pulling into the parking lot.

“Thank you so much, I don’t know what I’d have done if you hadn’t come along,” I replied. “You saved me, my hero.”

At those words Claire stiffened, but it was just for a brief moment, then she was immediately back to her usual self. “Ah, it’s nothing,” she said, waving her hand dismissively. “I’m sure you would’ve been fine. You’re tough-as-nails Antonia Shaeffer, after all.”

I chuckled.

“Oh, and by the way,” Claire continued, “Hit me up if you happen to be somewhere around Maxville, we’ll get lunch or something. Here’s my number.” She scribbled it down on a piece of paper and handed it to me.

I looked at her, quizzically.

“I mean,” she said, “If you want to. Thought you might want some company, I know how bad it is to eat on your own all the time.”

She was blushing slightly.

“You know,” I replied, tucking the piece of paper in my bag, “I think I will. Thank you, Claire.”

She nodded at me, and I climbed out of the truck. I thanked her again and was about to close the door, when I hesitated.

Oh, what the hell.

“Let’s get lunch.” I said.

Claire looked at me. “Uh… Yeah?” she said. “I thought we’d agreed on that?”

“No, I mean right now.”

Her eyebrows raised. Just a little bit, but I noticed.

“I mean,” I kept going, “It’s almost noon, and it will be afternoon by the time you get back home won’t it? And I want to thank you properly. Let me buy you lunch.”

We were quiet for a few moments, just looking at each other, then Claire smiled and nodded. “Alright, let’s get lunch.”

“Great!” I said. “Just… Hold on a couple minutes, I have to drop off my stuff in my room first. And get the number of the rental agency, and call them and make angry noises in their general direction.”

Claire laughed. She had a very nice laugh. “Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere. Take your time.”

I hurried up to my room, dropped my bag on the bed, and found the rental documents I’d left on the dresser. After a startlingly quick phone call – the girl on the other end was very helpful, and while she was surprised that the car had broken down in such a thorough way she promised they would have it towed and get a replacement to me first thing the next morning – I dashed to the bathroom, brushed my hair, and retouched my make-up.

I looked at myself in the mirror, and decided I was presentable enough. Not that Claire hadn’t already seen me before, so I didn’t need to make a good first impression. But it was good to look nice.

“Showtime,” I whispered to myself, and walked back to Claire’s truck.

When I got there she was on the phone, but said “Alright gotta go, talk to you later” and hung up when she saw me approach. I climbed back into the truck and smiled.

“Okay. Where to?” I asked. “I don’t really know Deer Lodge, after all I’ve only gotten here yesterday.”

“I’m not really familiar with the town myself, I only come down here a handful of times per year,” she replied. Then she put a finger to her chin, thinking. “How about the steakhouse we met at yesterday? Of the few places I know here it’s my favourite, and you seemed to like it well enough.”

“Sounds good! Let’s go.”

For such a small girl, Claire sure could put away a lot of food; the steak she ordered was nearly as big as her head. She was a bit hesitant at first, since she didn’t want to make me spend too much, but her hesitation disappeared when I mentioned I had an expense account I could draw from. As for myself, I ordered a burger, since Claire had mentioned liking the one she’d eaten there the night before.

While we ate we chatted a bit about ourselves. I learned that I’d been correct in guessing her age the night before: she was thirty-four. She had been born around here and lived on a farm when she was young, but had left for a while, to go to Seattle for college, where she studied business administration.

“…But after graduation and after working some odd jobs I started to miss these mountains, so eight or nine years ago… Or is it ten?” She thought for a bit. “Nah, it’s nine I think. Anyway, I bought a farm – yeah, I know, I bought the farm, ha ha, all my friends joked about that – and moved back. I haven’t left since.”

“Bit of a change between here and Seattle,” I said.

Claire chewed and swallowed before answering. “Yeah, but it was a bit too chaotic for my tastes. Here it’s much quieter.” She sighed. “Though sometimes I miss the atmosphere. The… Liberalness, if you’ll forgive the term.”

“What do you mean?”

She paused, and looked at me carefully for a few moments, as if considering what she would say next. Then she apparently decided she could trust me, looked around to make sure no one was within earshot, leaned forward, placed her hand beside her mouth, and whispered: “Uh, you see… I kinda like girls. If you get what I mean.”

I nodded. “Yeah, I get it. Don’t worry, I don’t mind.”

“Thank you. But you see, when I was in Seattle I could just tell anyone, no one cared. Here?” She sighed again. “Here I have to be more careful, while most people are fine with it you can get the occasional idiot who likes to make trouble.”

“I understand. That’s why I rarely mention it when I’m away from home, either.”

I took a sip of beer while I watched her eyes widen. “...Oh,” she said, finally.

We finished our meal, and then she looked at her watch. “Thank you,” Claire said. For lunch, and… For the chat.”

“It’s nothing,” I replied.

“I’m sorry, I’d love to stay and chat some more, but I really have to get going, or I’ll never get home in time to feed the cows.”

“I get it.” I shook her hand, and smiled warmly. “Again, thanks for the rescue.”

“You’re welcome,” she said, as she climbed into her truck. “Also I already gave you my number, so whenever you want to chat… Hit me up?” she said, turning the engine on.

I nodded. “I will, Claire.”

She smiled, one of the most beautiful smiles I’d ever seen, and then she drove away, off towards the mountains.

To be continued in: CLUES