"Gary?" she called, thinking he was in the bathroom. When she received no reply, she opened the door and looked in. The room was empty. Glancing around the room she saw that his suitcase and clothes were gone. The reality of it all hit her with a cold, clammy stroke when she saw that her own bag, the bag with her savings was gone.
Frantically putting on her slightly damp dress, she raced trough the door and down the mad toward the service station. Her worst fears were realized when she saw that his car was not there.
"Where is he? Where is he?" she screamed at the mechanic.
"Who?" he asked.
"The man with the busted fan belt that I came in with last evenin'!" she sobbed.
"Oh, him. He left early this morning. Said you'd decided to return to West Falls on the bus."
"The dirty bastard!" she shrieked, her teeth chattering and her little body trembling. "He stole my money, all my money!"
CHAPTER FIVE
"What'll I do? What'll I do?" she sobbed to the attendant. "I don't even have a penny to my name."
Taking her by the arm, he led her into the small cafe that his wife operated adjacent to the service station.
"Dora," he said to his wife, "fix this little girl up with some breakfast. Some dude's taken her money and left her stranded here."
Turning to the girl, he asked, "Where was you goin', young lady?"
"I was on my way Reno to visit my aunt," the girl lied.
"Well, honey," he smiled encouragingly, "that's only a few hundred miles from here. You just sit down and have a good breakfast, and if someone stops in my station on their way to Reno, I'll see if I can git a ride for you."
"Thank you," she sobbed.
"Now dry your eyes," smiled his wife. "There ain't nothing so bad that it couldn't be worse."
All morning long, Libby sat by the cafe window watching traffic pass along the highway. Very few stopped at the service station, and those who did were local people, not travelers bound for Reno.