American Heroes Series - 03 - Purgatory by Kathryn Le Veque Page B

of
sight, he turned to Elliot.
    “Can I call you Ellie, too?” he
teased softly.
    She broke down into soft
laughter. “The only person who ever calls me Elliot is my mother,” she said.
“To everyone else, I’m Ellie.”
    “You could have told me that
before I introduced you as Elliot.”
    “You didn’t ask.”
    He was glad to see she was
smiling again. “All right, Ms. Ellie,” he turned to look at the open front
door, smelling the smoke from the fire. “I’m thinking that maybe you and Alec
should stay at a hotel tonight.  It would be safer than….”
    She shook her head strongly,
cutting him off. “No way,” she said firmly. “This is my house and I’m staying.
I’m not going to let some dumbass chase me out of my home.”
    Nash scratched his head. “I
didn’t think you would take my advice,” he muttered. “Well, I suppose the only
thing to do is to post a couple of deputies here tonight.  Tomorrow we can
figure out what we need to do to secure the place.”
    “Wait a minute,” Alec was
standing in the doorway, his young face serious. He looked at his mother. “Mom,
I think the sheriff is right.  You need to go to a hotel. I’ll stay here and
watch our stuff.”
    Elliot shook her head at her son.
“Sweetie, I appreciate what you’re saying, but I’m not leaving. I survived Los
Angeles and the Rodney King riots. There’s no way a bunch of hillbillies are
going to chase me from my new home. I’m staying. But I think you should go to a
hotel. You wanted to, anyway.”
    Alec backed off. “If you’re
staying here, I’m staying here. I’m not leaving you alone.”
    “I won’t be alone,” she assured
him. “Nash said he’s going to station a couple of deputies here tonight.”
    Alec shook his head vigorously,
much like his mother had a few moments earlier, and backed off into the house.
    “I’m not going anywhere,” he said
as he walked down the central hall towards the staircase.  “I’m going to go set
your mattress up.”
    Elliot let him go, turning to
Nash once her son disappeared from view. She smiled weakly at him.
     “You’ve run into a couple of
stubborn people,” she told him.  “We’re staying.”
    Nash wasn’t particularly pleased
but he understood.  He tried one last time. “Are you sure I can’t talk you into
going?”
    Her smile broadened. “No. Like I
said, we’re stubborn. Plus, I spent a hell of a lot for this place and I’m not
leaving my investment.  But you already know how much I spent for it so I don’t
have to tell you.”
    His grin was back. “Are you sure you don’t want your money back?”
    She laughed softly. “Never,” she
insisted. “The only way someone else will get this place is if I die or if they
marry me.”
    Nash’s smile faded. It occurred
to him that the latter part of that statement was not such a bad idea.
     

 
     
    CHAPTER FOUR
     
    When Elliot awoke the next
morning, bright sunlight was streaming in through the cracks in the taped-on
newspaper.  The room was fairly bright. Wrapped up in her comforter on her
California king mattress, she blinked her eyes several times, orienting
herself.
    Propping herself up on her elbows,
she looked around the enormous bedroom.  The bed, as big as it was, was dwarfed
by the size of the room. Four massive beds would have fit very comfortably into
the chamber.
     Sitting up, she yawned and
rubbed the sleep from her eyes. It was difficult not waking up in her bedroom
in her home in California, the same bedroom that she had her husband had shared
for twenty years.  As much as she had wanted to get away from it, as she gazed
around the dilapidated bedroom of Purgatory, she realized that she equally
missed it. It was an odd, somewhat depressing, realization.
    But there was no use dwelling on
it. She had moved here for a reason and today, she was going to jump into this
life that she had sought for herself and for her children.
    In spite of the humidity already
in the morning air, the