A New Hope - Robyn Carr Page 0,102

and then east toward Coquille. She passed a barbed-wire-encircled industrial lot where construction equipment seemed to be stored. Guard dogs patrolled inside the fence, an eerie sight. Nearby, there were storage lockers of the large, commercial capacity. A convenience store and bar were on the corner across the street from a run-down apartment complex. Customers were spilling out onto the street with their drinks in front of the bar. A bunch of teenagers were hanging out in the parking lot and a police car was parked nearby, an officer in the front seat. On the other side of the convenience store was a motel. The vacancy sign was flashing, missing the V. She passed through a sparse neighborhood comprised of old houses, crossed some railroad tracks, made a few turns and assumed she was leaving the populated area for the more rural area. Then the nice GPS lady informed her that her destination was on the right and she noticed the entrance to a trailer park. There was an outdoor lavatory attached to a small Laundromat. There were exactly two security lights shining down on maybe twenty trailers of various models. Among the mobile homes was an old Airstream, a few fifth wheels, a couple of abandoned trailers. The ground was dirt and a couple of trailers seemed to be well lit with outdoor lights for the purposes of beer-drinking gatherings or home auto and motorcycle mechanics. There was a police car at the far end of the one-street park. Two officers were cuffing a couple of men who wore jeans and leather jackets and looked dangerous to Grace.

She spotted Lin Su’s car sitting next to a very small fifth wheel with one dim light shining inside. It was more of a little camper. The car was parked very close to the single door. And in the yard between Lin Su’s trailer and a mobile home a man and woman who appeared to be drunk were having a very loud, very angry argument. The man—who, Grace noted the irony—wore a wife-beater T-shirt and was gesturing at the woman with his beer bottle. The woman wore a bathrobe. And the only vehicle at that residence was an old truck up on blocks.

The squad car was now moving toward Grace. There were two officers in the front and two passengers in the back. The driver pulled up next to her and rolled down his window. “You looking for someone, ma’am?”

“I guess I’m lost,” she said with a nervous giggle. “I’m going to turn around and reset my GPS.”

“Well, if you’re coming to buy something, the drug store is closed.”

Grace’s eyes grew round. She swallowed.

She drove to the next wide space in the road and maneuvered the Jeep into a U-turn. She drove out of the park, slowly. An elderly man was taking a bag of trash out to a silver garbage can that was chained to a post. She noticed that his mobile home had a screened porch and some patio stones forming a walkway to an ancient Oldsmobile.

The place wasn’t a complete ghetto and drug haven. But it was poor. Very poor. And there was no place for a boy to play; no beach or park. She had no idea where the school was but if Charlie had to walk there, he would be crossing railroad tracks, industrial parks, storage lockers and passing the convenience store, bar and seedy motel.

She stopped at the entrance of the trailer park, made sure her doors were locked and turned on the dome light to program her GPS to take her home, though she was certain she could remember the way. Then she got out of there.

She was sure it looked a lot better by the light of day. After all, not having a lot of money was no crime. She even thought about taking a drive out this way the next day to see if her worst instincts were confirmed or if she was just scared of the dark. There was one reality she was certain of—Thunder Point didn’t look like that after dark. And if there were drug dealers in town, they were very well hidden. And domestic disputes? Seth hated them, but he took action—no one was waving beer bottles around, yelling at each other in their yards.

When she got home, she dropped Charlie’s backpack on one of the dining room chairs.

“Grace?” her mother called.

She went to her mother’s bedroom.

“Lin Su phoned,” Winnie said. “She wanted me to know Charlie left his