The Runaway and the Farmer's Daughter Read online

  “What's going on?” Andrew asked the bartender.

  “Officers are looking for the murderer,” the bartender said. “They'll be in and out of just about every building for the next couple of days.”

  Andrew felt a chill go through his spine. He wanted to immediately run out of the bar, but he couldn't. It would be far too obvious. Instead, he smiled softly and ordered a beer. He kept his head down and hoped that he could fly under the radar. Luckily, the police officers seemed to be through questioning the people at the bar. They were slowly moving out into the street, and they never even talked to him. Andrew peeked up from his beer for a moment and saw Brian in the window. His heart skipped a beat, but he tried not to show his fear.

  “Another beer?” the bartender asked.

  “Absolutely!” Andrew announced.

  “They're probably going to the hotel right now. I wouldn't be surprised if they go through your room,” the bartender told him.

  “Oh, I have nothing to hide,” Andrew said. “They can go through everything.”

  “That's good to know. Being the only American around, I think that you're one of the main suspects. Luckily, when the officers asked if you matched the description of their informant, I told them that you were nothing like the description.”

  Andrew looked up and could see a glimmer in the bartender's eyes. Andrew knew for fact that he was the only person in town that could have possibly matched the description. The bartender just didn't want to turn him in. Andrew was very happy that he had been tipping him well.

  “Thank you,” Andrew said.

  “I'm not going to say anything,” the bartender said. “I think you are good for the town. I also don't like the other American telling the policemen everything. We don't like snitches around here.”

  “I just hope that I don't get caught,” Andrew said.

  “What happened? Did you actually kill the guy?” the bartender asked.

  “No. They just think that I did. He was my partner. I never would have killed him.” Andrew said.

  “Partner? Like kissing partner?” the bartender asked.

  “No. My performance partner. I'm a magician,” Andrew told him.

  “A magician? You do magic tricks?” the bartender looked confused. Andrew realized that not many people in town had an opportunity to make a living being a performer.

  “Yes. I make people disappear and do card tricks,” Andrew told him. He felt silly that he didn't appreciate the biggest luxury that he had while growing up with money: he had opportunities. He thought of his parents buying him tricks and outfits.

  “It looks like they are out of the hotel now,” the bartender told him. “I hope that you're safe.”

  “Me too. I'm going to head out and go to bed. I have work again in the morning,” Andrew said. He left double his average tip that night.

  He walked into the inn as quietly as he could and slowly made his way to his room. He didn't speak to the owner of the hotel, and he shut his lights off as quickly as possible. He just wanted to hide. He couldn't sleep that night. He was terrified that the police were going to walk into his hotel room and surprise him at some point in the night. He hoped that the hotel owner didn't tell the police about him staying there. He hoped that the innkeeper needed the rent too badly. Luckily, the police never walked through the door in the middle of the night. When Andrew got up the next morning, he smiled at the innkeeper and gave him a tip. The innkeeper nodded back and went on with his duties.

  Chapter Seven

  Andrew didn't think about leaving at all when he saw the police. It wasn't even an option after he started a relationship with Josefina. He couldn't possibly leave her. He appreciated that the people in town seemed to be helping him. After succeeding in hiding the night before, he was relatively confident that he could stay incognito until the police and Brian left. Andrew didn't have time to be surprised about Brian turning him in. He also didn't have time to skip work. Andrew walked down the road with his head down. The more discreet he could be, the better. He quietly walked over to the field and started work. He still kept his head down while he was working. He could swear that his coworkers knew that he was acting differently, so he tried to keep his head up a little bit more.

  “You look down today. Don't tell me that you've changed your mind about my Josefina,” José said to Andrew.

  “Absolutely not,” Andrew said.

  “Good. She was rather excited about your walk,” José said.

  “I'm glad to hear it,” Andrew smiled.

  “Well, I wanted to invite you to dinner tonight, if you'd be so kind as to join us.”

  “Fantastic! I'll see you after work.”

  Andrew couldn't think of anything better. Not only would Andrew get a good meal and get to hang out with his new girl, but he'd have a great place to hide on top of it. Work was much more relaxed throughout the rest of the day. When the workday was over, Andrew tried to stay behind to not make it too obvious to everyone else that he was staying for dinner. He didn't want to generate any other problems for himself; he had plenty of problems already.

  He slowly made his way to the house and knocked on the door.

  “Why are you knocking?” Lupe said when she opened the door. “Come in! Come in!”

  Andrew felt extremely welcomed in the home. Josefina smiled when she saw Andrew walk in the door. She was in the kitchen, but she put her pot down and came to give him a hug.

  “I didn't know that you were going to be able to come to dinner tonight. That's great!” Josefina said.

  “Yes. Your father invited me, thankfully. He should be coming in any moment,” Andrew said.

  “Great!” Josefina smiled.

  The house was just as lively as it was the first day. The children were running around the house, and Lupe and Josefina were laughing in the kitchen. José came inside and started talking to Andrew. Andrew felt like he was being interrogated a bit.

  “So what did you do in America?” José asked.

  “I was a magician,” Andrew answered.

  José laughed.

  “No wonder you seemed like you were working so hard in the field. You had no idea what it was like to actually work a day in your life,” José said.

  “I've had a couple of fast food jobs before that,” Andrew said meekly.

  José laughed again.

  “I'm just teasing you, man. You're a very good worker. A good work ethic will translate in any work environment,” José said.

  Andrew relaxed and continued to answer José's questions, but he was relieved when the women started bringing the food into the dining room.

  “Look at that! It looks delicious.” Andrew said.

  “Thank you. You're easily impressed, though. This is just a normal dinner,” Josefina laughed.

  “I never had homemade meals at home,” Andrew said. “My family really liked to order out.”

  “That's so silly. It's much better to eat a meal cooked with love,” José said.

  “I'm really liking it,” Andrew smiled.

  Suddenly, there was a knock at the door in the middle of dinner.

  “Who could that be?” Lupe asked.

  “Josefina, will you go answer the door?” José asked his daughter.

  Josefina walked over to the door. Her tone started perky, but her voice quickly started dying down. She stared at Andrew as she walked back by herself.

  “Papá, there are officers at the door with an American looking for another American. They have been looking in town but haven't been able to find him. They want to ask you if you've seen him,” Josefina said.

  José immediately looked at Andrew.

  “Go hide,” José said.

  “Yes, sir,” Andrew said. He ran over to the nearest closet and went inside. He could hear José answering all the questions. He held his breath and hoped that José wasn't going to tell the police that he was in the closet. Finally, after about five minutes, Andrew could hear the front door close. Soon after, there was a
knock on the closet door.

  “You can come out now,” Josefina said.

  Andrew walked out meekly. He knew that he was going to have to explain a lot about himself. He walked back to the table and saw that his plate was still there. José was looking at him with a stern expression.

  “Do you have anything you'd like to tell me?” José asked.

  “I have had a little bit of trouble with the law lately,” Andrew said softly.

  “No. Really?” José asked sarcastically.

  “My partner was murdered. I was framed. I left to get away from everything. The guy I paid to drive me out here in his truck decided to rat me out for a reward,” Andrew explained.

  “I don't like people who rat on friends. Especially for money,” José said.

  “Me neither. I was quite disappointed, to be honest with you,” Andrew told him.

  “I bet. I also don't like people who aren't honest with me. Were you ever going to tell us about this? Even after you asked me to date my daughter?” José asked.

  Andrew could feel the eyes of Lupe and Josefina on him.

  “To be honest, I wasn't going to say anything, sir. I wanted to leave all of that behind me, especially considering I didn't do anything,” Andrew said.

  “Is there anything else I'm going to find out later? That you actually did do it? That you are wanted in other places?” José asked.

  “No. I can assure you that you officially know everything.”

  “So what was your plan? I'm surprised that you didn't run after you saw the police officers in town,” José said.

  “I just couldn't. I like it here,” Andrew said.

  José nodded.

  “Well, I think that you and Josefina have a lot to talk about. You answered to me, but I'm sure you have a lot of explaining to do with Josefina. You don't have to clean up tonight, mija,” José said.

  Josefina got up and gave Andrew a mean look. Andrew followed behind her and walked out of the house. Josefina looked around for a moment outside of the door before proceeding.

  “What are you doing?” Andrew asked.

  “I just want to make sure that the police who are chasing you for murder aren't still on the property. We had to make a great excuse to explain that extra plate, by the way,” Josefina said.

  “I'm sorry!” Andrew screamed.

  “When were you going to tell me?” Josefina said, starting to walk down the road quickly. Andrew tried to keep up with her, almost talking to her back.

  “I didn't think I would ever have to explain this to you. I'm so sorry. I promise there's nothing else that you will have to worry about,” Andrew said.

  “How am I supposed to believe that?” Josefina asked.

  “This isn't fair,” Andrew said. “I didn't even do anything.”

  “It becomes a problem when you have the police show up to my father's house and make us hide you. I was terrified. Did you even think about my little brother and sister?” Josefina asked.

  “I understand. I never meant for any of that to happen,” Andrew said.

  “It doesn't matter that you never meant for it to happen. The fact is that it happened,” Josefina snapped. “Why are you even still here? I'm surprised that you didn't just leave when you saw the police in town yesterday.”

  “I didn't leave because I'm in love with you, and I didn't want to leave. I wanted to stay with you. I would rather risk life in jail than not be with you.”

  Josefina stopped and turned around. She looked at Andrew with a heartfelt appreciation in her eyes.

  “Is that really why you stayed?” she asked.

  Andrew walked up to her slowly and put his hands on her shoulders.

  “Of course that's why I stayed here. I couldn't bear to leave you,” Andrew said, looking into her eyes.

  Josefina leaned in and gave Andrew a kiss. Then she hit him on the chest.

  “Don't ever put me through anything like that again!” she screamed.

  Andrew and Josefina walked over to the river together. Josefina let go of all her anger, and they enjoyed themselves as the sun came down. The river looked particularly good with the vibrant colors of the sunset above it.

  Chapter Eight

  “Can I please talk to you, sir?” Andrew asked when he and Josefina got back to the house.

  “Of course,” José said.

  The gentlemen went outside where they had a couple of chairs. José gave Andrew a beer.

  “What did you want to talk about?” José asked.

  “I'd like to take tomorrow off, please,” Andrew said.

  “Why would you need to take tomorrow off?” José asked.

  “I just feel horrible about what happened tonight. I realized that there is absolutely no way that I can continue to hide like this. Especially not if I'm going to give Josefina the life that she deserves,” Andrew explained.

  “Aren't you going to end up in jail?” José asked.

  “I'm going to do everything that I can to convince them that I didn't do it,” Andrew said.

  “Well, I wish you the best of luck. I respect your decision, but Josefina is going to be disappointed if you don't come back,” José told him.

  “I really do plan on coming back. I just don't know how long it will take. I might need to go back for a trial, and it might take some time. Just tell Josefina that I will be back,” Andrew said.

  “Fantastic,” Andrew said. “I'm going to head out. Hopefully, I'll be back very soon.”

  Andrew headed down the road back to town. He stopped at the bar first. If he was going to go to jail the next day, he needed to get good and loaded that night.

  “Hey. You haven't been caught yet,” the bartender joked.

  “It's not that funny right now. I think that I'm going to turn myself in tomorrow. I can't take this anymore. And I can't do this to Josefina if I plan to be with her,” Andrew told him.

  “Does that mean you'd rather have tequila than beer tonight?” the bartender asked.

  “Absolutely. A lot of it,” Andrew answered.

  “Aren't you going to go straight to jail when you turn yourself in?” the bartender asked.

  “Unfortunately,” Andrew said.

  The tone was morose that night. Andrew felt like he was having his last meal before he was being taken to the electric chair. There was a great chance that if he was convicted, he would get the electric chair, considering how violent Chris's murder was.

  “I'm sorry that you're going to have to leave us soon. I was really starting to like our conversations together,” the bartender said.

  “Me too,” Andrew mumbled. “Me too. Well, I'm starting to see double, amigo. I have to leave.”

  “I'll miss you, my friend,” the bartender said.

  Andrew fell into his bed too drunk to even think about what was going to happen the next day.

  The next morning was rough, but Andrew made himself get up. With that, Andrew headed over to the nearest sheriff's office to tell them that he was the man that they were looking for.

  He stood outside the sheriff's office for a couple of moments before heading in. His stomach was turning, but he knew that he had to do the right thing. He had to turn himself in and face the legal system like a man. He walked in and was surprised to see how small the office was. Brian was at the main desk, though.

  Brian smiled when he saw Andrew walking in the door.

  “That's him!” Brian screamed. “I told you that I was going to find him here.”

  An officer approached Andrew with his handcuffs already out.

  “Andrew Kloopa, I presume?” the officer asked.

  Andrew nodded and held out his wrists to be arrested. The cuffs confined him, and he was led to a solitary cell. The cell was extraordinarily dirty. Their feces were on the wall by the toilet, and he saw a spider crawling on the floor.

  Brian walked up to the cell, jeering at Andrew.

  “What do you want?” Andrew snarled.

  “I just wanted to get a good look
of you in the cell. You made this too easy for me, my friend,” Brian said. “What did you expect me to do after I saw the ad for a reward?”

  “Well, I definitely didn't expect you to throw me under the bus,” Andrew answered. “I paid you well. Too well. And I thought you were a friend.”

  “I guess that you should be careful with someone who is willing to transport you across borders as a wanted murderer,” Brian said.

  “You know that I didn't do anything!” Andrew screamed.

  “How do I know that?” Brian asked. “For all I know, you did do it.”

  The officer finally came up to the cell.

  “Please leave the prisoner alone,” the officer told Brian. Brian walked away from the cell with a smile on his face.

  Prisoner. It was not a name that Andrew enjoyed. He was going to need some time to adjust to this new label.

  Time moved so slowly in the jail cell. Andrew tried saying the alphabet backwards several times, counted the lines in the floor, and imagined different defense techniques for his court date. Only a couple of hours passed, though.

  The officer came up a couple more hours later. Andrew sighed and anticipated the worst. He assumed that he would be sent back to America. At the moment, he didn't mind that because at least the cell would be much cleaner. Hopefully he wouldn't have to watch Brian staring at him.

  “Come outside,” the officer said, opening the cell.

  Andrew walked out solemnly, waiting to hear where he would be taken next.

  “You're free to go,” the officer said.

  “Excuse me?” Andrew asked.

  “You are free to go. You are no longer wanted in the United States. The police in America have found the real murderer. You were never a suspect,” the officer said, undoing his handcuffs.

  Andrew almost couldn't believe it. He knew that he didn't do anything, but he was surprised that he was being released so quickly. The handcuffs being removed was like a huge weight being taken off his shoulders. He hugged the officer and immediately ran out of the police station and ran to Josefina's house to tell her. He didn't even say anything to Brian before he left.