Locked inside the motel room, with the chain done, I also felt the black hole of depression opening up again. I slipped into its dark cavern, the way I had that night in January. And this time there was no charming stranger stranded in a pickup truck to rescue me. For a few brief months, Shelby, I’d been happy. You made me happy. I’d allowed myself to think I could escape my past. But I could see the end of everything coming soon. I just didn’t know what the end would look like.

An hour or so later, there was a knock on the motel door. Automatically, I tensed with fear. Was it him? But Ricky wouldn’t bother knocking; he’d put his foot to the door and kick it in. Then I wondered if it was Darrell, but it was too early for him to be back here with a hamburger from the 126.

I got up from the bed and went to the door and asked quietly, “Who is it?”

“Rebecca?” a woman said.

“Yes.”

“It’s Penny Ramsey.”

I frowned, then undid the chain and opened the door. Penny stood outside, her face still heavily bandaged from the cuts she’d received in the fight with Ruby. On the other side of the parking lot, I spotted a car with a trunk open and luggage inside.

Penny glanced over her shoulder, following my stare. “Yes, I’m leaving town. Ms. Svitak fired me. I’m going back to Milwaukee.”

“I’m sorry.”

“She says employees of her firm don’t get into bar fights. I told her it wasn’t my fault, that Ruby started it. She didn’t care. She told me I’d compromised the lawsuit with my behavior, that I’d interfered with one of her key witnesses. I don’t know, I guess she’s right. But that wasn’t what I was trying to do. All I did was fall in love with Ajax, you know?”

“Yes, I know.”

She shook her head sadly. “He was using me, wasn’t he? It was never real. He was stringing me along to find out what was going on with the lawsuit.”

“That was Ajax,” I said. “He manipulated people. You weren’t the only one.”

Penny scowled as she looked at her feet. “I got a call from the county attorney this morning. He told me that Ruby pled guilty to a misdemeanor and they turned her loose. Unbelievable. She pays like a hundred bucks to the court and promises to be a good girl. That’s justice, huh? I’ll never be able to look in a mirror again without crying for the rest of my life, and she goes home to her kids like it was nothing.”