Just as Charles was struggling to figure out what was bothering Lara, he caught the sight of a Sheriff's patrol car driving slowly through the campground. He notice it stopping at a campsite, with a deputy getting out to talk to the campers there. It appeared as if the deputy handed them a paper and then left. The patrol car then moved forward to next campsite, and deputy got out again.
"Lara, you might want to go inside the RV."
"You want me to go inside?" Lara asked, quietly.
"Yeah, I'd say you should go inside."
Lara hesitated, then looked around, not really understanding why Charles suggested it. But she slowly got up and walked into the motorhome.
Charles got up and began cleaning up the camp, making sure there wasn't anything questionable laying around.
Inside, Lara sat in the reclining chair, and resumed her comfortable position of pulling her knees up and resting her feet on the edge of the seat. She could still see a little bit of the patio mat through the screen door.
Charles opened the door and walked in. He wanted to make sure there wasn't anything questionable inside as well.
Lara noticed him working and could sense something was going on.
Peeking out the kitchen window of the motorhome, Charles wanted to find out how much closer the Sheriff's patrol car was. It looked to be a few campsites away.
Lara opted to remain in the chair, choosing not to look outside and find out what Charles was concerned about.
Charles took in a deep breath.
"Don't make any sounds OK? Just stay quiet."
"What's going on?" Lara asked, calm and nonchalant.
"There's a Sheriff's car coming around. It looks like they're passing out flyers. I don't think there's going to be a problem, but seeing that I have a young naked young girl with me, I don't want them questioning any further."
Lara became instantly concerned. She stood up from the reclining chair and peeked out another window to look. The car was just two campsites away. At this point, even if she wanted to run, the police would see her clearly.
"Like I said, just stay in the chair, and don't make a sound OK?" Charles repeated.
Lara sank back into the chair. She had become frightened. She pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her face on them. Meanwhile, Charles stepped outside on to the patio mat and closed the door behind him. He sat down in a folding chair.
Minutes later, Lara could hear the officers outside talking. She tried carefully to listen, but the sounds were somewhat muffled through the walls of the motorhome.
Instinctively, her hand reached to her clitoris and began soothing. She closed her eyes and submitted herself to the safety of both the motorhome and to Charles. She could now understand Charles' focus on protecting her in the way he ordered into the motorhome, cleaned everything up, and gave explicit instructions on what to do. It made her feel erotically safe and protected.
The door opened and Charles stepped in.
Lara looked up with innocent childlike eyes, still with her hand touching herself.
"They're gone now."
Lara straightened herself.
Charles placed the flyer in Lara's lap.
It was a wanted posted with Lara's face and identity.
"I think you have some explaining to do!" He said in a serious voice.
"For kidnapping and narcotics trafficking?" Lara asked, reading the poster. "What?"
The poster went on to say that Lara may be nude.
"I told them I hadn't seen you. But they said there were other campers who claimed to have seen a naked girl wandering around today. You can bet there will be more police here soon."
"Shit!" Lara cried.
She bolted up from her chair and opened the door to the motorhome. But just as she did so, Charles clutched her arm and pulled her back.
"Get back in here! They are out there right now!"
"I can't stay here!" Lara cried, panicking. "They're going to blame you too! Just let me go!"
"No, you sit right down! You let me handle this for now!"
Charles grabbed Lara and muscled her back into the reclining chair. Then he leaned forward, put both hands on the armrests, and looked Lara straight into her eyes.
"The best thing for both of us right now is to let me handle this. If you bolt out that door, they will see you and they will see you coming out my RV! You got that? That means they are going to come in here, they're going to go through everything, and they'll probably take this RV away. Right now we have to be quiet and act as if nothing is going on. OK?"
Lara nodded her head in agreement.
"It might help if you can explain what this is all about." Charles asked.
"I think it's about when Julia and I were at Nan's house near Asheville. That's when we started seeing the police. They've been chasing after us ever since."
"And? What is the kidnapping and narcotics trafficking all about?"
"I think maybe they think I kidnapped Julia, I don't know."
"Julia's the friend you left home with, right?"
"Yeah."
"And what about the narcotics trafficking?"
"I don't know anything about that."
"Have you ever done drugs?"
"No! Never!"
"Have you ever sold drugs or made drugs?"
"No! I've never done anything like that! Honest!"
Charles thought about it for a moment.
"You said the woman at that house was named Nan?"
"Yeah, Nan."
"Do you know her last name?"
Lara thought about it. Then she shook her head. "No."
Charles raised his hands and then threw them down in frustration. "If we knew her name I could at least try to look her up and see if she's on an arrest report."
Lara felt defeated and useless.
"Well, the problem is that I'm still paid up at this campground for another three days. If they find out I left early, they might suspect me."
"How would the cops know how long you're paid up?"
"Because they go through all the reservations to find clues. They're very smart!"
Lara's eyes opened wide, she remembered something.
"Anderson! Her last name was Anderson!"
"Who?"
"Nan! I remember seeing the mailbox at the road. It said Anderson on it."
Charles turned on his laptop and began searching through news and arrest reports for Nan Anderson.
"But I don't remember her mother's name." Lara continued. "But they had a nice farmstead with a pretty creek and little bridge. And I remember the barn. It was really old. But it had all these old antiques in it. Oh, and there were deer that would come on their property..."
"I think I found them!" Charles said. "Nancy Anderson, age 37, and Doris Anderson age 60, both from Old Fort, were arrested on charges of narcotics trafficking."
Charles continued to read through, looking for any mention of Lara or Julia.
"Yeah, but there's no mention of you or anyone else in here. So, that's what it is. The police arrested them and thought that you were connected with them."
