Death and Taxes and Change
Interstate 25 was clear and dry and the weather was sunny but cool with a temperature of about 58 degrees. Stephanie Kingman was leaving Las Vegas for what she hoped was the last time.
Not Las Vegas, Nevada, but rather Las Vegas, New Mexico. Her soon to be ex-husband moved them there ten years earlier from Denver, Colorado, where they'd met to take over a car dealership from his father who'd recently been diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer.
Stephanie adored Denver and hated the lesser-known Las Vegas with a passion. It was a small town of about 15,000 and in her mind, it was in the middle of nowhere. Her husband had been born and raised there but left to go to college in Colorado and stayed there after graduation.
Dennis Johnson was four years older than her when they met, and he was so charming and attractive that he swept her off her feet in a matter of weeks. Just 11 months after meeting him they were married and living in a decent home just outside of Denver's city limits. Dennis taught elementary school, and Stephanie never heard anything but the highest of praise for her husband from parents, other teachers, or school administrators.
Not one of them, to include his wife, knew that Dennis Johnson had a secret. A deep, dark secret that had possessed him since he was a young teen. Even after the FBI showed up one morning to arrest him did Stephanie ever even imagine that the man she'd married and lived with and made love to was a child predator.
Now, almost 16 months later, she still felt ill every time she thought of it, and in spite of her best efforts, she thought it about quite often. She'd learn to stop feeding the thoughts when they came to mind like she'd done for the first 10-12 months, but they still plagued her. She just couldn't believe that he could have kept something he was so deeply into a complete and total secret from her, and everyone else, for so long.
After he was...exposed...in Las Vegas, Stephanie learned there had been several victims in Denver and two more in their new hometown. All second graders he'd carefully groomed for months.
She hadn't done anything illegal or immoral, but the shame she felt was more than she could handle. On a whim, an old friend who lives in Santa Fe called her, and as they caught up she found out that her friend had been selling real estate for several years. Her offer to let Stephanie stay with her until she found a home pushed her over the edge about leaving Las Vegas and she was on her way to her new city-to-be.
She pushed those horrible thoughts out of her mind again and tried to enjoy the beautiful, sunny day, and while she'd never warmed up to the stark landscape, she had to admit it had a kind of unique beauty of its own.
She was just 17 miles from Santa Fe when her 'check engine' light came on. The last thing Dennis had bought her was a 2022 Audi, a car she loved but couldn't afford on her own, and now she was concerned. She knew that it could be anything from a loose gas gap to some catastrophic engine failure. She was also well another that since Dennis's name and photo were all over the local news she hadn't taken the car in for maintenance, and it was now long, long overdue.
"Crap!" she said when the engine sputtered two minutes later then shut off. She pulled off the Interstate as the car coasted to a stop then sat there not knowing what to do.
The events of the last year or so came crashing down on her, and within seconds she was having a full-blown meltdown as she cried and sobbed and snotted and slobbered through half a box of Kleenex. She eventually regained control then realized she still wasn't sure what to do.
"Deep breath and think," she told herself as she took several in a row as she used the mirror and a tissue to remove the mascara streaks staining her face.
"Tow truck. So...insurance. Call the insurance company."
She was amazed to learn that no one would answer the phone for a tow truck. It was all automated. She was 'asked' where she was, if there'd been an accident, and which towing company they covered she'd like to use.
"I don't know!" she said out loud as scanned the names.
"How about...Freeman Towing since it's the closest," she said as she clicked the bubble next to it.
Seconds later she saw, "A tow truck will be at your location between 11am and 1pm."
"What?" she said even louder as she looked at her watch and noticed it was 9:45 in the morning.
Exasperated, she called her friend who told her she had back-to-back closings for the next two hours.
"If your tow truck hasn't shown up by the time I'm finished, I'll come get you," she told Stephanie along with a sincere apology.
"No. It isn't your fault or your problem. That's okay. Really. I have water and snacks, and it's not like I'm on some lonely backroad."
"I know, but still, be careful, okay?" her friend cautioned.
"I'll be fine. Really."
She hung up as cars and trucks continued whizzing by at 65-90mph. The semis created a big enough airwave to buffet her car as they flew down the interstate, but there just wasn't anywhere to go.
About 30 minutes later a New Mexico State Patrol Officer pulled in behind her and walked up and asked her if she needed help. She explained the situation and he let her know that people left their key under the mat in situations like this all the time.
She looked at him in disbelief which made him smile.
"I'm serious, ma'am, and if you were to call the towing company, they'd tell you the same thing. I'll call in your car and law enforcement will keep an eye out for it until it gets towed. The only other option is to sit out here and wait, and while it's your call, I wouldn't want my wife out here."
"How do I...leave?" she asked through her window over the roar of traffic.
"I'm headed into town, and I know where Freeman's shop is, so I can give you a lift."
"You're sure it's safe to leave my key in the car?"
"No one can guarantee anything, but that aside, yes, it's safe. As safe as possible."
"Okay. Well...thank you."
"Sure thing. Oh, and please don't lock the car," he said with another smile.
"Oh. Right. That would make things difficult, wouldn't it?"
The officer didn't reply, but he did wait for her to put the key fob under the mat then escorted her to his vehicle.
"Thank you so much," she told him once they got in.
"My pleasure," the average-looking, 40-something man told her. "You from around here?"
"Las Vegas," she said with a smile of her own until she wondered if he might somehow connect her to her almost-former husband. "I'm moving here. To Santa Fe."
"Okay. It's a nice town. We really like it."
"You're married?"
"Yes. Twelve years. And two kids," he proudly informed her.
"You?"
"Me. No. Divorced," she said, stretching the truth by a couple of months. "And no kids."
"I'm sorry things didn't work out for you."
He looked over then said, "I hope it's okay to tell you you're a very attractive woman, so whenever you're ready, you won't have any trouble finding someone."
"Oh, thank you. I do appreciate that, but I'm not looking. Not yet, anyway."
"I understand," he told her without prying any further.
Stephanie didn't say anything for a bit then shared a thought she'd been having many times lately.
