She had to stomp on the brake a minute later as the town of Junction flew past her window. She pulled over and got out of the car in disbelief. This is it? she wondered.
The town of Junction consisted of a general store and across from it a service station with a single gas pump and a pile of rusty cars out back. Samantha peeked in the dark windows first of the service station and then the general store, but didn't see anyone alive or dead. She dropped onto the front steps of the general store, first laughing and then crying.
How could she have been so stupid? She'd flown a thousand miles and driven through the night to end up in a dinky ghost town. She imagined someone laughing at her right now for having tricked an FBI agent into going all this way for nothing. "I'm such an idiot," she said through the tears.
The worst part of all was she'd hoped this excursion might trigger that avalanche of memories, or at least open another door. She'd hoped someone in town might recognize her and be able to tell her about herself. She'd hoped to find a sibling or aunt or a cousin, someone who knew her. She had nothing.
She wiped at her eyes. Now was no time to start acting like a little girl. This was a setback, nothing more. She could get back in the car, drive to Des Moines and be in Dallas this afternoon. At the apartment listed on her driver's license or at the FBI office she would find some answers.
As she stood up she saw the plume of gray smoke rising in the predawn sky. The source of the smoke couldn't be more than a half-mile down the dirt road running past the service station. She ran the entire way, forgetting about the car. She bounded off the road, crashing through rows of corn taller than her, the smoke drawing closer.
She emerged from the field to the sight of a farmhouse ablaze. Flames were in the windows on both floors of the house. She didn't hear anything from inside the house except the cracking of wood. She saw a pick-up truck in the driveway and wondered if the driver were inside the burning house. There's only one way to be sure, she thought.
Samantha raced to the front door, smashing it in with her shoulder the way she had Suarez's apartment door. Pain flared in her shoulder, but she ignored it as she peered through the smoke in the foyer. "Is anyone in here?" she called out, smoke stinging her lungs. A fit of coughing seized her as she wobbled into the living room.