One of them checked his phone and sighed loudly.

Claire reached behind her neck.

She unclasped a heavy silver locket from its chain.

Her mother had given it to her twenty years ago, and she never took it off.

It was the only piece of jewelry she owned that was worth anything.

She placed the silver necklace gently on the laminate counter.

The metal made a soft clink against the plastic.

“I’m staying at the roadside motel a mile down the highway,” Claire said.