I'll Always Find You

by Curry, Edna

  Kerry stuck her head in his office. “John said to remind you you’re having lunch with him at one to discuss the details for the parade,” she said. “Remember?”

  Damn. He had forgotten about the lunch date. “Okay, Kerry. You’d better go for lunch now, then, so you’ll be back by one.”

  “Sure thing, Boss.”

  He shut down his computer and rose to go man the store.

  That took care of his plans to leave town, he thought darkly as he moved to wait on his customers. He’d promised to help with the Fourth of July celebration, so now he had to be here to line up the floats and other entries for the parade. That was on Saturday.

  How could he have forgotten?

  Loni was occupying way too much of his time and thoughts, that’s how. He wanted to daydream about making love to her instead of working. He’d better get his mind back on business here. He’d never met anyone who could distract him the way she did.

  Or for whom he’d been more afraid. He hadn’t had visions of future happenings for a long time. But as soon as he’d met Loni, he’d started to feel protective of her.

  Surely that was an omen of some kind for a future together for them? Convincing her of that was another matter.

  * * * *

  The next morning, Matt dropped in with their usual glazed donuts and coffee just as Loni was opening her mail. He gave her a kiss and handed her a cup of coffee.

  “Thanks,” she said, continuing to flip through her mail to see if there was anything important. She was surprised to see a letter from her insurance company. Probably a summary of the settlement of her claim about her lost phone, she reasoned and opened the letter.

  “This is odd,” she said, frowning.

  “What is odd?” Matt said, biting into a glazed donut.

  “My insurance company sent me a check to replace the phone that was stolen when I was still in Minneapolis.”

  She swallowed, wanting to lick the glaze off his lip. Pushing away the carnal urge, she picked up a donut and began eating it as she told him about losing her phone in a fast food place that night.

  Matt sipped his coffee. “And now they’ve mailed you a check, less your deductible? Sounds like the usual procedure to me. So, what’s the problem?”

  “The problem is, I’m confused. A couple of weeks ago, I got a package with that new phone in it, remember? You were here when the UPS man brought it.” She pointed at it lying on her counter. “I assumed that was the replacement for the stolen one. Now I get a check. Something’s wrong here.”

  Matt shrugged. “It’s probably a mix-up at the company. Maybe one employee ordered the replacement and didn’t enter it into their computer. Then another person thought it was still an open case and not yet taken care of, so they sent you a check.”

  “Well, maybe. But I have a bad feeling about this.”

  Matt laughed and gave her a kiss. “Now who is being psychic?”

  “So, laugh. But I’m still calling my agent.” She picked up her phone and turned it on, found her agent’s phone number and called him.

  The blood drained from her face as she listened to his answer to her questions.

  “What is it?” Matt asked, his voice suddenly serious.

  She hung up and said, “He says they never send out replacements of things like that. Only the check is from them. He has no idea who sent the other phone.”

  She stared at the offending item lying on her counter for a long moment, then grabbed it and threw it against the wall, smashing it.

  “What are you doing? Have you gone bananas?”

  “It probably came from Hank,” she whispered. “And it was probably bugged. I’ll bet it has a tracking device in it.”

  He gaped at her. “Why do you think that?”

  In a low voice, she explained, “Have you forgotten the bug my doctor removed only a few days ago? I’ll never get away from him. I’ll bet that’s how he knew I was at Uncle Pete’s house that day. I had the phone in my purse.”

  “Oh, Honey. You may be right.” Matt put down his coffee and tried to hug her, but she pushed away.

  She sank into the chair behind her counter. “Whenever I think I’ve gotten free of him, I find something else he’s done to track me. Why can’t he leave me alone? He says he wants me back, but I’ll never go back to him. I hate him!”

  Matt came around her counter and took her in his arms. He smoothed back her hair and assured her, “We’ll get him, Loni. I’ll take this and talk to Ben again.”

  “No! Don’t tell the sheriff about the bug implanted on me! That’s too embarrassing! I never should have told you about that. What if he put it in his computer? All the other officers could read and joke about it.”

  “Don’t worry, Ben can be very discreet,” Matt said. “But we need help on this.”

  She sighed and stared at the floor. Finally, she nodded agreement. She picked up her coffee and gulped down the remaining liquid to ease her dry throat.

  Matt gave her another soft kiss. “I’ll talk to him and see you later. Try not to worry, okay?” He picked up the pieces of the broken phone, put it on the coffee tray and walked out.

  Loni closed her eyes in frustration. She’d kept her whole life in that phone. Luckily she regularly transferred data back and forth to her laptop, so most of it was still available to her. She’d cash this check and go back to using the older model phone that she’d bought that night in Minneapolis.

  It wasn’t as fancy as the one she was now sure Hank had sent, but at least she knew he hadn’t had access to it, so she was sure it was free of his nasty tracking and listening devices.

  She was still upset that evening as she was closing up her shop. She tried to hide it, but Matt noticed immediately.

  “Let’s go out for supper,” he said. “I think you need to get your mind off that guy.”

  “All right, that sounds good.”

  “Where do you want to go? The Lagoon?”

  Loni shuddered. “No. I don’t think I’ll be able to go there for a long time without remembering that Hank probably followed us there the night of Jolene’s birthday party. You choose another restaurant, you know the area.”

  “All right. Let’s go to another town and try a new place. Oops, I forgot, my car’s in the garage, getting a tune-up and oil change.”

  “We can take mine. It’s hardly been driven for weeks.”

  “Okay.”

  They got in her car and started out. After a couple of miles, Matt suddenly slowed and tried the brakes, but pumped them in vain.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “We don’t have any brakes.” He turned off the ignition and pulled off to the side of the road. The car slowed to a crawl and he used the emergency brake to bring it to a full stop.

  Then he used his cell phone to call the garage in Canton.

  Loni shuddered. “How did you know? We were coming up on that big hill where Don Bowers died. We could have ended up over the cliff like he did.”

  Matt took her in his arms and held her close. “Don’t think about that, Loni. Everything is okay, now.”

  “But how did you know? Did you have another vision?”

  He shrugged. “No. I…I don’t know how I knew. I suddenly had a sense of danger and the urge to try my brakes. I’ve learned to follow those urges. They seldom steer me wrong.”

  The tow truck arrived and they rode back to Canton in it. “Give me a report on what’s wrong when you find out,” Matt told the burly middle-aged driver.

  “Nobody will look at it until morning, but I’ll put it in our garage so it’ll be the first thing the mechanic works on,” he promised. “Do you need a loaner until it’s fixed?”

  “That would be great,” Matt said. “Thanks.”

  “No problem. We do it for all our good customers.”

  “Let’s not let this incident stop us from going out for supper,” Matt said, turning. “Okay?”

  “Sure,” Loni said.

  They got into the loaner
car and drove without incident to a new restaurant in Landers. It was busy and a constant buzz of conversation assured they could talk in private.

  They found a corner at a back table and were soon eating a delicious prime rib dinner.

  “What did the sheriff have to say about the phone?” She eyed Matt. His hand holding a fork full of mashed potatoes had gone still halfway to his mouth. Was he going to tell her the truth? Or hide something from her?

  He put the food in his mouth, chewed and swallowed. “Ben’s going to have the phone tested for a bug. And when I told him about the implanted bug, he said he’s heard of devices you can implant in animals or people but never seen one. But he knew about bracelets they use to keep track of Alzheimer patients and criminals. Presumably they’re the same type of thing.”

  Loni chewed her lip, worriedly. “Are you sure he’ll keep this confidential?”

  “I told him to, Loni, and I’m sure Ben would, even if I hadn’t. I’ve never known him to be less than reliable.”

  She looked away. The hum of conversation around them seemed to be louder than usual, yet she lowered her voice. “But I don’t want to be the butt of jokes around the police station water coolers. I know how men are about anything with a sexual connection.”

  He met her eyes with an understanding gaze. “I don’t want anyone talking about my girl, either.”

  She smiled at his use of the phrase, ‘my girl.’ Did he really think of her that way? His warm gaze assured her he did, and the thought comforted her.

  They finished their meal. The waitress took their plates and brought desserts and more coffee, and then left again.

  “This is delicious,” Loni said, tasting the rich chocolate confection.

  “Yes, it is good.”

  He was quiet for a while, and then said, “I have to help line up the parade on the afternoon of the Fourth,” Matt said as they lingered over their desserts and coffee.

  “That’s this Saturday, isn’t it?”

  “Yes. Are you keeping your gift shop open your usual hours that day?”

  Loni nodded. “I might as well. I can see the parade from my window, and I may get a few people in to shop.”

  “Good. I don’t want you out on the street alone. Wait until I get back before closing up, okay?”

  She shrugged. “If you say so. Are you expecting trouble?”

  Matt lifted a shoulder and drank his coffee. “Not exactly, but Ben says criminals often use a celebration to cover illegal activities because it’s so easy for them to hide in a crowd, especially one where a lot of people are wearing costumes.”

  “I suppose.”

  * * * *

  Matt was in his office the next day when Sheriff Ben phoned him. “The mechanic you took Loni’s car to just called me.”

  “Oh? Why did he call you? He was supposed to call me when it was fixed to tell me what was wrong.”

  “He and I have an understanding. He lets me know when something fishy is going on.”

  “I see. So what was wrong with Loni’s brakes?”

  Ben’s voice hardened. “Someone cut the brake line almost through, so it would give when you used it a lot like on that hill. It was a nice, clean knife cut. Not a worn through hole or anything that could happen from wear and tear.”

  Matt sighed. “I’m afraid I suspected as much after all the other stuff that’s happened.”

  “Keep your eyes open, Matt. This is getting dangerous.”

  “I will,” Matt assured him and hung up.

  Chapter 13

  Hank had dyed his hair dark brown and added a mustache, as well as donning a dark tee shirt and baseball cap before driving out to Canton on the Fourth of July. He’d ditched the idea of dressing like a clown, but wanted to look as different as possible. He also needed to be in plenty of time to check out what was happening there before the parade started.

  A huge crowd would be good cover for whatever action he’d need to do to settle this once and for all. He’d rented a popular make of car, too, in case Loni had remembered his black SUV and reported that to the police. He had to remember this was the bitch’s home town, so she’d be among friends. But he was smarter than them all. She would pay for rejecting him.

  Dee’s house, where he thought Loni was living, seemed deserted, as he’d expected. She would probably be at her shop in town and then stay there for the parade and dance.

  He was about to pick the lock when he noticed the alarm sign stuck on the little window of the door. Damn, she’d had an alarm system installed since he’d last been there. He took note of the brand of security devices, and walked all around the house, peeking in the windows. When he’d satisfied himself that she wasn’t there, he decided to try to find out what he could in town.

  Passing the library, he remembered how much Loni liked to read. When he’d taken her to dinner on one of the dates they’d had, she’d talked about the various books she’d read and asked about which authors he liked. Chances were that she was known in this library, too.

  They might have a public computer he could use to get on the internet to check out how her alarm system worked, too, though you couldn’t count on it in a small town.

  Hank went into the library. He smiled engagingly at the short, skinny little lady who sat at the desk looking through a card file. Could you believe she actually had blue tinted hair? He didn’t think anyone did that to gray hair anymore. This town must be more than a little backward.

  “Do you have a public computer with internet access?”

  “Back there,” she said with a nod of her head toward a table in the back room by the children’s books.

  He moved back to the computer, slipped on gloves so as not to leave fingerprints and looked up the alarm system on Loni’s house. Good, he said to himself. It worked like the one a bar used when he was working his way through college. He’d often used it himself. He could handle that when he went back later. Of course, if Loni co-operated, he wouldn’t need the information, but it was best to be prepared.

  He logged off and went back to the main room of the library. A couple of teenagers were browsing, so he wandered the shelves for a few minutes until they left.

  Mrs. Saunders nervously watched the teenagers leave. Now she was alone with the good-looking young stranger. There was something odd about him.

  She watched him browse the shelves with one eye as she opened a new message in her e-mail program and began a note to her son, Jim. She loved the way they could talk back and forth on e-mail without paying long distance bills.

  She told Jim about the stranger, describing him and saying he made her nervous for some reason. Why was he hanging around after using the computer? Strangers usually only came in, used the public computer to check e-mail and then left immediately. Without a local library card, they couldn’t take out books, so they seldom scanned the shelves like this man was doing.

  This man looked odd, too, for some reason. Why? She was puzzled about it. Then she smiled to herself as she realized what it was. He had dark brown hair, but blond eyebrows. Maybe he dyed his hair? And he was wearing thin plastic gloves. Weird.

  After the teens left, Hank casually began asking the librarian questions about the town and how long she’d lived there and the Fourth of July Parade. Her name tag read “Mrs. Saunders” and he made sure to use her name to make her feel important.

  She ate it up, smiling and telling him all about the town.

  “The parade should start in another hour or two,” she said proudly. “We have a really nice one, with lots of colorful floats and marching bands. There’s supposed to be over a hundred units this year!”

  “I’ll be sure to wait around to see it,” he assured her. “I’ll bet you know almost everyone in town, don’t you, Mrs. Saunders?”

  “Most of them, yes,” she said, glancing up from her computer. “Although there are a few new ones who haven’t been in, so I only know their faces and not their names.”

  “Do you know a Dee and Loni Jacobso
n?”

  Mrs. Saunders eyed him suspiciously. “How do you know them?”

  Hank smiled disarmingly. “I worked with Loni in Chicago for a while,” he assured her. “She’s a lovely woman, isn’t she?”

  “Humph, if you like smarty pants blondes with low morals.” Mrs. Saunders sniffed loudly and continued typing.

  He smiled. She was about to tell him some juicy tidbit of gossip. “Loni has done something you don’t approve of?”

  Her lips tightened and she snapped, “I’m not one to gossip.”

  “Oh, I’m sure you’re not,” he approved, sending her an encouraging smile and paging through a new bestseller from the rack at the side of her desk.

  “It’s none of my business who someone runs around with or sleeps at whose house.”

  “Of course not.” He sent her another smile to egg her on. “Loni’s a lovely woman. I’m sure she has many admirers in town.”

  “I wouldn’t say many. But she definitely has one.”

  “Ah,” he prompted. “He’s someone special?”

  She shrugged. “I haven’t seen her without that Matt Bennes for the past couple of weeks. He has a store in the same mall as her gift shop, down the street. They’re driving about and eating in restaurants together every day.”

  “Tch, tch.” He swallowed his anger and managed a smile. “This Matt is good looking, too, then?”

  She shrugged. “I suppose most would say so. I don’t think he’s as good looking as my grandsons, though. But she seems to think he’s something pretty special.”

  He fought to keep his voice even and pleasant. “He lives here in town?”

  She snorted and continued typing. “He did, but from what I hear, he’s living with her now. You didn’t hear it from me, though, mind you. I don’t gossip.”

  “Of course not.” He gave her another little smile.

  He’d gotten the info he needed. But now he had a new problem, he realized.

  He moved to browse the books on the shelves behind her desk, pondering what to do about this. She might be a problem after he took care of Loni and her lover.

  He couldn’t leave this chatty woman to tell people about seeing a stranger who had asked about Loni, maybe to describe him to someone like the sheriff, if she remembered talking so freely to him tonight.