My hand rose slowly into the air, aching to slap that smug smile off her face. Since I was behind the display case, I didn't think Marla had seen the movement. I had never hit anyone in my entire life, with the exception of my sister when we were children and having typical sibling arguments.
Josie moved closer to my side and covered my hand with hers. "Yes, I see that spot on the case, Sal. Don't worry. I'll clean it off now."
Marla gave a slow toss of her head and reached into the bag for her cookie. She took a tiny ladylike bite and continued to stare at us. "Well, if you hadn't thrown a leash around his neck, I bet we could have made an awesome couple." She took another bite and chewed thoughtfully as she mocked me with her smile. "That man is hot."
"Get the hell out of here," Josie growled.
I walked around the counter until there were only inches between myself and Marla. She looked surprised at my action and backed up a step as if afraid I might strike her.
"I'm delighted that you think my fiancé is hot, Marla." Although hopping mad on the inside, I made an extra effort to keep my voice on an even keel. "I think he's pretty hot myself but will be sure to pass the message along."
Josie let out a bark of laughter while Marla's mouth dropped open. She started to say something then turned on her heel and stormed out of the bakery, almost knocking down a teenaged boy who'd been just outside the entrance talking on his cell phone.
Josie slung an arm around my shoulders. "Sal, I have to hand it to you. If that chick had talked that way to me about Rob, I would have rearranged her face."
I blew out a long breath and stared down at my hands, which were shaking. I hated confrontation of any sort, and it had taken all my restraint to keep from smacking her. The woman was a lawsuit waiting to happen, and I wouldn't risk my business on her petty ways. I was furious that Marla also had the nerve to throw in my face that she had slept with Mike at a time when we weren't even together. What he had done back then was his business. I didn't plan to ask him about it because I had no desire to know what had happened, just as I was positive he didn't want intimate details about my marriage to Colin either.
When I came back home a year ago, Mike had confessed that even though he had dated several women during the ten years we'd been apart, he'd never gotten over me. Of course that was satisfying for my ego to hear, and the same had been true on my part. I'd gone on to date and marry another man on the rebound after our breakup. It had ended in disaster because of his infidelity to me, but perhaps deep down Colin had known that I still cared for Mike. The only thing that mattered now was that we loved and trusted each other. As long as we had both these elements in our marriage, nothing would come between us.
"Don't you think," I said, "that acting like that after only going out with someone for one or two dates might constitute unnatural behavior?"
"Oh, she's definitely stalker material," Josie said. "She was in here one day when the two of you were talking in the back room. I swear that there were daggers in that chick's eyes. Plus, he hasn't had anything to do with her in over a year. She isn't playing with a full deck."
We looked at each other and seemed to be thinking the same thing.
"Sal," Josie said softly. "We should see if Brian's spoken to her yet."
I wrapped my arms around myself for warmth. It was nerve wracking to think that someone might actually want to kill me. Sure, I'd had people try to hurt me before, but not in this manner. Usually I became involved when someone close to me was in trouble, like when Gianna was suspected of starting my bakery on fire when her client's body was found inside, or when Mike had been arrested for Colin's murder. I didn't go around asking for trouble, but it still seemed to find me anyway.
"Okay," I agreed. "I'll call him when I get back from my fitting."
The bells on the door jingled merrily, and the boy who'd been standing outside, Mickey Steiger, hesitated in the doorway. He nodded to Josie and when our gazes met, his face turned red, and he hung his head downward.
Actually, there wasn't much about Mickey that wasn't red. He was a true carrottop in the sense of the word, with freckles all over his arms and cheeks. Large brown eyes were set in a serious square face. He was about five foot nine inches tall and so skinny I thought I could quite easily pick him up.
"Hey, Mickey," Josie greeted him. "Let me go grab your forms." She walked into the back room and left me standing there alone with the chatterbox. Mickey kept his eyes glued on the floor.
I smiled, although I wasn't sure he could see it. "I hope you'll like working here."
Mickey glanced up, as if startled by the sound of my voice. When he saw me looking at him, he flushed and stared down at the floor again. "Uh, yeah. Thanks."
Gee, this was going well. Thankfully Josie appeared at that moment and guided him toward one of the little tables set up in front of the bay window. "After you fill these out, I'm going to send you out on your first delivery," she said. "When you get back, you can help me behind the counter for a little while until Sal gets back."
Mickey sat down in the chair Josie indicated, his long legs stretched out casually in a pair of faded jeans. He accepted the pen she gave him and then stole another furtive glance in my direction. Eek. Josie may have been right after all. From the way he was looking at me, I was either the object of his affection or had snakes in my hair like Medusa.
The bells on the door sounded again. Mrs. Gavelli walked in and pointed a stubby finger at me.
"Aha!" she said. "I know I find you here."
Josie leaned against the counter. "She works here. You're a regular brain surgeon, aren't you?"
Mrs. Gavelli glared at Josie. "You always troublemaker, ever since a little girl. You make this one a troublemaker too. She try to work her wiles on my grandson years ago, and now she make Gianna a hussy too."
Oh, brother. "How about a fortune cookie?" I asked in a cheery tone. "On the house."
Mrs. Gavelli snorted. "You try to bribe me. It no good, but I take anyway. Now I go get your wedding gift today. Is big surprise. Good gift."
Josie's eyes twinkled as she handed her a fortune cookie. "She doesn't want a chastity belt, Mrs. G."
I bit into my lower lip to keep from laughing.
Mrs. Gavelli's jaw dropped. She glared at me and then shook her finger menacingly at Josie. "You go to hell for that remark." She cracked the cookie open. "Aha! See. Finally you give me good fortune."
"What's it say?" Josie teased. "You will live long enough to torture many more souls?"
She let out a loud harrumph. "Just for that, I no tell you." She whirled around and pushed open the front door with a vengeance, setting the bells off in a frenzy.
"She shouldn't talk to you that way."
We both turned to look at Mickey. I was shocked that he had opened his mouth, let alone dared to voice his opinion of my personal tormenter. When Mickey saw us staring, he looked back down at his forms and continued writing without another word. His ears had turned as red as his hair.
* * *
Becky's Bridals was a small dress shop run out of a duplex in Colwestern. Becky Winchester, sole proprietor, owned the entire building. One side was devoted to the shop and the other her personal residence. The building was white with pink shutters, and a large sign in hot pink letters hung on the front door. Be a Becky Bride and Put Some Romance in Your Life.
Becky was my mother's age. In fact, they had gone to school together. She was loud, brash, and very good at her job. She'd been divorced three times and knew everyone's business in town. Her daughter Lydia was one of the seamstresses and stood at attention nearby, ready to assist if the dress didn't fit to perfection.
The salon was cute, with pale pink walls and a rose-colored carpet. Becky had tried to talk me into a pink wedding gown, but I had politely declined. The shop itself was split into two rooms. One side contained racks of wedding gowns in almost every color, from white to her favorite, a prominent pink, and I had even spotted one in an arctic blue shade. Ther
e must be someone who longed to be a Disney princess on their wedding day.
The other side of the room held bridesmaid gowns and mother-of-the-bride dresses. My mother had picked out a jeweled, strapless silver gown with a slit up the right side so high it threatened to reveal her underwear. Don't get me wrong—she looked sensational in it. My only hope is that she would actually be wearing underwear.
"Oh, honey," Becky crooned as I came out of the single dressing room. "This dress was made for you. Your young man is going to go wild when he sees you in it."
I stared at my reflection in the full-length mirror. I did love this dress. It was light and comfortable, an ivory satin with a lace overtone. Tiny sleeves were also covered in lace, and the V-neck design complimented my chest, where I was a little more endowed than I preferred to be. Josie, who was almost as flat as a board, had told me on several occasions over our lifelong friendship that she'd be more than happy to trade with me. I guess you always want what you can't have.
Becky bustled over and started plucking the material at my waste, pinching it between her fingers until she found me.
"Ouch." Her nails were long and painful, and I was grateful that the pin she held was in her other hand. "What are you doing?"
She frowned. "You've lost weight since last week. I can tell by the extra material at your waist."
"It feels fine," I protested. "The dress is very comfortable."
She wagged a finger at me. "Don't tell me you're on that freakish diet where you eat nothing but carrots for two weeks before the wedding. You don't want to pass out on your way down the aisle, do you?"
Another cheerful thought. Right now my primary goal was to reach the aisle—alive. Okay, stop it, Sal. That gunshot wasn't meant for you. You don't have any enemies. At least I hoped not. I needed to ask Brian about the results of his search as soon as possible.
The back door buzzed, and Lydia went to see who it was. Becky pointed at two large garment bags that were hanging from a rack by the register. "Gianna and Josie's gowns. Gianna said she didn't have time to come by and try it on." She rolled her eyes. "That girl will never learn. Did you want to take it with you?"
Gianna and Josie were both wearing pastel gowns made of a chiffon material with rounded necks and slightly puffy sleeves. The dresses were tea length, and they looked gorgeous in them. "Sure. That's fine."
Lydia closed the back door and approached us, waving a small box in her hand. "I just found this outside the door. It has a note on top that says For the bride-to-be."
"Well, that helps," her mother said dryly. "We have three other brides coming for fittings today. Maybe there's a name on the inside."
A tiny prickle of fear shot through me as I watched Lydia remove the top from the box. She held up a gold chain and offered it to me. "Sal, it must be for you. It's a fortune cookie necklace."
I stared at the necklace but refused to touch it. The tiny gold fortune cookie on the chain didn't have a place to hold messages, but it appeared that my fan club had struck again. Lydia looked at a slip of paper in the box, and her face immediately paled.
I bit into my lower lip. "What does it say?"
She hesitated then read aloud in a puzzled voice. "One person's wedding might become their funeral."
CHAPTER EIGHT
Somehow, I managed to drive back to my shop. I'd pulled over once, afraid that I might be sick, and tried to blame it on the fact that I'd not eaten breakfast. Nauseated, I was forced to confront the truth. I was being targeted by a crazy person. Someone meant business, and the chances were excellent that I was the intended victim—not Mike.
For the first time ever, I found myself constantly checking the rearview mirror in a mind-numbing sense of panic. Was someone following me? I couldn't tell. Despite the car's air conditioner turned on full blast, sweat broke out in a river on my forehead. No. I was not going to live like this. I'd call Brian when I got back to the shop. The police must have some leads by now.
I found Josie alone in the shop. She was making up a batch of her famous whoopie pies that had been ordered specifically for a church gathering tonight.
I looked around. "Where's Mickey?"
"We got a delivery call for two dozen genettis," she said. "An office party. Thank goodness I had them on hand. He should be back shortly. How'd the fitting go?"
"Not very well. I got another surprise." I showed her the slip of paper. "I'm scared, Jos. I don't think this person is playing."
Josie's eyes went wide with alarm. She moved past me and looked out the front window. "Do you see that car parked across the street?"
I followed her out to the front room, careful to stop at a distance from the window. This is what terror does to a person. A dark blue Buick LaCrosse sedan was parked directly across the street from my shop. The windows were tinted, and I couldn't see the person inside. I tried to swallow the fear rising in my throat. "What about it?"
"I noticed it earlier," Josie said. "It disappeared right after you left, and now the car is back. Coincidence? Probably not. I think this guy is following you, and it may be the same person who's out to kill you. Should we call the cops?"
This wasn't a time to be taking chances, so I pulled my phone out of my purse. I hated to keep bothering Brian, but he was my prime contact at the police station. Plus, I knew he would do whatever he could to help. As I dialed his number, I prayed that Ally wouldn't answer the phone again.
"Officer Jenkins."
Thank goodness. "Brian, it's Sally. I have a problem."
There was a long pause. "What's wrong?"
"There's a guy parked out in front of my shop. I think he might be following me." Or else I was getting extremely paranoid. "He's in a dark blue Buick. If you're busy—" I thought of Ally again, "maybe you could ask one of your fellow coworkers to come by and check it out?"
"I'm on duty," Brian said. "As it happens, I'm only about five minutes away. I'll swing by and have a little chat with him."
Relief spread through my body. "Thank you so much, Brian. You don't know how much this means to me."
"I'll see you soon." He clicked off.
I went into the back room where Josie was spooning the creamed filling onto the cakes and then assembling them. "Brian's going to come over and check it out."
"By the way," Josie said, "his old ball and chain was in while you were at your fitting. I kind of got the impression that she wanted to talk to you."
Wonderful. "What did she say?"
Josie put the leftover filling aside. "Ally asked if you were around, and I told her no. Then she started making small talk. She was the only one in the shop at the time, so I was able to chat with her for a few minutes. You know, about the usual stuff. How the kids were, how long you and Mike had been engaged, if you and Brian had slept together, how good our jelly cookies were—"
What? "Whoa. Back up a second. She asked if I'd slept with Brian?"
My best friend gave me a coy smile. "Well, she didn't come right out and say that. Ally has too much tact. She asked how long you'd known Brian, and I told her you'd met him when you first came back to Colwestern last summer. He was the cop on duty when skanky Amanda's body was found on our front porch."
Amanda Gregorio had been my high school nemesis. Blonde, rich, beautiful, and meaner than a snake. To top it all off, I'd walked in on her while she'd been in bed with my then husband, Colin.
Josie prattled on. "Of course, like everyone else, Ally hated Amanda. That witch was rotten to everyone, especially you. Anyway, Ally asked if you'd ever dated Brian and…well, I was honest."
Wasn't she always? "Not too brutally honest, I hope."
Josie snickered. "I told her he was interested but that you had always been in love with Mike, so Officer Hottie never stood a chance. I thought that would reassure her, but she seemed more ticked off than ever. She paid for the cookies and left without another word."
I twisted a strand of hair around my fingers. "Oh, this is just great. She thinks he's still carrying a
torch for me. The last thing I want to do is come between them."
Josie moved past me into the front room and placed the tray of cookies on the counter. "It's not your problem. You have enough going on in your life without having to worry about those two. You're getting married in a few days, and someone might be trying to kill you or your fiancé. Let Ally deal with her own insecurities."
I looked up just in time to see the driver's side door of the Buick open. My stomach lurched as a man of Asian descent, possibly Korean, got out of the vehicle. He was over six feet tall and dressed in an expensive dark gray suit. He slammed the door and started striding toward my bakery with purpose.
"Oh my God," I whimpered. My feet were frozen to the floor, and I couldn't move.
"Duck!" Josie commanded as she pushed me down onto the floor behind the display case.
"No!" I hissed in a panic and clutched at her leg. "He'll shoot you!"
Josie shook me off. "Let him try. We've got a camera in here now. He won't get away with it."
"That won't make me feel any better if he pulls the trigger first," I whispered.
She reached for the tray on the counter. "Relax. I've got it covered."
The bells sounded over the door. From where I sat on the floor behind the case, the man couldn't see me, but I could view him from the waist down. Josie's hands remained on the tray as she addressed our so-called customer.
"Hi there," she said in an unusually cheery voice. "Can I help you?"
"I'm looking for Sally Muccio," he said in a deep velvety tone.
Josie was perfectly still. "She isn't here."
There was silence for a moment. "I followed her here a few minutes ago, miss. I know she's here. I need to speak with her right now."
Oh my God, oh my God. He's going to hurt my best friend. I clutched at Josie's leg, trying to force her down onto the floor, but she shook me off.
"You're following Sally?" Josie asked with a slight tremor again.
I watched him reach into his pants pocket. "As a matter of fact, I am. You see—"
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