A Penny for Your Thoughts

by Bess McBride

  “I can see that,” she murmured. She got up to pour him a cup of coffee. “Here you go, Chief.”

  “Patty! For me? You never pour me coffee.”

  “That’s cuz I’m a police officer, not a waitress, Chief. But you’ve just got this kinda happy look on your face this morning, and I couldn’t resist.”

  “I do, do I? Hmmm... I can’t imagine why.” He tried to hide his smile by pressing his lips together.

  “How is Mrs. Brown today, Chief?”

  “I’m sure she’s fine, Patty. How would I know?”

  “Oh, one of the officers mentioned seeing your car over by her condominium this morning, that’s all. I figured you might have seen her, that’s all. But what do I know?” Patty turned away and returned to her desk. Matt sputtered into his coffee, certain he saw Patty’s shoulders shaking.

  “Well, umm...have you heard from Cliff Sutton this morning? I thought he’d be here by now.”

  “As a matter of fact, Chief, he called and said he’d be late. Something about unpacking his bags before he comes in.”

  “Oh,” Matt murmured. “I guess I didn’t have to rush in after all.”

  Patty raised her arm and stared at her watch pointedly.

  “It’s almost ten o’clock, Chief. I can’t say as I think there was any rushing going on this morning.” She snorted and returned her attention to her computer.

  Matt wandered aimlessly into his office, feeling a bit resentful that he could have stayed with Penny for a little while longer. He settled into his desk chair, fully prepared to attack a fresh stack of the pink messages Patty delighted in dropping on his desk.

  Instead, he pulled Penny’s picture out of the desk drawer and propped it up by his coffee cup. With a grin, he picked up the telephone.

  ****

  Penny watched as Cliff disappeared from view. She continued her stroll and wondered how many more people she was going to meet from Traverse City. If she wanted to hide from the past, Gulf Shores, Alabama, obviously wasn’t the place to do it.

  The ringing of her cell phone startled her out of her reverie, and she pulled it out of the pocket of her shorts with a twinge of guilt. She’d forgotten to call her mother. She flipped it open.

  “Hello?”

  “Hello, Penny. Remember me?” The harsh voice sounded short of breath.

  Chapter Nine

  Penny froze and pressed the phone hard to her ear. She covered her other ear to block the noise of the waves. Despite the warmth of the day, a cold knot formed in her stomach and spread throughout her body.

  “I remember you,” she ground out. “Who is this?”

  “Have you been thinking about me?” he murmured on a throaty sigh.

  Penny wiped the cold sweat from her upper lip.

  “Why do you keep calling me? What do you want?”

  “I’m not sure, Penny. I think you’ve got something I’ve been looking for. Sometimes I think I’m going to kill you and other times, I don’t know if I really want to. I used to hate you, but now, I’m not so sure.”

  Penny’s knees buckled, and she dropped to the sand. She pulled the phone away and stared at the caller ID. The call came from the same Michigan number he’d used before. Tim’s number. This wasn’t Tim’s voice, she was sure of that.

  “What are you talking about? Hate me? Why? I don’t even know you. Why do you keep calling?” She hated the whimper in her voice, but she couldn’t bring her anxiety under control.

  “I’m kind of enjoying this game to tell you the truth. I call, and you go running to the police. You did go running to the police, didn’t you, Penny?”

  A sudden surge of anger took her by surprise. She jumped up.

  “Yes, I went to the police, you jerk. You want to kill me? Well then, come on, coward! Come on!” She slammed the phone shut and held it in a vice grip, wishing she could crush it in her bare hands. The world grew black around her, swirling like a vortex.

  The phone rang again, and she jerked as she stared at the caller ID. It was the same number. She yanked the phone open and pressed it close to her mouth, speaking through clenched teeth.

  “Look, you low life. I told you. Come on! I’m waiting for you. Face me like a man. Stop calling me like a coward.”

  “Penny?”

  Penny gasped at the sound of Tim’s voice.

  “Penny? What’s going on? What are you talking about?”

  “Tim!” she squeaked in a raspy voice. She looked at the phone again. It was Tim’s number. “I-I’m sorry. I just got another call...from your number again.” She found herself panting as if she’d sprinted up a hill.

  “Oh, man, Penny, I’m sorry. I’m going to call the phone company and see if they can do something about this! What did he say?”

  Penny’s legs began to shake, and she sank back down to the sand. She looked over her shoulder, but no one stared at her menacingly, no one pointed to her or brandished a gun in her direction.

  “Just that he...he wants to kill me. Something about hating me. I don’t know what he’s talking about.” She ended on a whisper--the words too awful to repeat aloud. A beeping began on her phone indicating another call on the line, and Penny pulled it away from her ear to look at the number. Tim’s number again...but she was already talking to him.

  “Tim! It’s him. He’s on the other line. He’s calling me again.”

  “Call the police! Hang up and call them right now.”

  The beeping stopped, and Penny glanced at the phone to see that her stalker had ended the call. She took a deep breath to try and steady her nerves.

  “I went to the police yesterday, Tim. There’s really nothing they can do.

  “Then change your phone number. This is crazy!”

  Penny had already contemplated his suggestion, but she’d been resistant, hoping the call was a one-time prank, shocking though it had been. Her fingers began to ache from her tight grip on the phone. She forced herself to loosen her hold.

  “I think I’m going to have to. I just wish I knew who it was. Someone in Michigan, I’m sure of that. Tim, do you think it’s one of my clients? Is everyone all right there?”

  “They’re all fine, Penny. I can’t imagine any of these folks doing something like that. You have such...um...nice clients, Penny.”

  Penny managed a small chuckle. “They are nice, aren’t they, Tim? So sweet.” She threw frequent glances over her shoulder, scanning the surrounding beach, trying to remind herself the calls were probably coming from Michigan. Far away from this sunny beach.

  “Then who could be doing this? And what would he mean? He wants to kill me because he used to hate me? I don’t do anything. I just go to work and go home. Who hates me?”

  “I don’t know, Penny. I’m worried. Call the police anyway.”

  She bit her lip.

  “Tim, do you think this has anything to do with...?” A pain knifed through her heart. She rubbed the spot on her chest. Grief and guilt constricted her throat. “With Jerry?”

  “Oh, geez, Penny. I can’t imagine why. That’s over. There’s nothing you could have done, and it wasn’t your fault.”

  “But that’s the thing, Tim. Maybe I didn’t do enough. Maybe I could have done more to stop him.”

  “Penny, don’t. I know you need to blame yourself for a while, but it’s been two months now. It’s time for you to get some grief counseling on this yourself.”

  “I know,” she murmured. “I know.” She sighed as she distractedly watched the rolling aquamarine waves. “What if...? You know, he was really popular in your therapy group. He really enjoyed it. What if this call is coming from one of the guys in the group? Can you think of anyone who might do something like this?”

  “I don’t know, Penny. I wouldn’t have anyone in group who would do something like this. We meet again next week. I’ll take a closer look and see what’s going on. While the group discussed Jerry’s suicide several times after he first died, we haven’t actually touched on the subject for a while.
I’ll bring it up next week and see what happens.”

  “Okay, Tim. Let me know.”

  “You bet. Call the police! Now!”

  “I will, I will.” Penny sighed. She was completely resistant to bothering Matt with the bizarre phone calls once again...and she had no intention of telling him about Jerry’s death. The wounds were still too raw, the sound of the gunshot still echoed in her ears. With a shiver, she snapped the phone shut.

  She realized with a start that she hadn’t asked Tim why he’d called. How odd that he should call almost immediately after the stalker’s call.

  She redialed Tim’s number.

  “This is Tim.”

  “Hey, Tim! It’s Penny again.”

  “Hey!”

  “Why did you call anyway?”

  “Oh! Well, I was just calling to see how you were doing, to see if you’d followed up with the police. I never heard back the other day.”

  “Oh, okay.” She hesitated. “It’s kind of weird, though, that your call came immediately after his call. Don’t you think?” She winced at the implication.

  “Penny... I know things look a little strange right now and you’re frightened, but don’t even start thinking like that. I haven’t been calling you making death threats. Why would I call you from my own phone?” She heard a chuckle in his voice and chided herself for her foolishness.

  “I didn’t think so, Tim.” She could have kicked herself. “I’ll talk to you soon.”

  “Police,” he reiterated before hanging up.

  ****

  In a rage, he stabbed the numbers into the phone again. How dare she call him a coward? How dare she?

  The line rang briefly and went to voice mail. Beside himself with anger, he snapped the phone shut while he paced the floor. He took a deep breath as he tried to calm down. He mustn’t let her goad him into rushing and making a mistake. No mistakes. Now, he was sure she was going to die, he swore it, but it would be on his terms...when he was ready. And he wasn’t ready yet. He found himself wanting to hear her voice again and again, to see her one more time...no matter how much he hated her.

  He clicked open the phone and jabbed in the numbers once again. He still had to punish her for her insolence. If he couldn’t make her fear him now, how was he going to control her later?

  Slow down. Don’t rush this! Think about it! Impatiently, he clicked the phone shut before the call went through.

  He crossed over to the balcony, slid open the door and scanned the beach with an impatient eye. He dropped down onto the lounge chair, but too restless to settle, he jumped back up again.

  Her words of anger took him by surprise. Up to now, she’d been quite docile...insecure. The fear in her voice thrilled him beyond words. He felt alive! So, she could fight back! It wouldn’t do her any good, of course, but he felt newly invigorated by the upcoming battle with the woman he’d sworn to hate. He just needed to make sure she didn’t make him angry...again.

  He leaned on the railing and contemplated his next move. That is...after he called her to reprimand her for her taunts, to remind her once again that he was going to--without a doubt--kill her. He could hear the fear in her voice when he pressed the point home, and he loved the vulnerability.

  He stiffened as he saw her approach the building. He didn’t realize she would come back from the beach so soon. He backed out of sight and headed into the living room.

  ****

  Penny returned to her condominium and wasted no time calling the phone company to change her number. They consented to do so, and within half an hour, she had a brand new telephone number. With a sense of satisfaction, she called her mother and gave her the new number, promising to call her back later when she had more time. She placed another quick call to Travis and left a message on his answering machine, after which she called the secretary at her counseling office and gave her the new phone number. Then she headed down to the garage, climbed into her car and made her way to the police station. Maybe Matt would still be at the bank, and she could avoid having to play the damsel in distress again and admit the man had called again. Within ten minutes, Penny pulled into the police station. She breathed a sigh of relief. Matt’s SUV was nowhere to be seen. She turned off the ignition and turned to climb out of the car when she looked in the rearview mirror and saw Matt pull in the lot. She ducked down and winced, unsure why she avoided facing him this morning.

  Matt strode into the building, and Penny debated following him inside. He would surely think she was stalking him, wouldn’t he, like some lovelorn ex-girlfriend? Worse yet, would he think she was making the phone calls up...just to see him? No, no. After all, she hadn’t even known he was Chief of Police in this town.

  Penny crossed her arms and hunched down in her seat as she contemplated returning to the station later that day after he’d gone. She tilted out the driver’s side mirror and regarded her face. Her hair gleamed from its latest “Toffee Brown” hair color, though she’d forgotten to apply lipstick. She looked awful.

  Suddenly, Matt strode out of the building as fast as he’d gone in. She shrank back into her seat. He jumped into his SUV and pulled out of the parking lot without seeing her. She felt the corners of her mouth droop as she watched him drive away. Well, she got her wish! He wasn’t there anymore. He’d dashed in and dashed back out. She wondered what was going on.

  Penny dragged herself out of the car and headed into the building. Officer Jenkins looked up as she entered.

  “Hi Patty,” Penny murmured.

  “Oh, hi, Mrs. Brown. Were you looking for the Chief? He just left. In a bit of a rush, I might add. I can call him for you.” Patti picked up the phone.

  “No, no. I’m not looking for him. I have to report another threatening call.” Penny ducked her head. “I know you can’t do anything, but I have to tell you...I-I’m getting worried.”

  “Not again.” Patty clucked sympathetically as she signaled Penny to the side door and buzzed her in.

  Penny plopped down in the chair by Patty’s desk.

  “Yes, again. But I changed my number this time, so hopefully that’s the last of it.”

  “Good for you! What did the caller say this time?”

  Penny related the nasty phone call to her empathetic listener.

  “Listen, Mrs. Brown, Chief Williams would want to know about this right away. I really should call him.”

  “No, no. Don’t do that. I’m sure he’s busy with more serious stuff than this.”

  Patty arched a dark brow and eyed Penny pointedly. “A death threat is very serious, ma’am.”

  “I know. Believe me, I know.”

  “Okay,” Patty sighed. She handed Penny a statement form and waited silently while she filled it out. Penny slid it back toward Patty when she was done.

  “What’s your new phone number, Mrs. Brown? In case we need to call you. Don’t worry. We won’t release it.”

  Penny gave it to her and rose to leave...anxious to be away before Matt returned.

  “Thanks again, Patty.”

  Penny made her way out the door and climbed into her vehicle. She drove back to her apartment, hungry and ready for some lunch. She parked, got out of the car and walked right into a strong pair of tanned male arms.

  “Whoa!” Kevin laughed as he held her against him to steady her.

  “Kevin! You startled me.” And indeed Penny found herself shaking at the unexpected encounter in her parking lot. She pulled out of his arms. He wore yet another T-shirt and green cargo shorts, and she wondered what he looked like dressed in the slacks, shirt and tie suitable for an investment banker.

  “I’m sorry. I just happened to be driving by, and I spotted you driving in, so I followed you.” His face reddened and he grinned sheepishly. “I hope you don’t mind. I was wondering if you wanted to get something to eat...maybe some ice cream?”

  Penny found it hard to resist his boyish grin...so much like Travis when he wanted something.

  “Well...” she looked toward t
he stairs with a brief vision of a lonely lunch while fretting about strange phone calls. “I was going to get something to eat.” She grinned. “Ice cream sounds great.”

  “Great!” He touched her arm briefly. “Come on. I’ll drive. I’m parked right out front.”

  Penny followed him outside to a small, dark four-door nondescript car. She slid into the passenger seat of the clean vehicle.

  “So, is this your car, Kevin?” She watched him pull out into traffic. “I notice the plates are from Michigan. You said you were from Missouri, right?”

  He flashed her a quick look of surprise. “No, actually, this is my grandparents’ car. I flew down. I borrow it from them when I come down.”

  Penny smiled and turned to look out the window at the passing buildings.

  “I was wondering, Penny...it’s such an awkward question. But I was wondering...are you...? That is...I was wondering...how old are you?”

  Penny jerked her head back in his direction. “That must have been an awkward question for you to ask, Kevin. I’d say I’m older than you, that’s for sure.”

  “Oh, come on. I told you I look younger than I am. I’m hardly a child.” He tilted his head to the side and surveyed her frankly for a moment before returning his eyes to the road. “I’d guess you’re about thirty nine. Am I right?”

  Penny swung her head toward him. “Very good! That’s exactly right.”

  “See? I’m thirty. We’re not that far apart in age, so you can stop rolling your eyes at me.”

  “I’m not rolling my eyes,” she muttered with a short laugh. “Am I?” She softened her face and gave him an apologetic look. “If I have, I’m sorry. It sounds very rude.”

  Kevin laughed. “It is very rude. But I accept your apology.”

  They pulled into the local ice cream shop and went inside the small wooden, festively painted lavender building. A sign on the wall stating the business accepted cash only reminded Penny she had no money in her purse.

  “Kevin, I didn’t bring any cash with me. I only have my bank card, and they don’t take cards.”

  “My treat, Penny. I invited you.” He approached the counter where a young freckle-faced teenage girl waited for their order.