Lone Wolf Standing

by Carla Cassidy

  The older woman carried a cold canned drink to the register and pulled several dollar bills from a purse that looked worn. “This should do it,” she said, her chocolate-brown eyes intent on Sheri.

  “Just traveling through town?” Sheri asked as she rang up the drink.

  “I haven’t decided yet. The town seems quite charming. I may decide to hang around.” She smiled.

  “It’s a wonderful place to live with terrific people,” Sheri said as she handed her the change.

  “Thanks, maybe I’ll see you around.” Without a backward glance the woman went out the door with her cold drink in hand.

  By eight that evening Sheri felt a dread creeping over her and was stunned to realize it was the anxiety of going home. It was an emotion she’d never known before. Normally she was eager to head back to her cottage and snuggle with Highway.

  On impulse she pulled out her phone and punched in Jimmy’s number. He answered immediately. “Hey, Jimmy, it’s Sheri. Are you still at work?”

  “Actually I am,” he replied. “But not for too much longer. What’s up?”

  “I was just wondering if maybe you’d like to meet me at the tavern for a cold beer in about a half an hour or so.” Her stomach clenched. She’d never initiated a date with a man before. No, she corrected herself. It wasn’t a date, it was just two people getting together for a little conversation and a beer.

  “Sounds perfect to me. I might even indulge in some of Travis’s hot wings with that beer. Shall we make it around eight-thirty?”

  He sounded ridiculously pleased that she had called and a sweet wave of answering pleasure swept through her. “I’ll see you at eight-thirty,” she agreed.

  The store had been quiet for the past hour, so she sent Abe home, locked the front door and then went into the bathroom with her purse in hand.

  She stared at her reflection in the mirror and then dug a brush from her purse and quickly pulled it through her shoulder-length hair. There had been a time when she’d been jealous of Roxy’s rich black curls, of Marlene’s cool blond strands, but as she’d gotten older she’d made peace with her chestnut-brown hair. At least it was thick and required little more than a daily brushing.

  She thought about lipstick, but never wore it. She also considered mascara but again, makeup had never been her thing and she wondered why she was even thinking about it now. It wasn’t like she was going to meet the man of her dreams. She was just going to hang out with Jimmy. She settled for a quick spritz of her purse-size bottle of her favorite perfume and then left the bathroom.

  It was almost eight-twenty by the time she got into her truck to head to the Wolf’s Head Tavern. Twilight had fallen, painting the landscape in deep purple shadows as she pulled out of the parking lot.

  Almost immediately she saw the car that pulled out of a wooded area near the road and fell in behind her. Every nerve in her body tensed. With the sun low in the sky it was impossible to tell if the car was black or blue, but it was definitely pacing her.

  When she slowed, it slowed. When she sped up, it also sped up, keeping enough distance that Sheri couldn’t tell anything about the driver. She didn’t know if the driver was male or female, but she knew for certain that just like the night before, somebody was following her.

  What was going on? Why would anyone be interested in her movements? With everything that had happened with her aunt and her sisters over the past three and a half months, Sheri was definitely feeling freaked out even though the driver of the vehicle did nothing to present imminent danger.

  She was grateful she wasn’t going home alone to her little cottage where she only had a well-trained dog and an empty shotgun if she needed protection.

  At least she was headed to a public area where a detective was waiting for her and there would be other people around. Her fingers were tight on the steering wheel, her back stiffened as if bracing for a blow.

  Even though she hadn’t seen the color of the car the night before, the headlights looked the same and she was certain the car behind her now was the same one from the day before.

  A sigh of relief shuddered through her when she turned into the Wolf’s Head Tavern and the car continued on, disappearing into the gloom of the coming night.

  She pulled into a parking space, cut her engine and dropped her forehead to the steering wheel as she waited for her heartbeat to slow to a more normal pace.

  Was she looking for a bogeyman who didn’t exist? Had the car really been following her or was she taking innocent coincidences and making them into something nefarious?

  Was she looking for trouble when there was none?

  She supposed it was possible that the events of the past few months were finally catching up with her, making her paranoid when she shouldn’t be.

  She raised her head, checked her reflection in her rearview mirror and then headed inside the tavern, trying to ignore the faint simmer of fear that still remained deep inside her.

  Chapter 4

  Jimmy sat at a big round table for six. He wasn’t going to lie, he was immensely disappointed that Steve and Frank had invited themselves and Sheri’s sisters to join Sheri and him.

  He’d hoped for some quiet time, just him and Sheri alone, but maybe this was fate reminding him that he shouldn’t want anything but a friendship with Sheri, and that meant all his friends gathered together.

  He sensed her presence the moment she walked into the dimly lit room. At first glance the look on her face radiated something akin to fear and Jimmy tensed in response. Then their eyes met, a warm smile curved her lips and he instantly relaxed.

  He started to rise, but Roxy beat him to the punch, jumping out of her chair and running to Sheri. She grabbed her sister’s hand and pulled her to the table.

  “Isn’t this fun?” Roxy said as she gestured Sheri to the empty seat next to Jimmy. “When Steve heard Jimmy was meeting you for a drink, he decided to make it a little family reunion for us, since we’ve all been so busy with our own lives lately.”

  “Where’s Tommy?” Sheri asked, referring to Steve’s young son, as she sat.

  “At my place with grandma babysitting,” Steve replied. “My mom still can’t believe he’s back and she can’t get enough time with him.”

  “Which hasn’t been a bad thing for us,” Roxy replied as she grinned at Steve.

  “She’s spoiling him rotten,” Steve added. “As is Roxy, as well.”

  “Children are meant to be spoiled,” Marlene said. Frank’s hand covered hers on top of the table and Jimmy knew they both were probably thinking of the baby Marlene had lost in her previous abusive marriage. The only reason Jimmy knew about it was because Frank had confided in him that Marlene’s ex-husband had been abusive and when she’d been pregnant had kicked her down a flight of stairs. She’d lost the baby as a result. Travis ambled over to the table with a lazy smile on his face. “I’ll take orders from everyone, but whatever Sheri wants is on me tonight.”

  “That’s not necessary,” Sheri protested.

  Travis shook his head to indicate he wasn’t taking no for an answer. “That was my offer when you let me go the other night without putting a bullet in my black heart. Now, what can I get for everyone?”

  After taking orders for hot wings, mozzarella sticks and pitchers of beer, Travis left. Marlene arched a perfectly plucked eyebrow. “A bullet through his heart? What did I miss?”

  “Absolutely nothing,” Sheri said and turned to focus on Jimmy. “Have you had a good day?”

  “It’s good now,” he replied, then leaned closer to her so the others couldn’t hear him over the din in the room. “Although it could have been better if it was just two friends getting together rather than the men I’ve already spent way too much of my life with today.”

  “I have to admit I was looking forward to a little quiet t
ime with you,” she confessed. Between the heavenly scent of her that drifted to him and her words, Jimmy warmed from head to toe.

  “Hey, what are you two whispering about?” Roxy asked. “Do I smell a little romance in the air?”

  “Absolutely not,” Sheri replied. “Jimmy and I have just decided that it would be nice to have some friend time together.”

  “Just friends,” Jimmy reiterated.

  “That’s good, because Ninja Jimmy has told us a hundred times that he never intends to do the wife thing,” Frank said.

  Sheri looked at Jimmy again. “Ninja Jimmy?”

  Jimmy’s cheeks grew hot. “Have you noticed that my partners are jerks? Frank is just referring to the fact that when I was younger I was pretty heavy into the martial arts.”

  Sheri smiled at him, her whiskey-colored eyes sparkling bright. “That’s not a bad thing. You never know when you might need a ninja.”

  They all laughed and at that moment Travis and a waitress arrived with frosty glasses and the pitchers of beer. “Food will be up in just a few minutes,” he said.

  Beers were poured for everyone and the conversation swirled around the table as Roxy talked about the business at the Dollhouse and Marlene spoke about her work on the new bakery.

  Jimmy fought against a wealth of disappointment. When Sheri had called him to meet, this definitely wasn’t what he’d had in mind. However he only had himself to blame as he’d been the one who had mentioned having a drink with Sheri to Steve. From that moment on the evening event had exploded out of Jimmy’s control.

  Still, while he sipped his beer he enjoyed watching Sheri interact with her sisters. He liked watching the play of a variety of emotions that crossed her pretty features.

  She had a heart-shaped face that emphasized her large beautiful eyes and small impish nose. Her lips were cupidlike, slightly plump and inviting. She would never make a good suspect in a crime. Her features were too expressive and he had a feeling a lie crossing her lush lips would immediately be obvious.

  By the time Travis had delivered their food to the table, the conversation had turned to the painful subject of Liz Marcoli’s disappearance and the case that had gone stone-cold.

  Two days before the sisters had been told that the search of mountain cabins had finally been called off. For weeks a team of officers had searched lean-tos and cabins and any other structures hidden in the thick woods up the mountainside, but finally Chief of Police Brad Krause had called off the search as he could no longer justify the overtime and manpower used without further evidence.

  “And nothing ever came from comparing Agnes Wilson’s disappearance to Aunt Liz’s?” Sheri asked.

  “Agnes was a few years younger than Liz and other than the connections we would have expected to find with the two living in a small town, there was really nothing to tie the two women together,” Jimmy explained.

  Agnes’s case was much like Liz’s. The sixty-four-year-old woman had simply vanished from her home two years before.

  “I didn’t realize Jed Wilson was Agnes’s nephew until recently,” Roxy said.

  “I didn’t realize that until now,” Marlene replied.

  “We questioned him at the time of Agnes’s disappearance,” Frank said. “The two weren’t very close. Jed said they just drifted apart after Jed’s mother’s death. He had a solid alibi for the time Agnes disappeared and there was no motive to believe he had anything to do with it, so he was never a suspect.”

  “We never really had any suspects in Agnes’s case,” Steve added.

  “I still think Edward Cardell had something to do with Aunt Liz’s disappearance,” Roxy exclaimed, her dark eyes flashing with anger.

  Edward had been Liz’s secret boyfriend at the time of her disappearance. Jimmy and his partners had looked hard at the man for the crime, but ultimately had come up with no evidence to tie him to anything.

  “I can’t believe he’s dating Treetie now. It sure didn’t take him long to move on with his affections,” Roxy continued, her voice filled with distaste.

  Jimmy thought of Patricia Burns, aka Treetie. She’d been Liz’s best friend and like a beloved auntie to the three sisters as they’d grown up. But Treetie’s decision to date Edward following Liz’s disappearance had fractured any relationship the Marcoli sisters had had with her.

  Edward and Treetie were still on a persons-of-interest list that the three detectives had on file, but no evidence, no real motive had come to light to take it any further.

  A glance at Sheri let Jimmy know the conversation was upsetting her. He fought a sudden impulse to reach out and cover her small hand with his, to somehow comfort her without stepping out of bounds.

  Instead he did the only thing he knew to do, he shoved his basket of hot wings toward her. “Try one,” he said. “Travis might not know how to read No Hunting signs, but he makes a mean hot wing.”

  He was pleased by her smile as she reached for one of the appetizers. “Frank, anything happening with that house of yours?” he asked in an attempt to get the conversation off the missing woman.

  “Got the for-sale sign up, and Marlene and I have already found a potential place to buy off Maple Circle,” Frank replied.

  “That beige two-story one with the red shutters and the sweeping wide veranda?” Roxy asked.

  “That’s the one,” Marlene replied, her blue eyes lit with excitement. “It has a huge kitchen and everything has been updated.”

  “That definitely wouldn’t excite me,” Sheri said ruefully. She turned to Frank. “But, I hope it all works out for the two of you.”

  “No matter what, it’s going to work out for us,” Frank declared. The loving look he gave Marlene welled up an ache deep in Jimmy’s soul. What was it like to feel that way about another human being? What was it like to know with such certainty that the other person loved you as much?

  He’d experienced it only once many years ago and it had been such a fleeting thing that he had known in his heart, in his very soul he’d never have the opportunity again.

  By ten o’clock both Steve and Roxy, and Frank and Marlene finished up the last of their beers and snacks and prepared to leave. Jimmy stood, assuming the night was over for him as well, but Sheri touched his arm and looked up at him.

  “Could you stay a little bit longer?” she asked.

  “Of course,” he replied, realizing he was far too pleased by her request. “I’ll see you two in the morning at Roxy’s,” he said to Frank and Steve. At least three times a week the detectives began their days with a big breakfast at Roxy’s Dollhouse restaurant. “And, Marlene, I can’t wait for that bakery to open.”

  She smiled as she twined her arm with Frank’s. “I’m working on it. I’ve got electricians and plumbers and Sheetrock people all working together to get me up and running as quickly as possible.”

  Within minutes they were gone, leaving Sheri and Jimmy alone. Friends, just friends, he reminded himself as she scooted her chair closer to his and his heart beat just a little bit faster than normal.

  * * *

  “That was a surprise,” Sheri said when everyone was gone. Truthfully she wasn’t sure if she’d been happy to walk in and see the whole gang or slightly disappointed that it wasn’t just Jimmy.

  “When I mentioned that I was meeting you here after work, the last thing I expected was for Steve to invite not only himself but Roxy, Frank and Marlene, too.” Jimmy cupped his hands around his half-empty beer mug. “To be honest, I was looking forward to a little time just with you.”

  “It’s definitely hard to get a word in edgewise when Roxy is around. As much as I love my big sister, she talks too much,” Sheri said ruefully.

  “And you don’t talk enough,” Jimmy replied.

  “You’re right, I don’t, especially not if I’m in a group. I do much bet
ter one-on-one.” She looked up as Travis appeared at their table.

  “More beer?” he asked.

  Sheri shook her head. “Not for me, but I would take a diet cola.”

  “Make that two,” Jimmy said, and shoved his beer mug aside. As Travis left them, Jimmy turned his gaze back to her. Sheri had meant to talk to him about the fact that she believed she was being followed, that she was afraid to go home alone.

  But with his beautiful brown eyes focused intently on her the last thing she wanted to discuss was the fact that she might be overreacting to anything. “Tell me about your life in Philly,” she said. “You know so much about my life and I feel like I know so little about yours.”

  “There isn’t a lot to tell. I already told you that I was abandoned as a baby in a shoe box outside a police station and spent most of my youth being shuffled from one foster home to another. I was what they considered a difficult placement.” His eyes darkened as if he’d touched a memory nerve that was still exposed and painful.

  He gave a small shake of his head and then grinned at her, displaying his beautiful straight teeth. “By the time I was kicked out of the system at eighteen I fell into some bad company. At that time my goal was to become the biggest badass in Philly.”

  “Is that when you started the martial arts training?” She leaned slightly toward him, finding herself interested in all the things that had gone into forming the man he had become. Now that she’d decided he was going to be a friend, she wanted to know everything about him, past and present.

  He nodded, a strand of his dark hair slipping forward across his forehead. Sheri fought the desire to reach up and shove it back, to feel the texture of it beneath her fingers.

  The very idea spoke of the uneasiness that still gnawed in her stomach. Surely the impulse to touch him in any way was driven by her desire to be distracted from her own thoughts, she assured herself. It had nothing to do with the fact that she found him far too attractive.