New Man in Town

by Edward Kendrick

  “Where is it?”

  Wylie shielded his eyes, shocked when he realized the person speaking was female, and started to sit up.

  “Don’t move,” she ordered as she walked to the bed. “Tell me where it is.”

  “Where what is?” he asked, playing for time while he tried to figure out who she was. All he could see was her silhouette framed by the pale light coming through the window.

  “You know damned well what,” she said angrily. “What you found at the cabin. Tell me where it is and I’ll make your death relatively painless.”

  “Unlike Nelly’s,” he said softly, eyeing the gun he could see in her other hand.

  “She got what she deserved.” She took a step closer, the gun pointed at his chest. “I’m not playing, Wylie.”

  “It’s in the top drawer of the dresser,” he said, hoping she’d check because it would put her back to him.

  “Get it,” she ordered, stepping back. “Now!”

  He had barely swung his legs over the edge of the bed when the door slammed the rest of the way open.

  “Stay where you are, drop the gun, put your hands over your head,” Sheriff Kingman shouted as he and Garry stormed into the bedroom—Garry holding a large flashlight which he’d turned on.

  Alicia Harte froze momentarily and then spat out, “Like hell.” She gripped the back of Wylie’s neck with one hand while pressing her gun to his head.

  A shot rang out and she screamed as she spun back against the wall—whether in pain or frustration or both, Wylie wasn’t certain.

  Kingman was beside her as she slid down to the floor, blood flowing from the wound in her shoulder. “Tell them to get up here,” he ordered Garry, who immediately left the room. He returned quickly, followed by a pair of EMTs carrying a stretcher, and one of Kingman’s deputies.

  The EMTs immediately began to work on Alicia, assessing the damage. “We need to get her to the hospital ASAP,” one of them said as his partner dealt with staunching the flow of blood.

  Kingman nodded, telling the deputy to accompany them. It didn’t take long for them to load her on the stretcher and leave.

  While they’d been doing that, Garry had dropped down next to Wylie on the bed, folding him in a tight embrace. They stayed that way, not speaking, until Kingman said, “Damned good thing I was out on patrol when I got the signal. Otherwise…”

  “I’d be another notch on her belt,” Wylie replied shakily.

  “You could put it that way.” Kingman suggested, or rather ordered, that they leave the room so that his forensics team could go over it. “Yeah, I saw what happened, but they still need to,” he added when Garry started to protest.

  Wylie got up, saying they could use his office.

  Once they were seated, Wylie and Garry on the bed, Kingman in the desk chair, the sheriff said, “I can’t believe it was her. I mean, we never figured it would be a woman, for God’s sake.”

  “Why would we?” Wylie replied. “Everything pointed to a man. One who was looking for someone to love him. That or a serial killer.”

  “What the hell made her do it?” Garry asked. “That’s a rhetorical question,” he added, “since we don’t know the answer, yet.”

  “Did she say anything?” Kingman asked Wylie.

  “Other than asking where ‘it’ was, no. Oh, she did say Nelly ‘got what she deserved’.”

  “All we need to do is find out what she meant by that,” Kingman said. “It won’t happen while I’m sitting here, and probably not for a while longer if she needs surgery for her shoulder.”

  “Which she will,” Wylie replied. “You don’t take a bullet there and walk away as if it was a flesh wound. Not from the size of the hole I saw.” He shuddered, leaning into Garry’s embrace.

  “Yeah, true,” Kingman agreed, getting up. “I’m going to the hospital. I’ll be back in touch as soon as I find out where things stand.” He paused on his way to the door. “Your plan worked, Wylie. I still think it was a crazy one, but…”

  “You’re welcome,” Wylie replied dryly.

  “I wasn’t thanking you,” Kingman muttered. He was smiling, however, albeit thinly, as he left the room.

  “Now that the formalities are over, how are you doing?” Garry asked, his tone of voice revealing both his worry and his concern.

  “I’m all right, for the most part.” Wylie rolled his shoulders in an attempt to relieve the residual tension he was feeling. “Still trying to process that it was a woman, I mean her. I’m not making much sense. I liked her, damn it. I felt sorry for her, because her mom was trying to set her up with any available man from what I could tell. She didn’t deserve that, but…Why the hell did she kidnap Nelly and Emma? Why keep them prisoners, drugged up if she did that to Nelly, too, and why kill Nelly?”

  “Hopefully Kingman can get her to talk about it.” Garry grimaced. “Of course her folks will probably hire a lawyer who’ll tell her not to say anything.”

  Wylie nodded. “One who’ll claim she’s mentally incompetent to stand trial. I suppose on some level she is.”

  “True. I wonder if she would have killed Emma and then gone after another woman.”

  “A young, pretty woman like Nelly and Emma.” Wylie leaned back on his hands. “Jealousy?”

  “Perhaps. The question is, why didn’t she do anything until after you moved to town?”

  “You’re asking me?”

  Garry looked around. “You’re the only person here.”

  “Smartass.” Wylie sat up straight, again, tapping a finger to his lips. “She didn’t know I was gay until my ‘big reveal’—” he made finger quotes, “—in front of everyone at the restaurant Saturday night.”

  “She wasn’t there,” Garry pointed out.

  “No, but her father was from what she said. You know he must have told her and even if he didn’t, you know how the word spreads in small towns. I’m sure she found out pretty quickly one way or the other. She certainly knew when we ran into her Sunday morning. Still, she wouldn’t have when she took Nelly, and then Emma.”

  “I agree. You met her soon after you moved here. Suppose she fixated on you at that point. Then, somehow, she knew you’d met Nelly at the restaurant.” Garry chuckled. “Nelly did sort of flirt with you. If someone picked up on that, maybe a parent of one of Alicia’s students, and said something to her, that might have ticked her off. She decides to eliminate the competition. Then, you meet Emma and it’s déjà vu all over again.”

  Wylie snorted, saying, although it wasn’t really funny, “You must have been next on her list.”

  “Naw. By then she knew she didn’t stand a chance with you. However, she could have gotten a thrill out of what she’d done so she might have kept it up, anyway.”

  “Not a nice thought,” Wylie replied while trying to repress a yawn.

  “Did you get any sleep before she showed up?” Garry asked.

  “I must have because my phone woke me up. What the hell time is it?” He checked his phone. “Only a little after midnight? Yeah, I didn’t get enough to count.”

  “Think you can, now?”

  “I hope, although I’m going to try to in here, not the bedroom.” Wylie shivered as he slid off bed. “I’ll find out after I let you out and lock up.”

  “All right,” Garry replied as they walked downstairs. “You’re going to have to get the backdoor lock fixed, though. She jimmied it to get in.”

  “How do you know?”

  “That’s how Kingman and I got in. He showed up a couple of minutes after I did, while I was trying the front and garage doors. As soon as we got around back it was obvious what she’d done. I did turn off the system as soon as we were inside, so it would stop alerting us.”

  “At least she didn’t lock it afterward.”

  “Wylie…” Garry shook his head. “What part of ‘jimmied’ didn’t you get.”

  “Guess I’m more tired than I thought,” Wylie muttered.

  “Yeah, you are. Let’s put a
chair under the door handle so that no one else will be able to get in. Not that anyone would, but…”

  “You don’t want your phone letting you know I’ve got another visitor.”

  Garry grinned. “Not really. Once a night is enough.”

  Wylie did as he’d suggested, using one of the kitchen chairs, and then unlocked the front door to let him out.

  “In case I didn’t say it,” Garry said softly as he hugged Wylie, “I’m damned glad she didn’t kill you. I’ve got plans for us and that would have royally screwed them up.”

  “No kidding,” Wylie replied before kissing him. When Garry returned it, it deepened for a long moment before they broke apart. “Plans are good.”

  “I think so.” Garry swatted his ass. “Now get up to bed. I’ll see you tomorrow. Today. Whatever.”

  “You better believe it.” Wylie kissed him again, murmuring “Thank you,” against his lips.

  “For?”

  “For being here tonight. For caring. For…everything.”

  Smiling, Garry replied, “You don’t have to thank me, but you’re welcome. Now…” He pointed up.

  “I’m going, I’m going, once you leave so I can shut the door.”

  “And lock it,” Garry said.

  “And turn the alarm back on. I will.”

  Wylie watched as Garry walked down to the sidewalk, waving when Garry turned to look at him, and then went inside and up to bed in the office. He half expected that thoughts of what had happened would keep him awake. They didn’t, and soon he fell into a dreamless sleep.

  Chapter 15

  The first thing Wylie noticed when he went into the bedroom shortly before nine Wednesday morning was the smear of blood where Alicia had hit the wall and slid down to the floor. He shuddered, everything that had occurred flashing through his mind. Taking a deep breath, he averted his gaze to the window. The sun was shining, accentuating the green of the trees on the hills off in the distance.

  It’s a new day. Bright and beautiful. The horror is over for everyone who lives here. He knew that wasn’t quite true. Betty and Jake Harte would have to face what their daughter had done. He pitied them, hoping the townspeople would give them the support they would need instead of turning their backs on them. I know they will. It’s the way they are.

  He got dressed, in jeans, a casual shirt, and socks, foregoing shoes for the time being. Then he went down to fix breakfast. The chair shoved under the backdoor’s handle reminded him again of what had happened. Not that I’m likely to forget. He grimaced and called Carl.

  “If you can fit me into your busy schedule,” he said when Carl answered, “can you stop by to fix the lock on my back door?”

  Carl chuckled. “I’m almost there.”

  “Mind reading?”

  “Nope. I want the down and dirty details about last night. The rumor mill is working overtime and half of it’s speculation. Probably more than half.”

  “I’m sure,” Wylie replied, shaking his head. “Okay, I’ll have coffee ready when you get here.”

  “Better,” Carl said, amusement in his voice, before ending the call.

  Wylie started the coffeemaker and was scrambling eggs when the doorbell rang. Going to answer it, he found both Carl, carrying his toolkit, and Garry standing there. “Is there something I should know about you two,” he kidded. “You always seem to show up at the same time.”

  Garry laughed, saying, “Coincidence, that’s all,” and then kissed Wylie quickly before all three men headed to the kitchen.

  Wylie poured coffee and finished making his breakfast while Carl dealt with the jimmied lock on the back door.

  “How are you holding up?” Garry asked, snagging a slice of toast from Wylie’s plate as they sat down at the table.

  “Pretty good. There’s jelly if you want it.” Wylie grinned, pointing to the fridge.

  “Naw, this is fine.” Garry took a bite of the toast. “Are you really?”

  “Yes. Well, I have to clean up the blood on the wall and the carpet, but when it’s gone…”

  “I’ll help,” Garry replied.

  By then, Carl had finished with the door. Pulling out the remaining chair, he sat. “Tell all.”

  Between them, Wylie and Garry did. Garry ended by saying, “Kingman called me just before I left. He said Alicia’s in intensive care at the moment. She’ll need reconstructive surgery on her shoulder at some future date, to quote him. He’s feeling guilty about that.”

  “He saved Wylie’s life for God’s sake,” Carl pointed out. “He should feel proud. Well…okay, some of both I guess.”

  “Has he been able to talk to her?” Wylie asked.

  “It’s too soon,” Garry replied. “She’s going to be sedated for at least twenty-four hours, if not more.”

  Wylie nodded before asking Carl, “How bad are the rumors?”

  “You’re a hero for stopping her, we’re heroes for figuring it out and setting up a trap to catch her, it was like the shootout at the O.K. Corral, a couple of people think we framed her, umm, the whole gamut in between.”

  Wylie sighed. “I guess that’s to be expected.”

  “Yeah,” Carl agreed. “Now that I know the facts, I’ll do my best to set things straight.”

  “Until then, I’d better lay low?”

  “Not even,” Garry said. “You do that and they’ll think you’ve got something to hide. Finish eating and you and I are going to take Ziggy for a long walk around the neighborhood. Then we’re going to the hospital to visit Emma.”

  “Shit, I forgot about her.”

  “Not too surprising. Kingman said she’s awake and her doctor has okayed her release for this afternoon. Unfortunately, she doesn’t remember anything that happened so she can’t testify against Alicia when she goes to trial.”

  “If she does,” Wylie said. “We talked about this last night. A good lawyer might plead that she’s not guilty by reason of insanity. If he’s successful, she’ll be sent to a state psychiatric hospital for who knows how long.”

  “Honestly, I hope that happens for your sake and her parents’,” Garry replied. “None of you need to go through what a trial entails.”

  “It better,” Carl said. “The girl needs help.”

  “That’s an understatement,” Wylie muttered before taking the last bite of his eggs, washing them down with coffee. “Okay, if we’re going to go walking, I’d better put on some shoes.”

  “Might be a good idea,” Garry agreed.

  After asking Carl how much he owed him for fixing the door, Wylie hurried upstairs. Going into his office, he wrote out a check, and then went to put on his shoes and grab his keys and wallet from the dresser. He was tempted to take the time to deal with the blood stains, and decided he would do it later, after their walk and visiting Emma.

  “I’m ready to rumble,” he said when he came into the kitchen, handing the check to Carl.

  “I thought you were taking a walk,” Carl retorted.

  “Well, now that you mention it.”

  “I was the one who mentioned it.” Garry grinned broadly, ducking when Wylie took a swipe at him.

  “On that note, I’ve got a job I need to get to before Owen kills me,” Carl said. “I suspect I’ll see both of you sooner than later.”

  “You know you will,” Wylie replied as the three of them walked out to the front porch. He locked the door and then he and Garry strolled down to Garry’s house to pick up Ziggy.

  From there, they walked down two blocks while the dog lived up to his name, zigzagging right and left to check out whatever caught his fancy.

  They’d turned the corner, and were halfway to the next block, when Wylie said, “Let’s go straight ahead, okay? I’m not sure I’m up for going past the Harte’s place right now.”

  “Neither am I, to be honest,” Garry replied. “We can let the beast explore the forest for a bit and then head back.”

  Ziggy was all for that, especially when Garry let him off the leash.
r />   “You’re not afraid he’ll get into trouble?” Wylie asked.

  “He might tree a squirrel and get nuts thrown at him, but that’s the extent of it. He knows to stay close—or at least within calling distance.”

  A few minutes later, Wylie stopped, looking up at the clear blue sky visible through the tree branches. “This is peaceful,” he said softly.

  Garry wrapped his arms around Wylie from behind, pulling him against his chest. “It is. It’s one of the reasons I love living here.”

  “What are the others?”

  “A hell of a lot less stress than there would be living in a large city. Great people who care and are willing to help a neighbor without question in good times or bad—which is the majority of them. Ones who accept me as I am, who are also the majority, thank God. And then there’s this new guy who moved here not so long ago. I think I’m going to like having him around.”

  Wylie turned in Garry’s arms to look at him, asking hesitantly, “You think you will?”

  “I know I will,” Garry replied decisively. “That is if you’re planning on staying after everything that happened.”

  “Of course I am!” Wylie brushed his thumb over Garry’s lips. “I have a reason to, and I do not mean Gramps’ house.”

  Garry’s reply was an enthusiastic kiss which Wylie returned. They fell into it, ignoring everything around them but each other—until Ziggy began barking as he pawed Garry’s leg, dashed away, and then returned, still barking.

  “Damn, dog, now what?” Garry asked with more than a trace of exasperation.

  “He’s found a dead body,” Wylie quipped.

  “Hadn’t better have,” Garry muttered, following when Ziggy took off into the trees.

  There was a body, but not dead, and not human. Ziggy came to a stop at the edge of a small clearing. Across it, the men saw what had him so excited. A black, mangy-looking puppy stood there, its leash apparently tangled in the branches of a low bush. As they got closer the puppy cowered, whimpering.