by Selena Scott
He had, but Will didn’t have the opportunity to answer. “I might know something about that,” Jay said, his heart sinking deep inside him.
Will looked at his friend, surprised at his words. How could Jay, in any way, know anything about this or somehow have passed his details on to Todd Wright?
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“I had no idea who he was.” Jay looked forlorn.
“Who?” Andrea asked.
“Todd. Todd Wright.”
Will looked at his friend.
“You’ve met him?” Will asked.
“No.” Jay said. “I’ve spoken to him.”
“What?” It was Will’s turn to be surprised.
“About two weeks ago. I got a call from a guy.”
“Did he give his name?” Andrea asked.
“No. But to be honest, it fits that it was him. He said he was looking for a Will Bennett.”
Will froze.
“Bennett?” Andrea asked.
“My real name.” Will now felt that it was all out. Andrea must now know everything there was to tell. But he was going to have to offer more of an explanation for this part.
“So, you are not Will Sidwell?” Andrea asked. Wondering how long until the next revelation.
“I am. I am both.” Will looked at her.
“Both?” Andrea asked. “So now you are a wolf and two different people?”
Will admired her quick wit, particularly considering the situation.
“Well, no, just the one. Sidwell is my mother’s maiden name. I’d never used it, not until the day I left the navy. Bennett is my surname.”
As Andrea considered all the revelations of the night, she thought this was a pretty minor one. She’d let this one go for the moment. She gave Will a knowing glance and nodded at Jay to continue.
“Someone rang a couple of weeks ago. A man. Anyway, he said he was looking for a Will Bennett, he had heard he was working at the mall. I told him he was wrong. He was pretty persistent. Said your mother had died.”
“She did,” Will interjected very briefly, “in 1995.”
“Well, you being you, I didn’t know. You never mentioned a mother, but still, this guy, he said it was urgent. He was convincing. He asked me if I was sure. I said I was sorry that this guy, Will Bennett’s mom had passed, but the only Will I knew never mentioned a mother. ‘What Will?’ he asked me. Will Sidwell. And I told him I doubted you were the same person. Which turns out was the case. But that was it.”
“What do you mean, that was it?” Will asked.
“I mean that was it. He hung up. Bit of an ass, I thought at the time. Just because I didn’t have the guy he was looking for, he just hung up.”
“But that wasn’t the case?” Will asked, already knowing the answer.
“No, because clearly I had given him the information he was looking for. Look, how he got as close to you as this, I simply don’t know. I really don’t. But I pushed him over the line. I essentially gave you up.”
“Oh, please,” Will rose to his feet. “Don’t be so dramatic. How the hell could you have known?”
“But I knew something. Fair enough, I didn’t realize it at the time, but I had information that could have protected you and could have protected Sally. And I said nothing.” Jay looked certifiably pissed at himself.
Andrea looked at Jay. She knew that he was hurting and she knew that he was worried. Hurt in his own pride, hurt by his own stupidity. But he wasn’t a shallow man, Andrea thought. What was getting to him was his concern for Sally. Because he believed his stupidity had led to this situation.
Andrea placed a hand on Jay’s. She looked at Jay and said nothing. Already Will could see that she had made Jay feel a little better about himself.
What strength this woman had, he thought.
“Listen to me, Jay,” she started. “I’m a no-bullshit type of girl.” She said this with a warmth in the crease of her smile. “This was bad luck. An indirect piece of bad luck that does not, in any shape, reflect what you are and who you are as a man.”
Jay looked back and pursed his lips gently. His eyes looked tired and his face needed color. But his eyes lost some of their sadness and self-pity and he appreciated these words. He appreciated them because they weren’t empty words to make him feel less crap about himself. They were words that she meant and believed. He believed them for their sincerity and in turn he felt some of the guilt dissipate.
“Okay, love-in is over,” Will said, lightening the mood. “Let’s get the cops on this and let’s find Sally.”
Will turned to pick up his jacket. In the brevity of time he took to do this, he felt a certain shift in the mood of the room. Sub-consciously he knew that Andrea and Jay had been about to join him in making their move from the table. But they had frozen for some reason.
It was only when he turned that he realized why.
Andrea, Will and Jay stared.
What the hell was happening here?
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The man and woman, staring back, didn’t speak. They didn’t move either. They shuffled from the back entrance and stood in the kitchen area. Sally.
And a man.
Lloyd.
Jay jumped to his feet. Ready to react. He would destroy this fool, he thought.
“Don’t,” Lloyd said, with purpose.
He looked at Jay and looked across at Will and Andrea. His look was a little dazed for someone who had clearly just returned to the scene of the crime for some reason.
How stupid can you be, Lloyd? Andrea thought, still stuck to her chair. Was this an act of revenge on Will? On her? On Sally? And what the hell was he going to achieve returning, apparently empty-handed? With Will and Jay. He really was a fool.
Will said nothing. He observed. Sally looked ruffled and upset, but physically, from visible observation, unhurt. She had a distracted look in her eyes, though. Like she was uneasy. But it wasn’t coming from being in Lloyd’s presence. It was something else. Like a shadow was hanging over her.
Lloyd, Will thought, looked like he hadn’t dressed or showered in a couple of days at least.
Lloyd wasn’t masterminding anything.
Then he made his way into the back of Cup Character.
Todd Wright.
In all his pomp.
He stood behind Lloyd and Sally. That same obnoxious smile on his face that had haunted Will all those years that he had had a hold over him. He felt a surge of contempt flow through him. Yeah, he had cleared him out, but at that moment, he didn’t feel it was enough. He should have ended him. This coward.
And then Will saw it.
The Beretta M9 semi-automatic handgun. It looked old, but then again, they were in commission since 1990. What scared him more than the gun, though, was the look in the eyes of the man who was holding it.
“Been a while, Bennett. Or, Sidwell, I should say. How you doing?”
“Good, I’m good, Wright,” said Will, calm betraying the flurry of feelings vying for his attention.
“Sergeant Wright to you.”
Will pulled his head back in a knowing, false laugh. He focused his attention on balancing the situation in his mind. The physical positioning of everyone, the look in his eyes, the true threat. The threat was real, because Todd looked like he didn’t care. That’s what scared Will. If he wanted something, he could maybe resolve this. But Todd wanted nothing.
But to kill everyone in that room.
“This guy has been a real good help,” Todd said, pointing his weapon at Lloyd’s temple. “Not the brightest, but he played his part.”
“What could you possibly want with Lloyd?” Andrea asked, still sitting. She felt her heart beating out of control. Sally’s own fear, she could fear. Sally, she could see, was protecting her pride, but Andrea knew she was frightened. But Lloyd. The man whom she had despised. He still didn’t deserve this, no matter how much of a bad taste his name had left in her mouth. He didn’t deserve to die.
“She sp
eaks,” Todd said. “Andrea, so nice to meet you in person. Well, to answer your question, Lloyd was my local eyes, ears and transport the last 24 hours. Was pretty easy to make the connection to him and then to Bennett. God, he really is stupid, right?”
“Maybe,” Andrea got to her feet. “But not as stupid as you.”
“Is that right?” Todd enjoyed the challenge to his authority. Especially when he knew he was the one in control.
And that’s when it hit Will. There was a way out, here. Maybe not for him, but for the other four. For it was him that Todd wanted. He had humiliated Todd and this was the reaction. He had run from him and he was sick of hiding. His primary goal here was Andrea, Jay and Sally. And Lloyd. That was if he lived past the next ten seconds.
“Listen,” Will started, “I know what it is you want here.”
“Is that right?” Todd’s rotund face was filled with relish at the thought of his own revenge.
“You want me.”
“I sure do. But I’ll get to you. Because I know you and your gallantry. You will sacrifice yourself for the others. ‘Let them go’. Is that what your next line is going to be? Jesus, Will, you are a walking cliché. You are a disappointment.”
“I will give you myself. But I will give you more than that.”
“What’s that, Will?”
“In my other form. You can have me as I am in my other form. As a wolf. And you can do what you wish. Humiliation, whatever…”
“But let them go first, hey?”
“Yes.”
Sally looked at Andrea and for a moment she saw that old spark in her eye. The one that filled her every day. ‘Wolf?’ her eyes asked Andrea.
Andrea gave the briefest of nods and turned her attention back to Todd.
“There is actually no need to let us go,” she said, looking straight into Todd’s eyes.
“Is that right?” Todd was enjoying this. He knew he was in control. “This is what I’ll do. I’ll drop Lloyd here. Then Sally, and then this old-timer. Then you and Will can console each other and you know, beg for mercy. The usual.” Todd turned to Will. “You think I want you as a wolf? Please. I want you to suffer. Which is why I’m going to take your friends away and then leave you to pick up the pieces. Then you can try and find me. But I wouldn’t really bother trying. Because I will end you then. You can just stay here and wallow. Wallow in your dead friends’ blood.”
“Except for one thing,” Andrea said.
“And what’s that?” Todd answered.
“The cops. Well, the one behind you.”
As Todd took a very brief sideways glance, she knew she only had one opportunity to get this right. For all her attention to detail in life, this was one moment when she could not be an inch off. And she only had a split second to make it happen.
She scooped the ceramic mug that had coupled as an ashtray up in her left hand by its handle, and in one fell swoop let it fly across the shop floor. Cold water and drenched ash fell to the floor. In the second that Todd had turned, he turned back into the path of the mug.
It didn’t work. Not how she had hoped. It was meant to catch him flush in the eye, but she was off. It was enough, though, to graze his nose. The distraction, the diversion she had caused was enough time. Will and Jay were on top of him. Jay smashed Todd’s arm and hand into the ground until the handgun loosened from his grip. Will flipped him over and held his face cold to the tiled kitchen floor.
Sally was grabbed by Andrea and taken to a nearby seat. Lloyd slumped to the ground, adrenalin flushing from his body.
“How’d you like that, you fucking coward?” Will asked Todd as he held his face down, and sat on his back. Not giving him a second to move.
“Very good, Will, well done.”
“Sure,” Will answered.
“No, really, this is the end, you win. Or do you really think that? Do you really think no one else knows what you are? I’m only getting started with you. And as for that tasty bit of ass you got going there…” And with that, Will picked up the discarded mug and smashed it over Todd’s head. Giving him some temporary sleep.
Will looked around the shop. Apart from Lloyd, for whom the shock of the whole thing was causing some sort of intense wailing, his friends looked in good shape. Jay was on the phone to the cops and he was standing over Andrea and Sally. The protector.
Sally was saying little, which was out of character. But to have been in character at this juncture would have been odd. But she looked relieved. Tired and relieved. There was plenty of time to go through the details. And they would. But for now, Sally needed to be held. And Andrea needed to hold her. For as long as it took.
Will would wait as long as it took for it to be his turn.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
It was pretty much breakfast time by the time everyone was able to start making their way home.
Sally and Jay made their way to the medical center, but it was precautionary. That no harm had been done to her was the real success story of the night. She had described how she had been grabbed by Lloyd, under the tutelage of Todd. Being sat against her will in the back seat of the rented Jeep Cherokee filled her with an absolute fear – one that she wouldn’t admit to her friends. She told Andrea she knew this Todd guy was military. But she also felt he was blinded by his obsession. Was Will really a goddamn wolf? she had asked Andrea.
Andrea had laughed, not denying anything as such and hugged her friend warmly. They spoke about her sharpness to manage to somehow ring Andrea from the phone in her pocket.
She had even managed to summon up the energy to argue with Jay over the fact that Andrea had to be the one to ultimately save her with her sleight of hand and deft accuracy.
As always, Jay felt the irritation that he and Sally brought out in each other, and reacted at her lack of gratitude. But when he saw the warmth in her face that she shared with him only sporadically, he knew there was no malice.
Andrea watched them. She watched them argue and debate. And give their statements to the cops. And criticize each other and look after each other. She watched how Jay looked at her and how Sally looked at him when she knew he couldn’t see. Sally knew a bit about self-preservation. And protecting herself was something she had no choice to do. For Jay was a married man and had been for a long time.
She had no interest in a man who was as settled in a family as he was. Well she could have no interest, not really. She wouldn’t allow herself. She had been single for twenty years. Her two sons had moved out. But they had moved back in again. But that was a whole drama in itself.
But she could settle for this. To have him in her life. To see him as much as she did. To be around him. She just feared the day that would be gone. The same way she feared the day Jay had his heart attack and she stayed away from the hospital while Maggie held his hand.
Because that was right and that was the way things should be.
But her feelings for Jay. Well, no one was going to interfere with them. Because that was what they were. Real feelings. But they were her feelings.
As Will drove Andrea home, he felt a relief. Todd Wright would surely be gone from his life now. Again. Well, he would have to make sure that that was the case. He thought about down the line. About leaving again. He looked across at Andrea. She was tired.
“Van Morrison?” Will asked.
Andrea smiled and rested her eyes.
She thought of everything that had happened over the last twelve hours. It was hard to believe so much had unfolded in such a ridiculously short period of time. But when she thought of it all, of all the revelations, all the drama, well, only one thing was making her heart beat. The adrenalin had slowed, the drama had concluded, the revelations were over. But being here, in this car, with this man; nothing made her feel so alive.
Will pulled back up in front of 1182 Old Boston Road. The morning felt fresh as he stepped out onto the sidewalk and walked around to the passenger door. Andrea took his hand and stepped out. Will wrapped his arm aroun
d her side and they walked to her front porch.
When they got in, Andrea offered to make coffee. Will told her not to be ridiculous and insisted she lay on the couch.
Will grabbed a box of matches from the mantle-piece and lit the set fire with its dry logs, kindling and discarded, rolled-up pages of newspaper. It didn’t take long for the flames to fill the frame of the fire place.
Will brought juice from the refrigerator and poured it into a glass, as well as a bottle of cold water.
“Take your pick,” he said as he smiled at Andrea.
Andrea’s eyes felt so tired. But the heat from the fire was so embracing. The juice refreshed her throat.
With that she lay her head down on the throw pillow. Will pulled the blanket over her.
There was now nothing being spoken. Andrea wondered if it was possible for any woman to feel as protected as she did at that very moment. She stared at Will and he put his hand on her cheek and pulled her hair behind her ear. He sat back on the coffee table and took turns glancing at the fire as it roared, and Andrea, as she illuminated his heart. Will watched as she fell asleep. Sound and deep.
His contentment was absolute.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
When Andrea woke, she was surprised that noon had come and gone and it was pushing one o’clock.
Andrea hated sleeping in. She just didn’t do it. But this didn’t quite fit into the usual sleeping-in pattern. She let her eyes wander the enclaves of the room and for a moment she let her eyes close again.
She knew Will was near.
Andrea opened her eyes again and saw that the fire hadn’t lost its intensity. Will had kept it going. No wonder she had slept so soundly.
“Hey,” a voice called from the kitchen. Well, not just a voice. Will’s voice. He had the remnants of last night’s bacon on the go. Eggs were cooking slowly on the griddle.
Coffee steamed from two large, light-brown, oversized cups.
“Hey,” Andrea replied. “What’s all this?”