by Terri Reed
Johnny gathered up some cups scattered around the shop.
“Thank you, but you really don’t need to help.”
“I don’t mind.”
Ellie was about to say something then decided to let it rest. Even though a million thoughts ping-ponged around her head, she didn’t need to share them all with Johnny.
A crash sounded from the back of the store and Ellie jumped, splashing the contents of the punch bowl up and over the edge. Her mind flashed to last night: the man slamming her body against the utility sink; his calloused hand against her mouth. She gasped, a cold fear washing over her.
Johnny moved toward her, a concerned look on his face. He held out his hand, indicating she stay put.
Ellie swallowed hard as she watched him disappear into the storage room, her pulse beating erratically in her ears. A few minutes later he returned with a piece of paper. He locked gazes with Ellie.
Her stomach dropped.
“This was stuffed in the hole of a brick.” He pointed with his thumb toward the back door. “There’s a nice dent in the middle of the exterior door where he threw the brick.”
Tiny stars danced in Ellie’s line of vision. “What does it say?” The words rasped out of her dry throat.
She read over his shoulder. In angry black letters, the wrinkled note read, “Stop playing games or you die.”
THREE
Ellie worked a long shift at the gift shop the next day. Ashley had popped in for a bit—safety in numbers and all—but she’d scooted out shortly after Tony had called midway through the day. Ashley was about as reliable as cell service five minutes outside of town. Ellie knew she couldn’t count on either.
Wrapping up the day, Ellie did some final bookkeeping and waited for Johnny to escort her home, as they’d arranged after the appearance of the threatening note last night. As soon as business hours were over, she had locked both the front and back doors to her shop. Rolling her shoulders, she blinked her eyes slowly. She hated that the very thing she had dreamed would make her feel independent was making her feel like a prisoner.
The sun hung low on the horizon and soon it would be dark. The fine hairs on the back of her neck stood on edge.
Was someone out there watching her? Thinking she had stolen a package of drugs?
She sent up a silent prayer of protection. And patience.
Ellie didn’t want to fail at yet something else in her life. She had thought following her boyfriend to Buffalo was her ticket out of sleepy Williamstown, but it had only ended in heartache. He was more interested in controlling her than in letting her follow her dreams. Never again would she get herself in that trap.
She picked up her pen and added some figures at the bottom of the ledger. She preferred paper to a computer program. At this rate, the shop would barely break even.
Don’t get ahead of yourself, it’s only the first full day.
She scratched her head with the bottom of the pen and frowned. Ellie would have to find a way to attract more customers.
A banging at the front door made her drop the pen. Pinpricks of panic shot up her arms and she gasped. Framed through the glass of the front door was Bobby Vino, the baker from next door. Tony’s father. His chubby face was contorted into a very angry expression.
“What now?” Ellie muttered to herself as she strolled to the front door. Five more minutes and she would have been gone for the night and could have avoided whatever she was about to face.
Lately, her life had boiled down to bad timing.
She squared her shoulders and opened the door. “Hello, Mr. Vino. Is something wrong?”
His face glowed red. “Your stupid shop cost me a very important customer.”
She clasped her hands in front of her. “I’m sorry. I don’t understand.” Behind Mr. Vino, she noticed his son Tony approaching, the blank expression on his face not giving her any indication as to whose side he was on. In the far reaches of her brain she was wondering why Ashley had left the shop so early if her date was still working. She quickly dismissed the thought, instead plastering on her most sympathetic face.
Mr. Vino jerked his thumb toward the street. “Your customers last night took up all the convenient parking spots on Main Street. My customer couldn’t get in to order a cake for her daughter’s birthday.”
Ellie blinked rapidly. “That hardly seems worthy of getting this fired up over.”
Tony stepped forward and placed a hand on his father’s shoulder. “The person has been one of our longtime customers. My father fears if he’s lost her, how many others has he lost.”
“I’m sorry that happened.” Ellie thought about the trickle of customers today. “I don’t think parking will be an issue in the future.” Unfortunately for her bottom line.
Mr. Vino’s jowls wobbled as he shook his head, the anger rolling off him in waves. “Another person thinking she has what it takes to run a successful business, but doesn’t have a clue.”
Ellie opened her mouth to sling an angry insult. How dare he? He didn’t even know her. But her father’s wisdom whispered across her brain, “You’ll catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.”
“You should have never leased this space.” Mr. Vino smacked his son’s hand off his shoulder, spun on his white-cushioned shoes and stormed out of her shop and back into his own.
“Wow.” Ellie took a step back. “Your father is a very angry man.”
Tony pulled off the hat covering his hair, crumpled it in his fist and smiled at her a little sheepishly. “Sorry about my dad. He’s really a nice guy when he isn’t stressed.”
Ellie crossed her arms. “We’re all stressed. But I learned a long time ago, we can’t control what other people do.”
“Is Ashley here?” Tony asked.
“She left a while ago.” Ellie strolled back over to her paperwork, not in the mood for small talk. “I thought she was with you.”
“Oh.” Tony smoothed out his white hat in his hands. “We’re going out a little later.” Tony approached the counter with an air of contrition. “Maybe if you understood where my dad is coming from.”
Ellie looked up from her paperwork, but didn’t say anything.
“My dad had hoped to rent this space and expand the business.”
Ellie set her pen down. “I didn’t realize…”
“Yeah, well…business has been slow. He thought an expansion might mean increased sales.” Tony scratched the crown of his head, leaving a tuft of hair sticking up. “Then you moved in here and the customers from your grand opening blocked his parking spots.” A vein throbbed in his forehead. “Then when he called one of his regulars about ordering her daughter’s cake and he learned she had ordered it elsewhere. Well…he lost it.”
Ellie held out her hand. “Like I said, no need to fight over parking spots now.” An unease shifted in her gut. She hoped this wasn’t a sign of things to come.
“The old man’s gotten a little more grumpy.” Tony stuffed his hat into the back pocket of his jeans and shifted his stance. “I hope we can be good neighbors. My dad’s worked hard all his life. He’s a good guy.”
“I’m sure he is.”
Tony whistled under his breath and strolled around the perimeter of the small store, his rubber soles sounding quietly on the wood floor. For the first time she noticed his orange-and-yellow sneakers, something one of the kids in the church youth group would wear. She held back a smile.
Tony stopped near the door to the storage room and his forehead furrowed, as if he had suddenly remembered something. “Has the FBI agent figured out any more about the guy that attacked you?”
Ellie studied Tony’s face. “You know about the attack?”
“I work next door,” he said, his expression neutral.
“Not yet,” she said, leaving it at that. She wasn’t sure if she detected neighborly concern or plain curiosity. He did have a shop next door and a right to know.
Tony nodded slowly, as if considering this. He had a tir
ed mannerism about him. His hands clenched briefly before he seemed to relax. “How well do you know Johnny Rock?”
“Not very.” Which was the truth. The boy she had had a teenage crush on had been playing a role. He hadn’t been a teen at all. Yet she couldn’t deny the immediate sense of attraction, then and now. She blinked a few times. What did fourteen-year-olds know anyway?
“Does Johnny think the attack was random?”
Tingling unease bit at her fingertips. What’s with all the questions? “They’re investigating.”
“The FBI? Or the local police?”
“Both, I guess.”
Tony shrugged. “Probably some kids.”
“Maybe.” Ellie studied him careful.
Tony laughed, a mirthless sound, and leaned his shoulder against the door frame of the storage room. “It’s been awhile since you’ve lived in a small town. People talk.”
“And…”
“Everyone is talking about how Johnny’s back and looking for the dealer who sold that poor kid some bad stuff that got him killed.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing.” She planted a fist on her hip.
“So, it’s true?”
Ellie dropped her fist from her hip and picked up her pencil distractedly. She shook her head. “I wouldn’t know.” Heat fired in her face as she glared down at her ledger. She was a horrible liar. But she had no choice. Johnny had asked for discretion. A serious investigation was at stake.
“It just seems coincidental that Johnny would show up out of the blue after that kid overdosed.” The lines on Tony’s face smoothed and something flitted in the depths of his eyes. “I was a freshman in high school back when all those arrests were made. I still remember the day the local cops came into the school with drug-sniffing dogs.”
Tony pushed off the wall and stared at her coolly. “Why am I telling you? Your brother was one of them.”
The way he said “one of them” made icy water flow through her veins. “My brother wasn’t convicted.”
“The accusations messed him up all the same.”
More than you know.
“I suppose not as bad as Roger Petersen who served time in prison for his part.” In a way, Ellie felt as if she needed to defend Johnny. Although her innocent brother had gotten caught up in the mess, a young man had gone to prison for distributing drugs. He had been convicted, right? Even if he had proclaimed his innocence.
Roger had moved around for a while before moving back to Williamstown last year. He seemed to be making a go of it. He had a new wife and had opened a sub shop two blocks away on Main Street. For some crazy reason, Greg and he had rekindled their friendship.
“People make mistakes.” She was referring to Roger, but something in Tony’s expression made her suspect he thought she was talking about Johnny. She let it go. “People deserve to be forgiven.”
“I’m all about forgiveness,” Tony said. “But don’t forget, Johnny used people to get what he wanted.”
Ellie stared blankly at Tony, waiting for him to make his point.
“He got close to your brother. Close to all the guys on the high school baseball team to get what he needed.”
She rubbed the back of her neck. “He needed to get drugs off the street.”
Tony leaned in conspiratorially. “True, but he did it in a way that destroyed innocent people’s lives. In return, he got a nice promotion and then eventually a pretty nice job with the FBI.”
Hadn’t she worried about the same things?
The threat of a headache thumped behind her eyes.
“Listen, I don’t mean to be a drag. Ashley and I are getting close and I know she loves you like a sister. I’d hate for this guy to hurt you because he’s using you.” He lifted his palm. “You know, like a means to an end?”
The numbers on her ledger swirled and she blinked rapidly to clear her vision.
Tony strolled toward the exit and put his hand on the silver bar on the door. “Doesn’t matter. I was just making small talk.” He paused longer than necessary. “Again, I’m sorry about my dad. If you have any more problems, come see me. He’s under a lot of stress to pay the bills. I’m trying to convince him to expand with internet sales, but he’s old school.” He gave his head a small shake. “Maybe it’s time to close up shop.”
Alarm shot through Ellie’s veins. “You can’t be serious?” An empty shop next to hers would be the kiss of death. The bakery attracted more customers onto Main Street. Fewer businesses, less traffic.
Tony shrugged. “My father wouldn’t go quietly. That’s for sure. His grandfather opened this bakery in 1927.”
Ellie stood dumbfounded as Tony walked out of the store. She tapped her pen absentmindedly on the counter. She couldn’t worry about Tony’s family business. She had a business of her own to worry about. But what haunted her were Tony’s questions about Johnny.
Would Johnny use her to get what he needed?
No, he was protecting her.
Or maybe he was doing a bit of both. Johnny had been known to do whatever he needed to do to get the job done. Even if it meant destroying innocent people.
*
Johnny had split his day between helping his reluctant grandfather sort through some of the items in his house and fielding calls from an FBI agent in the home office in Buffalo. The FBI had made a big arrest at the Canadian border a short drive north of Williamstown, but Johnny knew the war on drugs was like plugging a leak on a sinking rowboat while another leak sprung up. You could keep paddling, you might get closer to the shore, but soon you’d be underwater all the same.
Someone in Williamstown was definitely supplying the hard-core stuff and Johnny was going to stop them before another kid got hooked or worse. He had to work his way back into the good graces of the residents in hopes of uncovering some leads. Sure, he heard the grumblings of some of the regulars at the diner. They seemed to focus on Greg Winters who’d gone free and not Roger Petersen who’d gone to prison. What people thought wasn’t his problem. He had a job to do.
Johnny took his grandfather’s golden retriever with him when he walked up to Gifts and More to escort Ellie home. He wished she’d just shut down the shop and leave town, but he knew that wasn’t realistic. She was pretty stubborn. And so was he.
When he reached her block, he noticed the bakery next door was dark. At her door, the lights glowed, but he didn’t see any sign of her.
He pulled on the door handle. Locked.
“Good girl,” he muttered. Duke looked up at him and then went back to sniffing around the nearby tree.
Ellie’s auburn hair became visible over the surface of the counter. A second later she popped up. Concern slanted her mouth down at the corners and a crease lined her forehead. She set her purse by the register and strode toward the door. She was staring right at him, but the expression on her face was hard to read. The bolt snapped and then the door opened.
Ellie looked as though she wanted to yell at him when the dog caught her attention. She glanced at Johnny, the pinched expression around her eyes softening a bit. She crouched and took the dog’s snout in her hands. “Hey, puppy.” She straightened and brushed something off the thighs of her jeans. “Give me a minute while I close a few things up.”
“I’ll wait here with Duke. I’m afraid he’d be like the proverbial bull in a china shop.”
“Ha.” Ellie stepped back into the shop and went behind the register. Johnny kept the glass door propped open with his shoulder.
“How was business today?” he asked, glancing over his shoulder at the quiet street.
“Slow.” The frustration was evident in her voice. “I’m going to have to think of something else to draw customers in.” She paused, leaning the flat of her hand on the counter. “What do you think of those shops that hold art classes?” She shoved something under the counter. “Not art classes per se, but art parties. Women gather on a girls’ night out, have refreshments and create artwork? Maybe even kids’ birthday part
ies?”
“Never heard of them. Sounds like an interesting idea. With your artistic talent, it would definitely be something to consider.”
Ellie walked to the door. “Maybe I could clear a space out near the back of the store for easels.” She shrugged. “I still have a lot of thinking to do.”
“You should.” He reached down by his side and patted Duke’s head.
She gave him a quizzical look. “You don’t think it’s stupid?” She said it in a way that made him think someone had put her down in the past. A lot.
“You’re a smart lady. You’ll figure it out.” He threaded the leash through his hand. “If there’s any help you need from me, let me know.”
“Like a bodyguard?” The hopeful expression died in her eyes.
“Well, I hope that’s only temporary.” He didn’t want to mention the dead end the FBI office had told him about today. Turned out the images from the security camera at the parcel service where the drugs had originated had been too grainy. Even when they enhanced them, the images were still unclear: a dark blob, perhaps a man wearing sunglasses and a hoodie. Not much to go on.
Ellie held up her finger and jogged back over to the counter to grab her purse. “Once you figure out who’s been dealing drugs, you’re out of here. Back to Buffalo.”
“Buffalo’s not that far.” He couldn’t help but smile at her. She had such a cynical look on her face. He tilted his head. “What’s wrong? You seem annoyed.” Maybe it was just a rough business day on top of everything else.
A look of hesitation lit her eyes. Her pink lips formed a straight line as if she were trying to find the words.
Johnny narrowed his gaze. “Did something happen today that you’re not telling me?” His pulse spiked and he stepped into the store to get closer to her, but, in the excitement, Duke wagged his tail. A crystal unicorn wobbled on the glass shelf near the door. He reached out and steadied it before taking a step back toward the door. Duke wasn’t helping here.
“I had a visitor today who suggested you might be using me for your investigation.”
The defeated look on her face made his heart sink. “You told someone about the drug investigation?”