Lone Wolf Standing

by Carla Cassidy

  It didn’t help that she’d once believed Eric to be the prince she’d sought and he’d turned out to be the worst kind of warty toad.

  Was the real problem that she was afraid to try again, afraid to trust any man again? It was so easy to trust a man who wasn’t real, who was only a figment of her imagination. She twirled a strand of her hair as she continued to ruminate on all matters of the heart.

  Maybe the real problem was that she’d never truly believed that a man could love her. Oh, she knew she was well liked and respected by a lot of the men she worked and interacted with on a daily basis, but deep in the very core of her she’d never really expected a man to love her.

  She couldn’t cook. She stuttered, and her own mother hadn’t loved her enough to clean up her lifestyle and keep her. Was it any wonder Sheri had decided the only man for her was a fantasy prince?

  What had Jennifer told her the other day? Something about it being time to put away childhood fantasies and look around for a real man who could love and respect her.

  Was it time? Was Jimmy the prince she’d always dreamed about, just in a different packaging? Was he the man who held her lifetime of happiness in the palm of his hand?

  She was grateful when Jennifer called out that she needed help up front, grateful to put her confusion behind her and take care of customer needs.

  Jennifer left at one and Michael showed up for his shift right on time. “I’m glad to see you’re taking the job seriously,” she said to him when they were alone.

  Outside a rain shower began, assuring her that for at least a little while it was doubtful there would be any customers.

  “I like working here,” Michael said. “It’s cool to talk with everyone who comes through. I like finding out where people are going and where they’re coming from. I’ve never been anywhere but here and sometimes I think about taking off and seeing other places.”

  “Where would you go first?” Sheri asked.

  “Florida,” he answered without hesitation. A twinkle appeared in his eyes. “You know, the beach and all those bikini-clad babes.”

  Sheri laughed. “Now you’re showing your age.”

  “Hey, I’m a healthy male without a girlfriend. I like thinking about babes.”

  Sheri shifted positions on her chair and looked at the handsome young man. “And why don’t you have a girlfriend? I mean, you aren’t that hard to look at.”

  He flashed her a grin and then frowned thoughtfully. “I got kind of a bad reputation when all that stuff was going on with the kids in the cabin. Everyone knew Roxy and Marlene had both fired me for stealing. I wasn’t ready to tell anyone about the kids yet.” He shrugged. “It definitely put a damper on my love life.”

  “But you turned out to be a hero, Michael.”

  The police had placed Michael on a persons-of-interest list when Roxy was being threatened and he’d been followed to the old cabin in the woods where the cops were surprised to find three young orphans who Michael had been caretaking for while he tried to prepare them for foster care.

  “I do kind of have a crush on somebody,” he admitted.

  “And who would that be?”

  “Jennifer.”

  “Ah, so you like those older women,” Sheri teased.

  “She’s only a year older than me,” he protested. “That’s not so old.”

  “Have you told her how you feel?”

  He looked at her horrified. “No way. I mean, it takes a lot of guts to tell a girl you like her. I’m not ready for that yet.” He pointed out the window. “Look, the rain has stopped and the sun is shining again.”

  “That means hopefully the rest of the afternoon and evening we’ll have more customers,” Sheri said. “I think I’m going to do a little dusting.” She grabbed a rag and a spray bottle of polish from beneath the counter, once again seeking some kind of activity that would drive thoughts of Jimmy out of her brain.

  As she worked to dust the shelves and rearrange the furniture provided by Abraham Zooker, she couldn’t help but think about what Michael had said—how it took guts to tell a woman how you felt about them.

  Jimmy had taken that leap of faith the night before and had been shut down soundly. It had taken courage for him to speak of his love for her. She knew from his past that he’d been vulnerable, that it had taken an enormous courage for him to speak words of love to her. And she ached for his heartache, a heartache she’d provided.

  The rest of the day she stayed busy, and at seven forty-five Sheri went into the bathroom to brush her hair and freshen up for the meeting between Ramona and her sisters.

  She hoped things went well. She didn’t want any drama, just some sort of resolution for them all. Hopefully the meeting tonight would not only answer some questions for her about the role she wanted Ramona to play in her life, but also bring peace to Roxy and Marlene where their birth mother was concerned.

  How she wished Aunt Liz was here to guide them all through the murky waters. How she wished she could talk things over with her aunt, tell her about Jimmy and the fact that he believed himself in love with her. That there was a little part inside herself that believed she might be in love with him.

  But Aunt Liz wasn’t here and all she had to depend on was her two sisters. They had both found the love of their lives in the past couple of months. Maybe tonight after Ramona left, Sheri could talk to them about Jimmy and her confusing feelings for him.

  Surely they would be able to counsel her on all things of the heart, on her want of Jimmy and her need for her fantasy prince.

  By eight she turned the Open sign to Closed and locked up the front door. She told Michael he could go ahead and take off, and then she grabbed the shotgun and her purse from behind the counter.

  As she walked out the back door she noticed that the late-afternoon sunshine was warm on her shoulders and had dried up any reminder of the earlier brief rain.

  Michael pulled out of the lot with a wave and disappeared from sight. Sheri unlocked her truck, leaned forward to put her purse and the shotgun on the passenger seat and before she could straighten up to get into the cab she felt a sharp sting in her neck.

  She slapped at the stinging skin, thinking it must have been some sort of a biting gnat or insect.

  And that was her last conscious thought.

  Chapter 15

  “You’ve been unusually quiet all day,” Steve said to Jimmy when it was almost time for the three detectives to take off for the night.

  “I’ve been going over all the files again on the Wilson and Marcoli disappearances,” Jimmy said. “I think our next step has to be to look at any men who live alone. If he’s keeping these women alive someplace, then he can’t be living with anyone else.”

  He didn’t add to his partner that he’d been seeking immersion into anything that would keep his mind off of his broken heart.

  “That’s a pretty tall order,” Steve said. “Life is hard here in Wolf Creek, especially in the winters. We have a lot of singles and widowers living around here.”

  Jimmy nodded. “I know, but my gut is telling me this man is taking these women for a specific reason. If we were dealing with a serial killer, the odds are that he’d leave the bodies someplace where we would find them. But this.” He gestured to the open files in front of him. “This just feels like something different. Why haven’t we found their bodies?”

  He scooted back in his chair. “Most serial killers want their work to be found. They want social buzz and they feed off a community’s fears. But we’ve never found Agnes’s or Liz’s body. There’s been no taunting contact with authorities.”

  “It just means our perp isn’t necessarily the norm,” Steve pointed out.

  “True, but maybe it’s worth looking into?”

  Steve nodded. “First thing tomorrow morning we�
��ll have Frank get on the computer and get a list of all the men around here who don’t have partners. In the meantime, why don’t you join me and Frank at the Wolf’s Head Tavern for a couple of beers and burgers. The ladies are going to be tied up with their family reunion thing and so we figured we’d bachelor it at the tavern.”

  Jimmy shoved away from his desk, eager to spend time with anyone to prevent him from thinking about what had happened the night before and what a fool he’d made of himself. It had been more than humiliating that he’d actually believed he had a chance with Sheri. It was hard to swallow that his feelings for her hadn’t been reciprocated.

  “Sounds good to me. Are the two of you ready to go now?”

  Frank appeared beside Steve. “Yeah, let’s get out of here.”

  The mood in the squad room had been sober all day as everyone was aware of Krause’s continuing foul mood. Normally the squad room was not only filled with officers working, but also joking back and forth with each other. Krause’s mood had put a pall on what had already been a depressing day for Jimmy.

  A half hour later the three men were seated at a table in the dimly lit tavern with a pitcher of beer as a centerpiece and frosty glasses of brew poured all around.

  They’d ordered food but for the moment were content to sit and sip the cold beer. “Hell of a day,” Steve finally said with a deep sigh.

  “Hell of a couple of months,” Frank said.

  “At least with this new theory of yours we have something to do,” Steve said to Jimmy.

  “And we’ll make sure we interview every man at the station where Krause can see that we’re actively working our butts off,” Frank said. “He acts like we’re nothing more than Keystone Kops bumping into light posts.”

  “He’s just frustrated,” Jimmy defended. “As all of us are.”

  “Why aren’t you with Sheri tonight?” Steve asked curiously. “I thought you were her main man.”

  “She fired me last night as her personal bodyguard,” Jimmy informed him, hoping the forced lightness in his tone gave nothing away of the utter heaviness that was in his heart. “She’s got a loaded gun and Highway back in the house and insisted she could take care of herself from now on.”

  “At least you know she’ll be safe and sound with her sisters later this evening,” Frank said. “I’m glad I’m not required to attend that particular family reunion.”

  “That makes two of us. Roxy is definitely a mess about it. I’m just glad she actually agreed to meet with Ramona. If nothing else, hopefully it will bring a sense of closure to her,” Steve said. “She has some dark memories where Ramona is concerned. Maybe this meeting will finally ease some of them.”

  “Too bad we can’t bring some closure to them all about Liz,” Jimmy added.

  “Nothing jumped out at you when you were looking at the files today?” Steve asked.

  “Nothing that we haven’t already explored at least twice before.” Jimmy released a heavy sigh. “I just hate the idea that we’ve got some creep in town preying on women and it might be somebody we consider a friend or the seemingly normal guy next door.”

  “Isn’t that the way it usually is? You arrest a serial killer and all of his neighbors tell the reporters how normal he seemed. I think you might be on the right track with the idea of checking into all the single men in town,” Frank said. “If nothing else it will give us a new list to look at, new people to question.”

  “If we could just get a damn break,” Steve said in frustration. “If we could just find a lead to follow. We’re good detectives. What in the hell are we missing?”

  “Hell if I know,” Frank replied.

  Travis appeared at the table with burgers and fries for each of them. “Men’s night out, huh.”

  “Something like that,” Frank said as he reached for the mustard bottle Travis had brought with him.

  “The food isn’t as good as you’d get at the Dollhouse and I don’t have any fancy pastries to offer you for dessert, but let me know if you need anything else,” Travis said as he placed the ketchup bottle on the table. He sauntered back to the bar where several men were seated.

  “Single man,” Jimmy said, his gaze lingering on Travis. “And he and Sheri had an issue.”

  “Liz and her nieces ate and drank here a couple of times a month before Liz disappeared,” Steve added, his gaze also going to Travis, who was now wiping down the long bar with a cloth in preparation for the night drinkers that would be arriving soon.

  “But I checked him out pretty thoroughly when Sheri was attacked.” Jimmy paused to drag a French fry through a pool of ketchup on his plate. “He lives in the small house behind the tavern, is here most of his days and nights and doesn’t have the time or own any other property to keep a woman alive for any length of time.”

  “Besides, I’ve always considered Travis one of the good guys in town,” Frank said. “I just can’t believe he has anything to do with these crimes.”

  The three men fell silent as they dug into their burgers. In the silence a vision of Sheri once again appeared in Jimmy’s head. Not a picture of her smiling or laughing but rather the startled and then dismayed look as she’d processed his words of love for her.

  “Roxy thinks it’s some crazy mountain man who has Agnes and Liz chained in his house, waiting on him hand and foot,” Steve said.

  “Sheri sort of had the same idea about William King. He lost his wife two months before Liz disappeared and she thought he might have Liz chained in a barn or an outbuilding to be his new wife,” Jimmy said, and then smiled, remembering how she’d laughed at her own idea.

  “As far as I’m concerned there’s no idea too far-fetched,” Steve said.

  “I told Sheri I was in love with her last night.” The words fell from Jimmy’s lips before he’d realized he intended to say anything to his partners. His cheeks immediately flamed with heat and he wished he could recall the words.

  Steve and Frank both looked at him in surprise. “You’re in love with Sheri?” Frank asked.

  Jimmy hesitated and then gave a curt nod.

  “I knew it,” Steve said triumphantly. “I swear I saw it every time you said her name, each time I saw the two of you together. There was that snap of energy between the two of you. I knew you were getting in deep with her.”

  “Yeah, well apparently it was a one-way deal,” Jimmy muttered, unable to hide the misery that crept into his voice.

  “She cut you down?” Steve asked in surprise.

  “At the knees,” Jimmy said with a painful wince.

  “It’s that prince thing, isn’t it?” Frank grabbed the mustard bottle and squirted another dollop on the last of his burger as he shook his head ruefully. “Marlene told me she’s been waiting on some fairy-tale prince to fall in love with.”

  “I knew I wasn’t what she was looking for,” Jimmy said. “She’d told me all about the prince thing the first time we had any real personal interaction. I was stupid to allow my feelings for her to get so out of control. You two bozos don’t help you know, all happy in love. You make a man want what each of you has for himself.”

  Steve frowned. “I could have sworn that she had feelings for you. Deep feelings. Roxy and I even talked about it, how unusual it was for three sisters to find love with three detectives who were partners.”

  “So unusual, it didn’t happen,” Jimmy said. “At least not mutually.”

  “I don’t know, the Marcoli sisters are all pretty hardheaded. Maybe you just need to work harder, convince her that she doesn’t need some fantasy prince in her life, that all she really needs is you,” Steve said. “I’m telling you, buddy, she feels something for you and I have a feeling she just needs a little more convincing.”

  Jimmy frowned thoughtfully and dragged another fry through his ketchup. Did he really want to go through ano
ther rejection with Sheri? Did he really want a woman who he had to convince was in love with him?

  “I don’t know. I think maybe it’s best at this point that we just leave things the way they are,” he finally said as he stared down at his plate.

  “Coward,” Frank said softly.

  Jimmy’s head jerked up. “I’m not a coward, I’m just a realist. I already spilled what was in my heart for her and she rejected me. What’s the point of doing it all over again?”

  “Because you do love her and we both know that coming from your background love is especially important to you,” Steve argued. “And besides, women like men who fight for their love. Lord knows I had to fight for Roxy to finally realize how much she loved me.”

  “And Marlene wasn’t exactly an easy catch,” Frank said. For a moment his blue eyes went hazy, as if remembering his fight for his lady’s love. “I say if you want Sheri, if you really believe you can give her what she needs forever, then go after her.”

  “But, you might want to wait until after the family drama is over tonight,” Steve advised. “Who knows what kind of emotional turmoil we all might have to deal with after their meeting tonight.”

  “I haven’t decided to do anything yet,” Jimmy replied. Even though he’d half expected Sheri to reject him last night, he hadn’t realized how utterly devastating it would be until he’d gone back to the silence of his own apartment.

  He’d felt like that lost little boy again, happiness, love and family within a mere finger’s reach and yet he’d been denied the very thing he wanted, he needed most in his life. The need to belong.

  There was a part of him that didn’t want to try anymore, that wanted to make peace with the fact that he would probably spend his life alone, chasing down criminals and casually dating random women to ease his loneliness.

  And yet there was also a tiny part of his heart that refused to believe that dismal scenario would become the rest of his life. There was a tiny shard of hope inside him that still glimmered with a light difficult to ignore.