I reached out and touched her hand where it was tightly gripping the steering wheel. “I’m sorry,” I said. “But, thank you again, for trying to help. That’s what matters.”
We lapsed into a comfortable silence for a few moments after that. A little later, a notification on Sheila’s phone went off. She flipped it over in her lap and looked at the screen.
“What’s up?” I asked as she put the phone to her ear.
“Voicemail,” she replied as she listened to the recording. “Karen. Sounds like she’s been having a rough night. She’s been really clingy the last few months, what with her mom and all.”
I knew what she meant. The occasional drop-ins were okay, but sometimes Karen just grated on my nerves. But she was a human being and deserving of some sort of friendship, wasn’t she? “Well, her mom’s sick, Sheila. She needs our support.”
“I know,” she said with a sigh. “But she just used to be so much fun. Probably not fair to her we’ve been hanging out so much, especially with me helping out at the shop with your accounting and stuff.”
“Yeah. I don’t know, if you two hadn’t been here for me when I came back from school, I don’t know what I would have done, especially when my family fell apart.”
“Tell you what,” Sheila said. “How about we plan a girl’s night out? After all this is done? Or even a weekend away? We can go down to Denver, hit up some clubs, dinner, a show. What do you say?”
I grinned from ear to ear. That was the best suggestion I’d heard in months. “Yeah,” I said, “that sounds really nice. Let’s do it.”
The gas station appeared up ahead on the left and Sheila began to slow. “Need anything while I’m inside paying?” she asked. “On me, of course.” It was one of those little gas stations that hardly ever saw any upgrades, so there was no credit card reader at the pump. Part of the reason it was open twenty-four hours was that you still had to go inside to pay for gas.
I shook my head. “I really just want to get the dogs and head home.”
“Head home?” Sheila asked, sounding concerned as she pulled the car into the lot and parked next to the far pump. “Sure you want to be alone tonight?”
“Trying to get me to stay the night, aren’t you?” I asked as she put the little sedan in park and looked over at me.
“It’s already late, girl,” Sheila said. “I’ve got the guest room, you know that.”
I laughed and shook my head. Then, a thought occurred to me. One that I was a little surprised hadn’t come to me earlier. “Do you think we should…” I sighed, trailing off.
“Should what?”
“Go to the sheriff in the morning?”
“What?” Sheila asked, perplexed. “Why? Those guys showed up on Richard’s property, didn’t they? I mean, sure, what happened was wrong, and all.”
Chewing my lip, I glanced away from her. Maybe she was right.
“Hey,” Sheila said, snapping her fingers. “Look at me.”
I sighed and turned back to her, still worrying away at my lower lip.
“Do you want Peak to think we’re fucking crazy? We watched a pack of werewolves attack a gang of bikers, Jess. He barely believed you were getting threatening calls from your stalker. Think he’d believe us about this?”
I had to admit that she was right. “You have a point,” I conceded. “I just don’t like the idea that a crime might have been committed, that maybe we’re involved.”
“You’re too much of a goody-two-shoes,” she said with a smile, leaving the keys in the ignition and climbing out of the car. She leaned back in. “We didn’t do anything wrong, Jess. We were just in the wrong place, at the wrong time. Got it?”
I nodded. “Got it.”
She shut the door and headed inside to pay for the gas. As she left, I thought back to the video Lacy had shown me in the bedroom. Maybe it was just one of the biker’s girlfriends or something? What did they call them on that TV show? Their old ladies? But there was something about the woman in the video, something I recognized. I just knew it. Her designer jeans maybe? Her boots?
Staring out the window, I watched as Sheila stopped at the service station door and pat her butt like she was searching for something. She turned on her heel and started heading back. She came up to my side and opened the door. “Forgot my wallet. Grab it out of the console for me?”
“Yeah,” I said, shifting in my seat so I could dig around in the center console for her. I quickly found her wallet and pulled it out. What was sitting below it, though, made me catch my breath.
A burner phone. One of those cheap, crappy ones you could buy at Wal-Mart for twenty-five bucks. The prepaid kind. The kind drug dealers used. The kind my stalker had been calling me from.
“It’s in there, right?” Sheila asked from behind me, shaking me from my stupor.
“Oh,” I said, turning around and handing her the wallet I tightly clutched, “yeah. It’s right here. Sorry.”
“Thanks, doll,” she said, grinning. Then, just like that, she was headed back into the service station.
I watched her go, my heart in my throat, my brain a fog of a million thoughts flying at once.
Sheila had pushed me to sell to Wyatt Axelrod as soon as she heard about the offer.
She was the one who told me the business was failing, but I’d just taken her at her word.
She told me she went to the Skull and Bones bikers, but what if what she’d been the reason they came after Richard? What if they had known about following Lacy because of Sheila, after I’d dropped Eli and Wallach off with her? And now, right now, why had she been so adamant about me staying the night? Just because of shock from the events? Or because she’d run out of other options on trying to get to me? I couldn’t forget, either, that she thought getting Frost Security involved was a bad idea at first. She’d only given me their recommendation after I’d pushed for it. And now she didn’t even want to go Sheriff Peak!
But, my brain screamed, why? Why did she want me gone so badly? Did she hate me? Did I steal a boyfriend from her or something? I didn’t know. But if she was the one behind this, behind that poor tortoise that had shown up at the gallery, then there was no telling what kind of batshit crazy world she was living in.
I pulled my phone from my pocket, the first time I’d even looked at it since I’d left the cabin, and went to turn on the screen. It wouldn’t go. I turned it on, one eye on the service station door like I was a scared child looking for the bogeyman to come out of the closet. The phone powered up and I saw that there were four text messages from Richard. Then the battery meter flashed abruptly at zero percent and powered down again with a happy little chime.
Shit! Sometimes in poor service areas, when the phone was constantly searching for a tower, it would do this. I’d completely forgotten about that fact with everything going on in the last couple days. Considering how infrequently I left my coverage area, too, I wasn’t surprised. I stared down at the black, inert screen of my phone, wondering what I should do.
Here I was, in the middle of nowhere. My phone was dead. I was maybe sitting in my stalker’s car. And my stalker had my dogs.
I had her spare, after all, but the question was: how do I get to her house before she did?
Behind me, headlights lit up from the direction of Enchanted Rock. I watched as the car began to slow and it pulled into the little trading post parking lot. Maybe, just maybe, I’d know the person, or it would be one of the town cops or state troopers. Whoever it was, I hoped they could help me get in touch with Richard or get me back to town. Something, anything, would be better than this.
The car, a small BMW, pulled up at the gas pump beside me, and a beautiful blonde with striking blue eyes climbed out.
Oh, thank God, it was Karen!
“Karen!” I nearly shouted as I jumped from the car. “What are you doing out here?”
She jumped in surprise. “Jessica? That you? Jesus, girl, you look like a mess! I couldn’t sleep, so I was just driving around
. What about you?”
“Long night,” I said. “Listen, can I get a ride by Sheila’s place real quick? Like now? She and I just had a, uh, fight, and I have to get my dogs from her, then head back to my house.”
She smiled warmly. “Absolutely, girl. I’ve got plenty of gas. I was really just coming in to get a soda. Hop in, I’ll take you right there.”
I practically ran around to the passenger seat and hopped in. Karen slid back into the driver’s seat and started the car back up. The BMW rumbled to life with the smooth purr of a jungle cat, and we took off for Sheila’s house.
First, I’d get Eli and Wallach back from that bitch.
Then, what?
I didn’t know. I’d figure out my next steps after. The most important thing, though, were my dogs, and the fact that, no matter where I went, Sheila was going to have them if I didn’t get them back.
And that meant I had to. Tonight.
Chapter Forty-eight – Richard
With the bikers all gone and the cabin locked back up, the team and I headed back to Enchanted Rock. Matt, Jake, and Frank had all ridden up in the same car and shifted where the turnoff for the cabin road had been. Frank rode with me, and we had been calling Jessica since we got within cell range, but hadn’t received any kind of answer, and she hadn’t replied to any of the texts Frank had been sending from my phone.
I didn’t blame her for not responding, of course. I was a freak, after all, and she was just now finding out about who I really was. If she’d lied to me the same way, I don’t know how I would have responded, either.
Who was I kidding, though? I knew exactly how I’d respond. But I was head over heels in love with her.
And all this was piled on top of our finding out that the bikers weren’t behind the stalking or the death threats. If Wyatt Axelrod was to be believed, of course.
“I don’t know,” I said, shaking my head as I raced into town. “I still have a really bad feeling about all this. There are just so many things we’ve missed. Still can’t believe I started this whole thing with those fucking bikers.”
“Don’t beat yourself up,” Frank said. “If I were in your boots, buddy, I would’ve thought the same damn thing as you. Hell, even Peter reckoned they were the baddies, not some random woman.”
“How can I not fucking beat myself up about it? She’s my fucking mate, man! And now she’s on the run from her stalker, and me! Worst part is, I don't who it could fucking be, Frank,” I said as he shifted in his seat and pulled his lit up phone from his pocket. “Could it be Sheila? I mean, what motive would she have? She and Jess are best friends, and I never picked up anything weird from her.”
“One sec,” he said, answering the phone and putting it to his ear. “Frank O’Dwyer. How can I help?”
“Who is it?” I hissed. Normally, I wouldn’t have been too curious about a business call to any of the guys’ cell phones, but it was certainly an odd time of night to be getting one. And, with everything that was going on, what were the chances it was unrelated?
“Sheila Pearson?” he asked, a concerned look on his face. “Yeah, I remember you from working with your father.” He paused. “Whoa there, girl. Go ahead and slow on down, alright? Take a deep breath and start over.”
Sheila was calling Frank? What the hell? Maybe Jessica’s phone was out of power or was broken during the skirmish with the bikers. A lot had been going on. But why, then, would our number one suspect be trying to get in touch with me? Wouldn’t she be trying to convince Jessica not to call us?
“Okay,” he said after a moment, “I’m handing you off to Richard, since he’s more familiar with this case.”
He handed the phone to me. “Sheila?” I asked cautiously. “What’s wrong?”
“Jessica, that’s what! She’s disappeared! I was at the store, and I came out from paying for gas, and the car was empty. I think…I think she might have been kidnapped, Richard! Could those bikers have done this? The ones that dragged me along? Do you think they could have seen her and swung in?”
“I don’t know,” I said, my jaw clenched, the thought of something happening to Jessica turning my stomach upside down. “I don’t think so, though. Where are you?”
“The gas station halfway to the Rock. You know it?”
“Yeah,” I said. “We’re not far away. Stay right fucking there, Sheila. We’re on our way.”
I handed the phone back to Frank and told him what she’d said.
“Still think it’s her, then?” he asked. “Sheila? She didn’t strike me as the stalker type when I met her before. A little too, uh, flighty a bird for that.”
I shook my head. “Doesn’t add up if she is. Why would she be calling us if she was the stalker?”
“Only one way to find out, I guess,” Frank said, leaning back in the seat. “Hi-yo Silver!”
I nodded and slammed my foot down on the gas. If the stalker, or someone else, had her, we might not have much time. The faster we got there, the better.
Chapter Forty-nine – Jessica
“Why’d she even have your dogs?” Karen asked as we pulled away from Sheila’s place, both Eli and Wallach stuffed into the back seat.
I’d gotten the boys together, along with their food and leashes, and piled them into Karen’s car as fast as I could. In the back of my mind, I was worried that I was falling into Sheila’s trap by going there. Like I was walking into the lair of the beast herself. But how could I do anything else? I couldn’t leave Eli and Wallach with her. Not if she was the one threatening my life. After all, I'd seen what had happened to that poor tortoise.
“It’s a long story,” I said, sighing. I was so tired, I was just ready to hit the hay and try to get some sleep. “But, well, I was supposed to be going out of town this weekend.”
Karen looked me over. “Jessica, can I ask you something?”
“Uh, yeah, sure. I guess.”
“Why the hell are you lying to me? It feels like you haven’t been straight with me in weeks, and you’re always just dancing around on the edge of things.”
I was shocked and at a sudden loss for words. She was right, I guess, but to have it so blatantly thrown back in my face like a glass of ice water was disorienting. I opened my mouth, but nothing came out.
She sighed, frustrated. “We’ve been friends since high school, right?”
“Yeah,” I admitted grudgingly. “I just, I don’t know, okay? At first, it was one little thing. And, as it’s gotten more and more out of hand, I just knew I couldn’t tell you without you getting upset because of not having let you know about any of it in the first place. Like a poisoned seed, or a dying root.”
“Well,” she said carefully as we slowly drove through town, “why don’t you just tell me everything?”
I groaned. “Better late than never, I guess.”
Karen reached across the center console, grabbed my hand, and squeezed tightly. “Exactly.”
Wondering where I should start, I took a deep breath, then the story just began to pour out of me. All of it, the calls, the bikers, the stalker, fax, the tortoise, my fears about Sheila. Everything.
Except, of course, the werewolves.
I didn’t for a second think she’d believe that.
Who would, right?
“And you want to go home?” she asked, a little shocked. “That’s the last place I’d go!”
When she said it like that, I realized how ridiculous it seemed. If the bikers were still out there, and still wanted to get to me, they'd easily find out where I lived. Especially if Sheila was working with them, or using them as her pawn. And, of course, Sheila knew exactly where home was. “Guess I could get a hotel,” I admitted after a while. “One that takes dogs, I mean. There's that one near the Greyhound stop.”
“What?” Karen asked with a laugh. “A hotel? You’re not staying at any lousy roach motel. You’re staying at my getaway cabin tonight. And I’m not taking no for an answer.”
“Your getaway cabin?” I ask
ed, shaking my head. “No, I can’t do that, Karen. I can’t impose on you that way.”
She smiled at me, her full, glossed lips perfect, her pale blue eyes flashing in the light of the gauge panel. “You’re not imposing,” she said. “I hardly ever stay there, especially with mother being sick. It’s just my place where I can disappear every now and then, clear my head. It’s quiet, you’ll have a place for the dogs to run around out back. Because you can’t go home, not with Sheila still out there, or those bikers. You know that.”
I frowned and nodded. “I’m so sorry, by the way,” I said after a while.
“For what?”
“For, you know, not telling you about everything when this all started.”
She dismissed my apology with a wave of her hand. “You’re forgiven, hon. Things happen, people make mistakes. Not the end of the world, as far as I’m concerned.”
“Thanks,” I said. “And you know what?”
“What, hon?”
“You’re a good friend. Thank you. For everything. For giving me a place to stay tonight, and for taking me by Sheila’s. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t come along, if I’d been forced to stick it out with her.”
“Don’t mention it. At all, okay? What are friends for if they can’t help you out in a tight space?” She smiled at me.
I grinned. “Yeah,” I admitted. “You’re right.”
A short while later, we were pulling up at a small cabin on the far edge of town. It was close to her mom’s home, only about a five or ten minute drive. “Well, this is it,” she said as we pulled up outside in the drive, “and you’re welcome to stay as long as you like. Barely anyone knows about this place except for me.”
“I really, really appreciate this,” I said as I got out of the car and flipped the passenger seat down, pulling it forward to let Eli and Wallach out. They both promptly hit the grass, running in excited circles until they calmed down enough to find a place to do their business. I searched for a poop bag for them.
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