by Diane Bator
“No. Do you want me to be jealous?”
The door chimes jingled and Laura strolled into the store waving a bag of takeout food. “Hello, handsome. Hey, Katie, I brought you some Thai food. We went to that new place on Branding Drive and it was amazing. I hope you like crab soup and lemongrass chicken.” She disappeared into the back room with the food.
He leaned over. “She thinks she’s sexy too.”
“Do you?”
“Do I think I’m sexy or do I think she’s sexy?” Danny stared into her eyes then lowered his voice to a whisper. “You are so jealous.”
Katie shoved him away with her shoulder. “Of what? I don’t even know you.”
The door opened and a young family came in. She flashed a smile at the parents who had a young girl and a newborn baby in a stroller. In reality, she was one small step away from tossing Danny face first out on the sidewalk and was sure he knew it.
“No, you don’t, do you?” His face lit up. “And it’s driving you crazy. This has nothing to do with Mimsy. It’s me, isn’t it?”
Katie shook out two more painkillers and wished they contained condensed booze. “You’re going to make me a drug addict by the end of the week.”
“I know what you need.” Danny rested his hands on her shoulders and rubbed her tense muscles. “A really great massage.”
Although a massage sounded divine, she shrugged him off. “I was thinking more along the lines of a few bottles of wine.” Or champagne.
“I could supply that too. Plus candles.”
“Let’s try and sit through a real date first.”
Reality seemed to slip out of Katie’s grasp every time he touched her. Not only was her head racked with pain, but her brain melted into globs of over-medicated goop until she was unable to think straight. “Here, Laura. Mimsy gave me invitations for you and Ray and your dates for her party next Saturday. I’m going to go have lunch, and I don’t want to be disturbed by anything or anyone.”
“Katie?” Danny sounded concerned. “Did I do something wrong?”
“I need to be alone for a while. Why don’t you go catch some bad guys or something?” Katie locked the door to the back room unable to look at him anymore.
She leaned back against the door and longed for something to throw across the room that wouldn’t make holes in the walls she’d worked so hard to paint. Sliding down the door, she sat on the cold cement floor. The pain in her head refused to budge, no matter how hard she squeezed.
Danny Walker—or Donovan Wild—was a cop, or a private detective if she believed his business card, who was totally hot and hitting on her without mercy. No wonder she had a headache. Katie wasn’t sure what to believe anymore. Her gut feeling, after hours of arguing with herself the previous night, was she was the person he was searching for.
She was lousy at hide-and-seek as a kid and obviously hadn’t improved any as a grown-up. If she was smart, she wouldn’t only have changed her name but run off to some tropical island. Or Greece. She’d always wanted to see Greece.
All the choices she’d made over the past few years came back to bite her on the backside. It was only a matter of time before Maddox found her. Maddox. How many times had they talked about running off to Fiji together? Away from Margaret and DMR. The night of the party, he’d wanted to talk to her about something, but they hadn’t been able to escape his wife.
Was it possible Maddox left her the escape money and planned to use her new identity to find her? The world was a big place. How did he intend to track her down?
What she knew for certain was there were bowls of crab soup and lemongrass chicken on the table. She raised her weary head and focused on the food. There was nothing she could do to change her past, aside from ignoring it for half an hour to enjoy the present.
At least until the next crazy thing happened.
She should probably eat fast.
Chapter 23
Danny
The way Danny saw it, Katie should give the store back to Ray and move to Eastern Europe. Hell, he was wise to follow before Maddox found either of them. She was too stubborn to do any of those things. He was afraid she’d think falling into a bottle was easier. At this rate, he’d probably fall in with her.
On the upside, the fingerprints on the receipt for Danny’s magazine confirmed her identity and his superiors had made hasty arrangements to send Bobby to Packham to help keep tabs on Paulina Chourney. Bobby started his first shift with the Packham detachment that afternoon after a little sleep.
Danny was grateful for the help. At least he could count on Bobby. Before he got to his motorcycle, his cell phone rang.
“You find my girl yet?” Maddox asked.
He didn’t have to fake desperation. Time was running out for both of them. Now he knew for certain she was Paulina, he had to suck it up and talk to Katie without anyone else around. “No. I’m running out of leads.”
“Where were you yesterday?”
“Visiting a sick friend.” It wasn’t far from the truth.
“I tried to call you several times.”
“My phone died.”
“I see. I think I have an idea of what’s going on.”
“What do you mean?” Danny’s breath stuck in his throat.
Maddox gave a laugh. “I think Paulina has played us all for fools. I think she took the money I…Dunnsforth left her and she’s still in Newville. After all, you said she didn’t leave a trail, right?”
“True.” Danny shut his eyes and rubbed his face. Had he just heard right? Maddox had given her the means to skip town?
“You also said she ditched the Jag. That tells me she left the car and hopped a taxi. So why aren’t you searching the city for her?”
Maddox had means and motive to want Paulina gone. Had he actually planned to kill her the night of the party or smuggle her out of the country away from the police and his wife? “I’m on it.”
“Meet me at Persimmon at ten tonight. Don’t let me down, Mr. Wild. I don’t like it when people let me down. They usually don’t like what happens to them when they do.”
Danny hung up. He reached for his helmet, but the phone rang again.
“I should change my number.” He glanced at the screen. “Yeah?”
Bobby replied before he could draft his resignation from the force. “Leo stirred up a hornet’s nest at the station. You need to get in there now. On top of that, the DMR lawyers are demanding to talk to you. From what I hear, they’re not alone. I have a feeling the chief’s going to make an example of you.”
“What else is new? I’ve put my life on the line for this case.”
“We both have. I’ll talk to you later. I have to get in uniform. I haven’t worn one since this whole DMR case began, so this ought to be interesting.”
Another idea occurred to Danny and he got off his motorcycle. He had an urge to see who owned the bookstore—Paulina Chourney or Katie Mullins. Lucky for him, he went to school with the woman who looked after the land records.
Tales and Retales was owned by Ray Colter with a rent-to-own deal by Katie Mullins. Katie had erased Paulina from her life completely. The way the day was shaping up, Danny wished he could do the same with Donovan Wild and the Wild Blue Detective Agency.
He called Leo, who didn’t answer.
Whatever was going on in Newville, it was not going to be good.
Chapter 24
Katie
“I don’t care what she’s doing.” An angry woman yelled from the other side of the door. “You get her out here right now or I’m going in.”
Katie’s full attention was yanked out of her book before she’d even finished eating lunch. Now what?
“I don’t have a key,” Laura explained.
“Then I’ll knock the door down.”
The muscles in the back of Katie’s neck tensed all the way down to her shoulder blades. She’d finally started to relax over her delicious lunch and the latest steamy Katarina von Herrington novel. Her gaze da
rted to the back door. She could make a run for it and leave the headaches for Laura, but it would never work.
They’d find her.
She tossed the last few bites of her lunch in the trash and steeled herself for whatever awaited on the other side of the door. “What’s up?”
Hilda’s peach lips puckered, making her look like a miniature pit bull. “Do you have any idea what’s going on in front of your store? It’s disgraceful.”
Katie took a bracing breath then glanced out the front window and groaned. “Oh, no. What on earth is going on out there?”
She rushed through the store with Laura and Hilda on her heels. “Mitch? Is everything okay?”
“No.” Mitch sat in the middle of the sidewalk blubbering. “My life is worthless. I should just throw myself into traffic and get it over with.”
Since no cars were coming from either direction, it seemed she had time to talk him out of suicide. “Why don’t you sit on the bench away from the curb and we can talk?”
“I’m tired of people talking. I just want peace and quiet.”
“There you are.” A heavy-set woman Katie assumed was his wife April wagged her finger at him. “I’ve been looking all over town for you and where do I find you? In front of the bar surrounded by dozens of women. Don’t think you can run away from me.”
He let out an exaggerated sigh. “I just went in for a drink. One stupid beer.” He held up three fingers.
“No more excuses.” She shoved a finger in her husband’s chest. “Get your lazy butt into the car and let’s go home. What exactly was he doing here to begin with? Is this the slut you’ve been carrying on with under my nose?”
“Are you kidding me?” Mitch’s upper lip curled. “She’s too skinny.”
April made a noise resembling laughter.
A police car crested the hill at the far end of the street. Katie’s stomach sank. She really didn’t want to deal with police of any kind. She reached down to help him up. “You’d better go, Mitch. She means business.”
April slapped her hands away from Mitch. “Who are you? Let go of my husband, you hussy. You’d better not have been in there drinking with him.”
“I don’t drink,” she said, but might start again soon. “Please, Mitch. Get off the sidewalk and go home with your wife.”
“I don’t want to. She’s a nag. I want a divorce.” Mitch crossed his arms in front of his chest. “I’m not going anywhere with her ‘cause I’m sick of being hen-pecked. I’d rather get hit by a truck than go home with her.”
The words April used on him next made Katie blush, especially since she used them all in context while Hilda took notes on her hand. Her tirade ended with her stamping her feet and announcing, “I want a divorce.”
“Mitch. April.” Katie groaned and glanced at the police car now only a block away. “Please go home. You’re blocking the sidewalk.”
“You’re kicking us out of the bookstore?” April’s jaw dropped.
Katie winced. “You’re not in the bookstore, you’re on the sidewalk causing a disturbance and the police are coming. They’re going to take you both to jail and I won’t have to worry about you for at least a month.”
She flared her nostrils. “You called the police on us? What kind of person are you?”
Katie threw her hands in the air and turned away. She’d had enough.
Laura chuckled. “Usually you only see people like that on TV talk shows. They’re much more entertaining in real life.”
Katie shook her head. “Look after the store, will you? I need to go for a walk and clear my head.”
“Go ahead. I’ll cover for you. I think I know those officers anyway.” Laura nudged her. “Just don’t be too long.”
“Don’t forget it’s Thursday.” Hilda called after her. “My writing group meets tonight.”
“Right. I remember.” She walked away from the insanity. Walking away was something she was getting a lot better at lately. The sound of sirens propelled her faster. What started as a walk around the block to clear her head, took her several blocks away with no idea where she was. She was about to turn back when she passed a yard that intrigued her.
The old fieldstone house must have stood there for over a hundred years. The sprawling yard was shaded by a huge spruce, beneath which stood a two-foot tall plastic statue of the Virgin Mary on a bed of wood chips surrounded by a ring of stones. Dozens of faded silk and plastic flowers decorated the flowerbed. A simple stone bench sat a couple feet away with a deep groove worn into the ground in front of it.
Katie drew closer to the statue, tugged by an unseen hand. She focused on the plastic woman in the faded blue shroud and slid onto the bench. Would it be worth it to take the money and leave Newville, leaving behind everyone she loved?
A tissue, held by a pair of wrinkled fingers, appeared over her left shoulder and dangled near her head. Behind her stood a man older than Ray.
Flustered, she wiped her eyes with her sleeve. “I’m so sorry. I don’t know what came over me. I just…”
“You had to sit.” He smiled at her with rheumy blue eyes. “Everyone does when Mother Mary brings them. I’ve found grown men out here at three in the morning, drunk as skunks, babbling their every sin to her.”
“That’s nice of you to do that.”
“Oh, it’s not me.” His smile never wavered. He sat beside her in slow motion, as though he might break. “It’s Mary.”
“The statue?” Katie gaped at the plastic statue before she faced him. Nothing about his serene expression hinted at insanity. “Are you putting me on?”
“Not at all, my dear. I found her in a garage sale sixty years ago. I was a young priest in Newville then. Finding Mary was a blessing. I found a home for her in the parish. Back then, we could keep the church open all night without vandalism. By the time I retired, we locked the doors every night to keep the church from being used for unsavory purposes.”
“What do you mean?”
“Kids would hide inside to drink or take drugs. One night, I even caught the police chief’s son.” He shook his head. “Some people have no respect.”
She agreed.
“Mary stood in the front hall for years, but I always knew we had a higher calling.” The dreamy smile still hadn’t left his face, which gave her goose bumps.
“Mary the statue?” Katie wasn’t sure she understood.
“Mary and I moved here to Packham and I put her where she longed to be.” He waved a hand toward the flower bed. “She’s stood beneath that old tree, availing herself to the people, three hundred and sixty-five days a year for the past thirty years. Two nights after I put her here, I realized she glowed at night.”
“She glows?” Katie looked for a hidden extension cord beneath the wood chips but saw none. “Where do you plug her in?”
“I don’t. Her glow comes from within.” He allowed her to absorb his words before a soft chuckle escaped him. “Lots of folks think I’m a bit crazy.”
“You don’t say?” She cast him a sideways glance and tried to sound surprised. “There must be something in the water, judging from some of the people I’ve met.”
“There probably is.”
Katie studied the statue’s unseeing eyes. “Has anyone tried to steal her?”
“No. She speaks to people. You don’t hear her with your ears. You hear her with your heart. She brings peace to those who need it and guidance to the lost souls.”
“And you just show up with the tissues.”
“I buy them in bulk at Costco but I leave the miracles to Mary.” He extended a weathered hand. “Father Samuel Goodman. Everyone calls me Father Sam. I don’t always talk to the people who come, but I’ve never met you. Mary told me I should.”
“Katie Mullins. I own the bookstore on Main Street.”
Father Sam’s face lit up. “Of course. Katie. Katie, the bookstore lady. I’ve seen you. Kudos for transforming that eyesore and giving Ray Colter a purpose in life.”
“
Ray?”
“Why, of course, child.” He clapped her hand between his. “He was ready to give up on life then you came along and took his troubles away. He has more freedom now than he’s ever had. For that, the entire town thanks you. He was becoming quite the old curmudgeon.”
“Ray Colter? You don’t say.”
Father Sam’s watery eyes twinkled as he patted her arm. “Don’t think I don’t know he causes you grief. When you took over the store, he bet me you wouldn’t last a month. Then he upped it to two. Last week, he changed it to two years. The old goat has a soft spot for you.”
Katie was speechless.
“A lot of people speak highly of you, my dear. They like you and trust you. Why can’t you grant yourself the same courtesy?”
She wanted to explain, but the words wouldn’t come.
Father Sam patted her hand like a loving grandfather. An unnerving, loving grandfather. As gentle as he seemed, something about him made Katie’s neck hair stand on end. “It’s okay. You’ll talk when it’s time.”
“I’d better get back before Laura sells Ray.”
“No one would buy Ray. He’s too high maintenance. Whenever you’d like to come back, though, Mary and I will be waiting. After all, everyone could use a miracle in their life.”
Katie smiled, as hollow inside as the plastic statue. Father Sam might be odd, but he was right about one thing. She had a gut feeling Mary would draw her back again. Her life was too crazy lately to go it alone.
The walk back to the store took no time at all. Katie ducked in the back door. “What’s new?”
“You didn’t miss much.” Laura leaned the broom against the counter. “The police got here right after you left. They threw Mitch and April in the backs of separate police cars. They took April home and Mitch to jail to sleep it off somewhere she couldn’t hurt him.”
“That’s good. At least they’re out of our hair for a while.” Katie slid onto her stool behind the counter to do some paperwork.
She strolled home, soaking in the sunshine and musing about the day. She’d have a lot to tell Hilda over the pork chops she’d taken out for dinner.