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Jennifer laughed. “I’m the first to admit that I’m hopelessly spoiled.”
“Now that we agree on that, take thy spoiled bottom into the storage room and unpack the boxes of Wolf Creek souvenirs that came in yesterday,” Sheri said.
Jennifer gave her a saucy salute and then disappeared into the big back room that provided storage space and a picnic table for lunch breaks.
The morning seemed to fly by, with more business than usual for a Wednesday. She hoped it was a portent of a busy tourist season. Spring and summer business was great, but when the snow flew she shortened her hours and lived mostly on what she’d made during the busy season.
There were only three places where Sheri was happy—here at the store, at her cottage with the surrounding woods, and at her aunt’s home that had always smelled of cinnamon and apples or rich chocolate and dough.
Liz Marcoli was a talent in the kitchen when it came to baking sweets and desserts. Marlene had inherited her natural talent for baking. Roxy also had a genuine talent in the kitchen, but Sheri was hopeless when it came to cooking anything but the simplest of dishes.
A blur of tears misted her eyes as she thought of her missing aunt. She knew the law enforcement in Wolf Creek had done everything in their power in an attempt to find Liz, but there had been no leads to follow, no breadcrumbs of clues.
Three and a half months had passed and the hole in the fabric of their little family had been ripped right from the center. Aunt Liz had been their mother-figure, their support system, their snuggle buddy on dark stormy nights when they’d been children.
And now she was gone...vanished from her home, seemingly vanished from the entire world.
The tears that had been about to fall as grief attempted to take hold of her vanished when a car pulled up to the front door and a family of five tumbled from the doors.
It was one o’clock when Sheri’s cell phone rang and she saw Marlene’s number light up. “Hey, sis, what’s up?”
“I feel really, really bad calling at the last minute like this, but can you get by without me today? I’ve got an appointment at three to meet an electrician at the store and I have a feeling it’s going to be a long meeting.”
“It’s not a problem,” Sheri assured her sister. “In fact, if it’s time for you to stop working here to focus solely on the bakery, it’s all right. Jenny, Abe and I can handle things here and if I find myself shorthanded, I can always hire a new part-timer.”
There was a long silence from Marlene. “Are you sure?” she finally asked. “I really am excited to get the bakery up and running as soon as possible.”
Sheri smiled into the phone. She knew between the work on the bakery and her relationship with Detective Frank Delaney, Marlene had finally found all the pieces she needed for her happiness. Working in the store had never really been part of Marlene’s dreams.
“I’m positive,” Sheri replied. “I don’t want to see you here unless you’re shopping for something you need to create culinary magic.”
“Sheri, you’re the best,” Marlene said, her relief evident in her tone.
Sheri laughed. “Just build that bakery and invite me as a special guest on opening day.”
“You know that goes without saying.”
The two spoke for another few minutes, talking about their eldest sister, Roxy, who had moved in with Detective Steve Kincaid and his seven-year-old son. Roxy ran a successful restaurant called the Dollhouse and specialized in hearty breakfasts and delightfully fresh and original lunch fare.
Neither of them mentioned Aunt Liz or the stalled case that had all three sisters barely clinging to any hope that she would be found alive.
When the call finally ended, the rest of the day remained busy. Thankfully when it was time for Jennifer to leave, Abe Winslow had arrived to take up the slack.
The two of them stayed busy with customers until seven. By eight Sheri decided it was time to close up shop. She locked up the front door and then together she and Abe left through the back.
“Busy day,” he said as they stepped outside into the warm night.
“Hopefully we’re just going to get busier.”
“I could work more hours if you needed me to,” Abe said.
Sheri smiled at the older man. He’d taken the job of working here in the late afternoon and evenings after his wife had died. He’d told Sheri that the silence of their cabin had been overwhelming after she was gone.
“I might need you to work more hours. Marlene isn’t going to be working here anymore. We’ll see how things go. Good night, Abe.”
“See you tomorrow,” he said and headed toward his old Chevy parked in the lot next to her pickup.
As she pulled out of the lot, she thought about Abe. He’d initially been a suspect in Liz’s disappearance when he’d told Sheri and Marlene that he’d asked Liz out and she’d turned him down.
But he’d quickly been cleared of any wrongdoing. At the time Liz had disappeared Abe had been spending the night at his brother’s home in Hershey. The brother and several other family members had confirmed his alibi.
Thoughts of Abe halted as Sheri noticed car lights behind hers. She slowed to allow the car to pass, but the car slowed, as well. She sped up and the vehicle behind her mirrored the action.
No reason to believe anyone is following me, she thought. And yet when she turned off the highway and onto the narrow gravel road that would eventually lead to the lane that was her driveway into her cottage, the car made the turn right behind her.
An edge of apprehension crept up her spine. There were few people who used this road and she couldn’t remember the last time any vehicle had shadowed her from the shop to her home.
Stop being silly, she told herself. There were other people who lived in this area. She didn’t own the road that continued past her driveway and on up the mountain. It was probably just the thought of somebody kidnapping Aunt Liz that had her unusually on edge.
She couldn’t tell the make or color of the car that was behind her. Darkness had fallen and all she could discern was the brilliance of the headlights.
As she turned into the lane that led to her cottage, she could have sworn that the car behind her came to a near halt, and then zoomed on and disappeared from sight.
Sheri hadn’t realized she’d been holding her breath until it expelled out of her in a deep whoosh. She parked her truck and when she stepped out, a sense of uneasiness settled over her again as she heard the sounds of Highway barking raucously from his pen.
Nerves jittering, she quickly unlocked her front door, stepped inside and then locked the door behind her. She went to the kitchen and looked out the window where Highway was at the back of his fenced pen facing the forest and barking the kind of sound that indicated danger.
The dog was well trained not to bark at four-legged creatures or any of the wildlife that populated the area. Highway only acted this way when there was a two-legged predator in the woods.
Sheri opened the window above her kitchen sink, her heart beating an abnormally rapid rhythm. “Highway...inside!”
The dog turned in her direction, looked back toward the forest and gave a sharp bark, and then headed to the doggie door.
As he entered the kitchen, Sheri flipped the latches on the door that would keep anything else from crawling inside. She hurried back to the window and peered outside, wondering who or what had set Highway off.
The darkness betrayed no movement, no discernible figure, but that didn’t slow the frantic beat of Sheri’s heart. She tried to tell herself she was overreacting.
Still, she went from room to room, turning on lights and checking windows for any sign of an intruder. Her blood chilled as she found an unlocked window open an inch in the spare bedroom.
Had she unlocked the window last week when the weather had been so nice? Had she opened the window to let in some fresh air? She couldn’t remember. All she knew for certain was that she didn’t want to be here alone.
She wasn’t even aware that she had memorized Jimmy Carmani’s phone number until she punched it into her phone. He answered on the first ring. “Jimmy, can you come to my house?”
“On my way,” he replied, and hung up.
Chapter 2
Jimmy had been at home when he’d gotten the call from Sheri. He hadn’t bothered to run a comb through his thick, unruly hair. He hadn’t taken the time to change from his jeans and polo shirt. He simply grabbed his gun and car keys, jumped in his car and headed out.
As he tore out of his driveway, all he could think of was the faint simmer of stress he’d heard in Sheri’s voice. She hadn’t specified anything wrong, but the phone call directly to him was definitely an anomaly.
He hoped he didn’t find her holding a shotgun on somebody again. She was obviously territorial about her property, but her going up against a hunter’s loaded gun with her useless shotgun was not just foolish, it was suicidal.
If that was what this call was about he intended to leave her home tonight with that shotgun of hers safely locked away in his trunk.
He thought about calling her back to find out what was going on, but figured by the time he pulled over and made the call he could be at her place. He couldn’t imagine why she’d called him, but as he rolled to a stop in front of her cottage every light in the house radiated outward and she opened the front door.
He breathed a sigh of relief, just now realizing how tense he’d been on the drive here. “Are you okay?” he asked as he got out of his car. He’d pulled his gun, but kept it by his side, ready for any situation.
“I’m fine, just a little freaked out.” The smile she offered him was slightly shaky as she opened the door wider to allow him inside.
Jimmy had never been inside her house before and he was instantly embraced by the warmth of the earth-tone furniture, the pop of vibrant colors of scattered throw pillows and the various scents of candles here and there. A variety of healthy-looking plants added greenery, as if it was her attempt to bring the outside in. It was exactly how he’d imagined her living space would be.
What he didn’t see in the room was anything to give him pause. He turned back to look at her as she closed the door and locked it, and then faced him once again. The sight of her slightly pale face made his stomach clench.
“What’s going on?”
She motioned him to the sofa and she curled up in a chair nearby. “I think maybe I overreacted,” she said.
“About what?”
It was obvious she was still not herself as she clasped her shaking fingers in her lap. “First I thought I was followed home from the store. A car followed me off the main highway onto Timberline Drive and then when I pulled into my driveway, it appeared to stop for a moment and then sped off.”
Jimmy frowned. “Did you get a make or color?”
She shook her head. “No, it was too dark. All I could see were the headlights. I slowed down to allow them to pass, but they didn’t and when I sped up, they did the same. It just felt...slightly sinister.”
Jimmy’s concern grew as she continued to tell him about Highway’s frantic barks and the unlocked window in the spare room. “Where is Highway now?” he asked when she’d finished telling him everything.
“He’s in my bedroom. I didn’t figure you’d want to mess with him.”
“As long as he doesn’t eat me I’m fine with him.” Jimmy was rewarded with the first genuine smile from her.
“I already told you he wouldn’t hurt you unless you were hurting me or I gave the command.” Her smile fell and she worried a strand of her long shiny hair between her slender fingers.
“He was just acting so out of character when I got home, like he knew somebody was in the woods.”
“Maybe Travis?”
“Possibly,” she conceded. “But when I noticed the unlocked window in the spare room I just got totally creeped out. That’s when I called you, because I was afraid to be here alone. Now I’m just feeling rather foolish.”
Jimmy got up from the sofa. “Better safe than sorry. Let’s check out that window.” As always whenever he was around her he experienced a hyperawareness of not just her, but himself. He suddenly wished he’d taken the time to run a comb through his hair and maybe pulled on a different shirt. He frowned at the inappropriate thought.
She led him down the hallway and he tried not to notice the tempting sway of her slender hips in her tight jeans. He followed her into a small bedroom that held a double bed neatly made up with a purple flowered spread, and a dresser that sported a purple vase filled with an arrangement of white flowers.
He caught the pleasant scent of lilac and wondered if it was coming in through the partially opened window or wafted from her.
“The screen appears to be solidly in place. Are you sure you didn’t crack the window open at some point or another and have simply forgotten it?”
She hesitated for a long moment and then nodded. “I suppose that’s possible. I’m sorry, Jimmy, that I called you out here on a wild-goose chase.”
He smiled. “It wasn’t a goose chase. You were scared and that’s when you’re supposed to call the law.”
“How about I make a short pot of coffee for us to share before you head out?” Her amber eyes simmered with emotion and Jimmy realized she was still slightly freaked out and not quite ready to be left alone.
“Sure, some coffee sounds great.”
He followed her back down the hallway and into a kitchen that was pristine clean, cheerful and bright in sunshine-yellow and yet had the appearance that it was rarely used.
The only thing that sat on the countertop was a coffeemaker. The table was a small two-top that would make it difficult for her to be the entertaining type.
“Cook much?” he asked once the coffee had begun to drip into the glass carafe.
“Almost never.” She reached up into the cabinet to grab two mugs. “Cream and sugar?”
“Black is fine.”
“Marlene and Roxy got the cooking genes in the family. At any given time there’s usually more animal food in this house than people food.”
“So, what do you do for food?” Jimmy realized he was enjoying this time with her, learning a little bit more about her as a woman and not as the worried relative of a victim.
“There’s a lot of produce at the store. Sometimes I bring things home for a salad or occasionally Roxy will show up with a doggie bag of whatever the special of the day is at the Dollhouse. To be honest, food just isn’t that important to me. I eat to stay strong, but I don’t eat because I love any specific food.”
“Food is definitely high on my priority list,” Jimmy replied as she poured the coffee and joined him at the table. He didn’t mention that for much of his life he never knew if he’d get a meal or not. There had been far too many nights he’d gone to bed hungry.
“I suppose you’re a steak and potato man.”
“And pizza and burritos and pancakes... Just a food man, that’s me.”
She leaned back in the chair, looking relaxed for the first time since he’d arrived. “They say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. I’m hoping when my prince arrives he’s also a professional chef and can cook the meals.”
He grinned at her. “You have lots of ideas about this prince of yours.”
“I’ve spent most of my life forming his image in my head.” She took a sip of her coffee and then set the cup back down. “At first I thought I was fantasizing about my father, but as I grew older I realized it was the man I wanted to love me as a woman, not as a child.”
“You don’t know your father?”
“None of us does, although I’d say it’s obvious by how different Marlene and Roxy and I look from each other that our fathers were three different men. I doubt that our mother knows who our fathers are.”
“And we still haven’t found a trace of your mother.” Jimmy knew that the three Marcoli sisters had been dropped off at different times at their aunt’s house by their mother who was strung out on drugs and apparently incapable of raising her children.
He took a sip of his coffee. “At least you know who your mother is. When I was two weeks old I was found in a cardboard box in front of a Philly police station and I immediately went into the foster care system.”
Sheri’s eyes widened and he noticed for the first time the sinfully long length of her brown eyelashes. “And nobody ever found out who your parents were?” He shook his head and she continued, “Then how did you get the last name of Carmani?”
“The police station was located in a heavily populated Italian neighborhood and the cop who found me said I looked like an Italian. His name was Jim Carmani, so he named me Jimmy Carmani and that’s been my name since.”
She stared at him thoughtfully. “I’ve heard the foster care system can be brutal.”
He took another sip of coffee before answering. “I had some great experiences and I had some bad ones, but that was then and this is now. So how is business at the store?”
The last thing he wanted to do was journey back into his past where pain resided and faint memories of love lost stirred. He’d survived and ultimately made the right decisions that had led him to a job he loved in a town that finally felt like home.
As Sheri talked about the store, he enjoyed the emotions that played across her face. It was obvious she loved interacting with the people who visited there and shared a close relationship with the Amish from the settlement.
He liked looking at her and he’d discovered that the lilac scent came from her, not from the open window in the bedroom. When was the last time he’d enjoyed the scent of a woman? The pleasure of sitting and listening to a woman talk about what she liked?
Certainly the last time had been long before he’d come to Wolf Creek three years ago. Since coming to the small town he’d focused solely on work, knowing that as a twenty-eight-year-old detective he had a lot to prove to everyone, not just his co-workers, but the people of the small town, as well.
Now he felt solid in his position as the youngest detective of three and suddenly realized his desire to be more sociable, but he knew this was not the time and Sheri was not the woman.
As she poured him a second cup of coffee he told himself he was just doing her a favor. It was obvious she wasn’t yet ready for him to leave and if he looked deep within himself, prince or not, he definitely wasn’t ready to call it a night.
* * *
“So, you spent your whole childhood in Philly?” Sheri asked. She’d never noticed before that Jimmy’s eyes weren’t just a plain chocolate-brown but rather like caramel swirled chocolates that might have pulled her into places she’d never been if she allowed them.
“What brought you to Wolf Creek?” She sat back in her chair as if unconsciously needing some distance from him. He smelled like clean male and a woodsy cologne that appealed to her senses.
“The job. I saw an advertisement for a deputy for Wolf Creek and decided to apply. I was tired of the city and ready for a different experience.” He grinned at her and the warmth of his smile filled her stomach.
“I never dreamed that my different experiences would include checking out reports of wolves eating small children, hunting down a woman throwing knives at your sister and disarming an unarmed woman holding a shotgun on a clueless man chasing a pig.”
She felt the warmth that swept into her cheeks. “You aren’t going to let me forget that, are you?”
“Probably not,” he replied easily.
“So, you like it here?”
“I feel like I’ve finally found home. Eventually I’d like to build a house in the woods, maybe get a dog for company and spend my days crime-fighting and my nights relaxing in a big recliner.” He nodded, his black hair shining in the overhead light. “Yeah, I definitely like it here.”
She cupped her hands around her half-empty mug, knowing that the two cups of coffee would probably have her awake half the night. “It’s funny, I’ve never been anywhere else but here and Hershey, but I’ve never had any desire to go anywhere else. The minute I saw this cottage and the surrounding forest, I knew I was home.”
“And from the looks of your backyard you have a lot of creatures depending on you.”
“The store is my job, but this place and those creatures are my passion.” Her eyes sparkled brightly with that passion. “There’s nothing more peaceful than seeing a deer walk without fear across the backyard. The raccoons and squirrels can be as entertaining as any movie playing on television and the birds add the music to my life.”
“It sounds nice, but a little bit lonely.”
“It is,” she agreed. “Especially since Steve and Roxy and Marlene and Frank have hooked up. With them so busy with their own lives and Aunt Liz still missing, there are definitely moments when I feel a touch of loneliness.”
She fought back the grief that always threatened to grab her by the throat when she thought of her missing aunt. Besides, the last thing she wanted to do was get upset because then she might start to stutter, an affliction she’d had since she’d been a young girl but had almost mastered now.
She couldn’t get emotional and start stuttering in front of Jimmy. She’d be mortified. She’d spent a lifetime of torture being bullied by peers and most recently by the man she’d thought she loved, who had obviously not been the prince of her dreams.
Jimmy finished the last of his coffee and stared down into his empty cup. “You know, I was just thinking about that song by Air Supply, the one where there are two less lonely people in the world.”
He looked up at her, his eyes dark and soulful and once again beckoning her to fall into their depths. “Since I’ve been in town I really don’t hang out much with people other than other cops. I haven’t made a lot of friends and I was just thinking maybe you and I could hang out...just while you wait for your prince...you know as friends.”
He gave her an awkward smile. “Or maybe it’s just a dumb idea.”
She studied him intently, noting the faint hint of color that filled his lean cheeks, the insane length of his dark lashes as he cast his gaze back down into his empty cup.
She wasn’t sure if it was her own loneliness she felt or his, but a hollowness welled up inside her. “I think that would be nice...as friends,” she quickly added.
She wanted to make certain that he understood that she wasn’t agreeing to actually date him. Heck, she wasn’t even sure that’s what he intended anyway.
“Great, then maybe some night we could get a drink at the tavern or see a movie or something.”
“I’d like that, and now I know I’ve kept you here too long.” She rose from the table as he did the same.
“Are you sure you feel all right about being here alone now?” he asked as she walked him to the front door.
“I’m fine. Maybe with Aunt Liz’s situation I just overreacted to normal circumstances.” She frowned thoughtfully as she thought of Highway’s frantic barks in the backyard. “Still, there’s no question in my mind that somebody was in the woods. That’s the only thing that would have set off Highway.”
“I’ll talk to Travis first thing tomorrow morning and see if maybe he was still on the trail of that feral pig.”
“Knowing it was him would definitely make me feel better.” She opened the door, surprised to find she was still reluctant to tell him good-night, but it was getting late and this hadn’t been a social call. “Thank you, Jimmy, for coming at a moment’s notice.”
He stepped past her and out the door. “Anytime, Sheri. Anytime you feel uncertain or afraid, don’t hesitate to call me.”
By the time Sheri closed the door behind him a warm glow infused her. There was no question that she liked Jimmy. She would even confess that she was physically drawn to him, but certainly the attraction had nothing to do with anything other than friendship.
She could use a friend, she thought as she locked the door and then began to turn out all the lights in the kitchen and living room.