Lone Wolf Standing Read online

  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 ca
me 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.

  There were plenty of people who were regulars at her shop, acquaintances but not real friends. With Marlene and Roxy and Aunt Liz, Sheri had never really missed having friendships with other people. Family had filled her up, but now that family had been fractured.

  She entered her bedroom, where Highway lay on a rug at the foot of her bed. He raised his head, his tail beating a happy rhythm against the floor at the sight of her.

  She sank down beside him and wrapped her arms around his thick, muscled neck. It was like holding a living, breathing teddy bear.

  “You’re a good boy, Highway,” she said. He turned his head and gazed at her with adoring eyes. She released her hold on him and stood to change out of her clothes and into her nightgown. “I just wish I knew who you were barking at when I got home tonight.”

  As she went into the adjoining bathroom to finish getting ready for bed, she hoped Jimmy found out that it had been Travis in her backyard.

  She reminded herself that there was no reason to feel uneasy. Throughout the years there had been times when hunters or hikers had accidentally come onto her property.

  She left the bedroom and got into bed and shut off the light on the nightstand. Within minutes she heard the soft sound of Highway snoring.

  Jimmy. She had a feeling he’d be a good friend and it would be nice to fill some of the empty evening hours with human conversation instead of t
he one-sided monologues she shared with Highway.

  She closed her eyes and tried to bring a vision of Jimmy into her head, but instead her thoughts drifted to her missing aunt, the sound of Highway’s frantic barking and the window she didn’t remember opening. Had somebody followed her home or had she simply been freaked out by a car that was coincidentally going in the same direction she’d been traveling?

  Despite the lingering warmth of Jimmy’s visit, it took her a very long time to finally allow the uneasiness that plagued her to dissipate enough that she could fall asleep.

  * * *

  Something had to be done about the damned dog. The man stood in the deep cover of the woods, the only illumination a faint beam of moonlight that managed to find its way through the leafy trees that surrounded him.

  The dog was like a hound from hell and had to be neutralized before he could get to Sheri. He leaned his back against a tree trunk as he stared at the now-darkened cottage.

  And what had the detective been doing out here?

  He’d been watching the cottage for weeks now, pleased to realize that Sheri was definitely a creature of habit. She returned home from the store about the same time each day, spent her spare time alone and often in the backyard.

  She would have been an easy target, but the appearance of the detective tonight had confused him. Had the dog barking at him made Sheri afraid enough to call the law?

  Surely the dog barked all the time when he was outside. That’s what dogs did, they chased squirrels and barked at the wind and chased their own tails.

  Maybe Detective Jimmy Carmani and Sheri were starting some sort of a relationship? If that was the case, then he’d have to move fast to take Sheri to his underground bunker where hopefully she would be a far better candidate for his intentions than her aunt and the woman before Liz.

  Liz. He frowned and clenched his fists at his sides. He’d been so sure that she was the right one, so certain that she would break and become the woman he needed her to be.

  But she’d proven to be too strong, too bullheaded. After three and a half months of captivity she still showed no fear, no hint of weakness. She would have to be disposed of, as Agnes Wilson had been eliminated before her.