Chapter 1 #3
But he had released her, and that had been his mistake.
She hadn’t been back to her place since that night, and she’d not taken her car.
She had plenty of money to rent a hotel, but she was trying to lay low.
Jamie Sheppard, no relation to her, had told her to be ready to bug out if anything happened.
Taking him at his word, she had a duffel full of clothing, money, and food to eat while on the run.
And she’d been hiding out since. She didn’t fully understand why she had to hide out, but Jamie made it sound like it was life or death, and whatever had happened had cost him his life.
She’d been hiding in plain sight since that night, and no one until tonight asked her about the Sheep.
She knew that Rosie had been the former Chief of Police.
And that no one cared all that much for the chief who was running the place now.
He’d been acting like a jerk since she’d met him out at the restaurant, and her opinion hadn’t changed about him since.
The man had a strange way of looking at things, and she avoided him as much as possible while not hiding away.
She thought it was funny when he’d come in to get some pizzas for dinner and not have a clue who she was.
The woman that he’d been searching for since a week after the Sheep had burnt down.
All she’d heard was that he was looking for a woman.
No one ever said her name, nor did they ask her if she was the one.
The customers would come into the place, say how he was looking for a woman who was a key witness to the murders that had happened out at the Sheep, and that he couldn’t find her from the things he’d gotten from her license.
Of course, he’d not been able to find her.
She’d been able to get a driver’s license that had a close enough picture of her that she handed to the police that night.
Thanks wholly to Jamie. She didn’t ask him where he’d gotten it, but kept it just in case, all the same.
She was glad that she had listened to the older man who had done dishes with her for the three years that she was employed there.
After Wylie left, she never got busy enough that she needed the extra hands from Rosie; she set about cleaning the area up.
It would be closing time in thirty minutes, and she didn’t want to have to hang around any longer than she had to.
Rosie was cleaning the dining room when another Pennington walked in the door.
They all looked like each other. All of them were handsome and nice. This one she didn’t know all that well, so when he ordered a cheese pie to go, she made it up for him. He started talking about the Sheep as soon as she started on his pizza.
“My brother has it in his head that you’re the one that they’re all looking for.” She nearly cut her hand off, slicing the hunks of cheese he wanted on his pizza. “I told him that he wasn’t going to get anywhere with that theory, as you seemed like a nice woman. Rosie thinks highly of you.”
“I like her too.” She finished up his pizza and put it in the oven. With nothing more to say to the man, she waited for the pie to come out the other end. He asked her if she’d had anything to do with the things that had gone on out at the place. “I’m not sure what you mean.”
“I mean, do you know what happened out there? There is speculation on the fact that you’re new in town and that this missing woman could be you.
Not a great many people think that. And it might only be my brother.
But he’s set on you being the missing woman.
” She told him that she’d worked there before the Sheep burnt down.
“You could be her, I suppose. You certainly look like the description of her.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He put up his hands as if to tell her that he’d meant no harm. He even went as far as to tell her that he was sorry. “I had nothing to do with what happened out there. I’m as in the dark as anyone else.”
“But you were there.” His comment was just loud enough for her to hear, and she turned her back on him.
“Don’t run. I won’t tell anyone who you are.
I followed you home from work last night, and I know where you’re staying.
Just so you’re aware, I own that place, and construction will begin in the new year.
I’d like to offer you a place to stay that will be safer for you. ”
“Why would you do that?” She didn’t know which statement she was asking about, him following her home, or a place to stay but she was scared and confused. “I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about.”
“All right. But if it gets too bad for you, you can call me anytime, and I’ll come and get you.
I won’t even say anything to Wylie. He’s the one who believes that you’re a part of the things that went down out there.
” She looked around the corner where Rosie was working on the tables in the back of the room.
“She won’t hurt you either. She’ll take you in, too.
We don’t know what happened out there, but I’m betting it’s nothing like the stories that are going around. ”
“I’m afraid.” He nodded as if he understood. Before she could say anything, another customer came in and asked if it was too late to order. She told him it was fine and took his order to avoid talking to the Pennington man. She didn’t know his name, but was terrified of what he knew or didn’t know.
After the pizza came out of the oven, she handed it to him, and he handed her a ten-dollar bill.
She could see that it had a phone number on it, plus the name Gleason.
Putting it in her pocket, she was ready to run when Rosie came around the corner.
The man with the last pizza was out the door before they closed.
Ten minutes later, she was locking the door and getting ready to close up the shop.
It took them less than twenty minutes to get the store ready for tomorrow.
The banking was finished up a few minutes later by the night manager.
Giving Rosie five dollars from the ten-dollar tip from Gleason, she made her way home.
Now she was paranoid that someone was following her again, and she found herself looking over her shoulder all the time.
When she was inside the greenhouse, a car drove by, blinking its lights at her, and she could have sobbed.
So much for being off the grid. She was about as in the open as if she’d taken a hotel room, she felt like.
It took her nearly three hours to get herself in a position where she felt like she was safe.
He said she’d be all right, but did she believe him?
And what was his offer of putting her up to be safe?
Did he think that she wasn’t? All kinds of questions went through her head, and she had no answers to any of them.
All she could really think about was why he knew when no one else did. Or did they?
Not sure she could sleep, she laid down on the big bags of dirt and thought about everything that he’d said to her.
He’d been so point-blank about his statements that she should have known that he knew something about her.
As she was getting up in the morning to return to work, having not slept at all, she had to worry now about him telling the police about her.
She was trespassing on his land, and she was fearful of him getting her arrested. She didn’t know what to do now.