Destiny Calling (13 page)

“No problem, Mrs. Dwight. Once your packages come in, I’m sure I’ll be assigned to deliver them, since it’s my route.”

“Wonderful. When do you fellows have to change into the shorts uniform from those long pants? I’m sure those get too warm when the weather starts getting nice.” She folded her arms and rested them on the counter.

I cleared my throat, earning a glare from her before she returned her attention to Chance.

“What can I do for you?” Mrs. Dwight looked over my shoulder, as if I wasn’t even there. It couldn’t be more obvious who she had eyes for here.

“Oh no, nothing for me.” Chance took this opportunity to show off his pearly whites once again. “I just brought my sis—”

My glare cut him short.

“Umm…Hope, here.”

“You can leave now, Chance.” I stood with one hand on my hip, unintentionally reminding me of the birthmark we shared, and waited until he backed away to the door.

“If that’s what you want. You know where to find me. Goodbye, Mrs. Dwight.” He closed the door behind him and left Mrs. Dwight staring at it, as if willing him to return.

“Mrs. Dwight.” The old biddy remained fixated on the door. I raised my voice. “Mrs. Dwight.”

“What?” Scrutinizing me, as if she’d just noticed I was there. “Oh yes, what is it I can do for you…err, Hope?”

“I’m here to report a kidnapping.” I bent down to level my eyes with hers to emphasize the seriousness of the matter.

“A what?” Her eyes boggled behind the glasses. “A kidnapping? Who? When? Ain’t anything like that ever happen round these parts. Sure crimes like that happen every day in the city, but not here.” She grabbed a notepad.

“Me. I was kidnapped by the man who just left.”

She stared at me with her pen poised, and her mouth agape just enough for the light to catch on her silver fillings, then roared with laughter. Not a chuckle like I’d expect from a woman as vertically challenged as she, but a belly shaking laugh more like Santa than any I’d ever seen. She didn’t even bother to wipe the tears rolling down her cheeks. Instead, she dropped her pen to grab her belly with both hands as if to stop its quaking.

“Oh my, that’s a good one.” She panted, hiccupping. Her laughing fit seemed to be more exercise than her body was able to withstand. “It’s not April Fool’s Day today is it? He set me up, didn’t he? That Chance has such an endearing sense of humor. He’s quite the fellow, isn’t he?” She frowned and lost some of her amusement. “You…you aren’t his girlfriend are you?”

“No.” Rolling my eyes at her obvious relief that I wasn’t in competition for his attention.

“Okay.” She took a couple deep breaths and held up her hand. “I’m okay.” She nodded, as if reassuring herself. “Really, what can I do for you?”

“I’m serious.” I pointed toward the door Chance had vacated. “That man gave me a drug and kidnapped me last night when I was leaving the Last Call.”

Mrs. Dwight grabbed a tissue and dabbed her face, continuing to chuckle. “Are you serious?”

I nodded, crossing my arms over my chest to prevent myself from reaching across to shake her.

She quieted and looked at me with pity. “Oh, of course. I’m sorry.” Reaching over she patted my arm, as if comforting a small child. “I’ll let you talk to Officer McCrory. Just wait here while I see if he’s available.”

Maybe I’d have better luck with the officer. Straightening my shoulders, I knew I must sound foolish. But there was no way I was leaving the station now that I’d come this far.

The door cracked open. Her bun came through first and she tilted her head up, gesturing for me to come back. “Officer McCrory will see you now.”

“Thank you.” As I squeezed past, she continued to quake from repressed laughter. I threw her an annoyed look, but since I stood inches above her head, it was unlikely she even caught it.

There were two desks in the back office. One was empty and the other had a lanky, sandy-haired man with his legs propped up and hands laced over a large belt buckle. I took a seat in the chair in front of his desk.

“Mrs. Dwight says you want to report being kidnapped?” Officer McCrory was as thin as a toothpick, so his deep voice came as a surprise. He pushed off the desk with his feet and dropped them to the ground, resting his arms over the blotter. “By the very man who gave you a ride to the station today?”

I fidgeted in the hard, wooden chair. Feeling as if I’d been called to the head nun’s office in the orphanage. “I know it sounds odd, officer, but I woke up today duct taped in the home of that man and his sister with no recollection of getting there.”

“Duct taped, you say?” He raised an eyebrow as he scribbled into his tablet.

I cringed. He didn’t look any more concerned than Mrs. Dwight.

“Hope, is your name, you say?”

I nodded.

“You’re not from around here.” He said it like a fact, not a question. “You do look familiar, though.” He squinted. “I can’t quite place what it is about you, but you remind me of someone.”

He must’ve been thinking of Destiny. I wasn’t about to confirm she and Chance might be my siblings. Besides, kidnapping was kidnapping. It may not be the vengeance I came here seeking, but it was a start. Somebody was going to pay.

“You from Pittsburgh?”

I nodded. It was where I’d started at the orphanage, so technically I was.

“Figured.” He said it as if he’d come to his own conclusion. “We’re a small town. Many people pass through here from the city. Sometimes to pass through and other times to make trouble along the way.” He paused. “Seems many just like to make trouble, too many for a town the size of ours.” He looked at me pointedly. “That’s why we look out for each other, take care of our own. We notice if someone’s new. Just the way some fellas noticed you leaving the Last Call last night with Chance. Said you two were locked in a passionate embrace in the parking lot and then got into his vehicle.”

“That’s ridiculous.” I smacked my thigh in irritation, gasping when a glittering cloud formed around my hand.

What the hell is happening to me?

The officer didn’t appear to notice anything unusual as the glitter crawled over me, flickering from gray to black. I took a deep breath, willing myself to relax. As the tension in my muscles diminished, so did the unsettling glitter.

Officer McCrory held up his palm. “You told Mrs. Dwight you were drugged. I’m assuming you mean one of those date rape pills they stick in your drink? But you tell me how that could be done if you’re the bartender there?”

“It wasn’t passion, for goodness’ sake.” I sighed. “He claims to be my brother.”

“So you do have family from around here? You’re saying this is a family dispute, then?” He tilted back in his chair, tapping the end of his pen on his chin.

“No.”

“Exactly where are you from?”

I hung my head. “Everywhere…you know what, just forget it.”

“Hope, try to look at this with the information I have. The supposed kidnapper delivers their victim to the station.” He gestured toward me. “Walking in together, with no apparent injury.” He put his elbows on the desk and rested his hands in front of him.

Mrs. Dwight leaned in the door. “Excuse me, but can I let Bob go?”

Officer McCrory swiveled his chair to face her. “Sure, I’d say he’s sobered up by now. Have him pay the fine for his truck and tell him to give us time to miss him before next time.”

I stood. “I’m sorry for taking up your time, Officer. I think I’ll go now, if you don’t mind.”

“You don’t have to apologize. We’re here to help.” He tapped the badge clipped on his belt. “To protect and serve. Just like my father and my grandfather before me. It’s in our blood. It’s what we do.” His proud smile floundered when he noted the distress that must’ve been apparent on my face. “Please, don’t leave upset. I can recommend someone to talk to, if you’d like. The state psychiatric hospital is nearby.”

My mouth dropped open. “What?” Even in a town of misfits, I didn’t fit in.

“Oh, no.” He held up his palms. “I didn’t mean you needed to
go
there, not that there’s anything wrong with that. I meant we’re close to the city and have a large pool of experts nearby. Err, that is, if you wanted someone to talk to, about. You know…your troubles.”

“No, I’m fine.” I forced a wide smile. “It was a misunderstanding.”

He nodded. “That’s kinda what I reckoned.” He smiled. “No harm done. I was having a slow morning anyway.”

I rushed past the front desk to avoid Mrs. Dwight, but she called after me. “Take care, Hope. Tell Chance I’ll be baking more pies this weekend if he wants to come by.”

I stopped once I was outside, hugging myself from the chill and cursing Chance for forcing me to abandon my car at the bar. The skyline of Pittsburgh, visible from where I stood, close, but still so far away from this town tucked into a crevice in the world.

I could get into my car and leave, forget about all of this. If I had my car, and if a crap load of guilt for not doing anything to avenge Tessa wouldn’t weigh on me for the rest of my life.

I wondered how far the walk to Ruthie’s house was while I rubbed my forehead. It’d begun to hum again. Keeling over in front of the police station wouldn’t be a good idea. After this encounter, I’d probably wake up committed to the mental hospital. All I wanted to do was lie down and nap. Now that I’d found family, all I wanted to do was get the hell away from them.

Bob, the former bartender, was making his way to his beaten looking truck. He wouldn’t be my first choice for a ride, but beggars can’t be choosers. I hoped he didn’t hold a grudge about me taking his job.

“Bob.” I hurried down the steps.

He stopped and glanced at me without any apparent recognition. His face was scrubby and unshaven and the aroma of alcohol surrounded him like a mist even after a night at the station.

“Hey, Bob, how are you? I met you at the Last Call.” I hoped my smile didn’t look more like a grimace, with the achiness in my head becoming difficult to ignore.

Bob pulled down his brows, looking like he was struggling to remember me. I took advantage of his befuddled state, knowing most likely his memory of the entire evening was a blur.

I shrugged. “That’s okay if you don’t remember. I had a lot to drink that night, too.” A little white lie. Better to say that than my brother kidnapped me. “I wonder if you’d mind giving me a ride to Ruthie’s?” I looked at the ground, feigning embarrassment. “I left my car at the bar.” I didn’t want to ask him to take me that far out of his way. I’d get it later.

“You’re the one who gave me money for a cab,” Bob said.

I nodded.

“That’s the best thing to do. Leave your car. Else you’d be paying a fine, like me.” He gave me one more once over with hooded eyes then shrugged as he turned away. “I’ll drop you off.”

“I’m sorry about your job.”

Bob shrugged. “That’s okay, maybe I’ll get unemployment, make it a vacation.”

I followed his gaze to a policeman leading a handcuffed man into the station. At least he looked like a man, the black haze swimming around him leaked out of all of his orifices. He turned toward me. Black holes bored into me where his eyes should’ve been. My vision swam and the blackness lifted, and eyes filled the vacant holes. I gasped as I recognized him. He worked at the gas station by my old apartment. He smiled at me, flashing pointed teeth as the blackness returned to cluster around him.

I glanced at Bob, but he didn’t appear taken aback by the man’s appearance. “You don’t see it, do you?”

“See what?” Bob shrugged. “Besides, you seem good. I mean, I don’t feel too bad around you.” He looked at the back of the man as he went into the station. “Like some of the people around here make me feel.”

That’s because Bob hadn’t made me angry.

Chapter Ten

“I wondered when you’d get back, child.” Ruthie sat at the small table in what was supposed to be
my
kitchen. The book I preferred to think of as
borrowed
lay on the table. Not where I’d left it underneath the mattress. As I’d already discovered, Ruthie didn’t have any boundaries regarding personal space.

“You can’t keep barging in here like this. It’s an invasion of my privacy.” I glanced at the book, wondering how to avoid discussing the origination of the book. Although Ruthie probably already knew.

“Do you think you can hide something from me?” Ruthie patted the book and then tapped her forehead.
Figures, the one time I’d like her to ramble off on a story and she gets right to the point.
“I told you my gift. Knowing.” She enunciated the word as if I was a simpleton.

“I thought you said you couldn’t control it.” I hated how I sounded. Like a petulant teenager caught sneaking in after curfew.

“I can’t. But like I said, you’re different.” Ruthie stood to walk around the tiny kitchen with her hands clasped behind her back so she could present her case. “Soon as you came back earlier, I knew there was something you didn’t want me to know. I had to know what it was, of course.”

Placing her hands on her hips, she surveyed the room. Her gaze landed on the remnants of breakfast still on the table and I cringed. “I figured you’d turned this apartment into a pig sty to throw me off track from finding what you’d hidden.” She shook her head.

She turned to me and shrugged. “It’s my job to watch over you. So I come up here and say, what is it Hope doesn’t want me to know about?” Ruthie walked to the table and gestured to the book. “Then it was obvious what it was and where it was.”

Something caressed my leg. “Ahh.” I did a little jig before realizing it was the calico kitten, Tercet. “What’s your cat doing here?”

“She’s not mine, she’s yours.” She shrugged. “Chance must’ve dropped her off.”

“Chance? He was here? Nosing around my things?” Having him hanging out in my apartment was too much after being laughed out of the police station.

“He wasn’t nosing around. He’s been keeping Tercet for you with her sisters, Troi and Tuplet. We’d intended to give the kitten to you for your birthday. Then with Essie, then Tessa…well things just didn’t go as we’d planned.”

I’d had enough of hearing about this grand plan for my life I hadn’t been included in. “Well, you know what? I don’t need you, or anyone else worrying about me. Planning for me.”