LITMIR.BIZ

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fried appetizers.

      “I hope you’ve come by to tell me you’ve taken that shotgun away from Sheri,” Travis said as he led Jimmy into the main area where mounted wolf heads glared from the walls next to booths and tables. Jimmy opted for a stool at the bar and Travis moved behind the long polished wood.

      “I’ve got to tell you, she scared the living hell out of me the other night. There’s nothing more terrifying than a woman with a gun.”

      Jimmy grinned. “Your chauvinism is showing, Travis.”

      “Yeah, well, I’m just saying women are emotional and unpredictable. I could have been killed if she’d flinched the wrong way.”

      “Yeah, you could have been,” Jimmy agreed, not spilling to Travis that Sheri’s shotgun had been unloaded. “I stopped by to see if you might have been hunting that feral pig again last night on Sheri’s property?”

      “No way,” Travis replied, his green eyes emitting earnest truth. “You couldn’t pay me enough to go out there again. Seriously man, I really thought she was going to shoot me.”

      “So, you weren’t in her woods last night,” Jimmy said to confirm the matter.

      “Nope.” He shook his head. “If somebody was out there it definitely wasn’t me.”

      Jimmy believed him. He and Travis had always had a good relationship and he knew that if Travis had been in Sheri’s backyard the night before he would have confessed to it. “That’s what I needed to know.” Jimmy slid off the stool.

      “Is Sheri having some sort of problems?” Travis asked, genuine concern in his expression.

      “She just thought somebody was skulking around her place last night and naturally we thought of you.”

      Travis frowned and shook his head once again. “As if that family hasn’t been through enough already. First Liz’s kidnapping and then Steve’s ex-girlfriend trying to kill Roxy. Then his ex’s boyfriend trying to kill Marlene... You’d think enough was enough for that family.”

      “Hopefully enough is enough and there’s no danger in Sheri’s future. At least something good has come out of all this. Both of my partners have found the loves of their lives and are happier than I’ve ever seen them.”

      Travis snorted. “Women don’t do anything but complicate your life. I’d rather hunt a feral pig than deal with a woman’s drama.”

      Jimmy laughed. “I guess we’re all built differently when it comes to dealing with the opposite sex. Thanks for your time, Travis.”

      Together the two men returned to the kitchen where Jimmy went out the back door. He got into his car and sat, oddly upset to discover that Travis hadn’t been the person in the woods Sheri had been convinced was there. It would have not only eased Sheri’s concern to discover it had been Travis, but it would have also eased some of his own.

      Travis was right, the Marcoli family had been through more crime and drama in the past three and a half months than any family should ever experience in an entire lifetime. Although the threats to Marlene and Roxy had been deemed not connected to Liz’s disappearance, the last thing Jimmy wanted was for anything else to happen to any of the Marcolis.

      Especially Sheri. A tiny thrill shot through him as he thought of spending more time with her. She’d surprised him by agreeing to hang out with him. Oh, she’d made it clear that it was a temporary thing just until she found her prince.

      But he’d enjoy whatever time she was willing to give him. It definitely beat his usual evenings after work, having a few beers with other cops and talking shop, or flopping on his sofa to watch a couple of hours of mindless television shows.

      Jimmy had spent most of his life with a loneliness deep inside him, but lately the feeling seemed to gnaw a bigger hole in his gut.

      He thought often about a desire to have what his partners had found: love and commitment with women who would stand by their sides for the rest of their lives. But at his very core he didn’t believe he’d ever have it, and he knew with certainty that the woman, if she really existed, wouldn’t be Sheri.

      At least he was finally dipping his toe into social waters rather than being an all-work, no-play kind of guy. Even if he wasn’t a forever kind of man, that didn’t mean he couldn’t date.

      He headed to the police station located on Main Street. Stores were opening their doors and a variety of people had taken to the sidewalks. It was easy to spot the unfamiliar faces of tourists who were visiting for the day and it was mostly the tourist industry that kept the small town of Wolf Creek alive.

      The town boasted a long history that was highlighted in many of the quaint restaurants and bed-and-breakfasts. Specialty shops lined Main Street, like The Treasure Trove, an antique junk store where Marlene Marcoli had lived in the upstairs apartment, a taxidermy shop that displayed a variety of stuffed animals that were indigenous to the area, and it wouldn’t be long before Marlene’s Magic Bites would add confectionery delights for both tourists and locals.

      He parked and headed into the station, where he greeted Officer Wade Peterson who stood duty in the common area. “Morning, Wade,” Jimmy said.

      “A little late this morning, aren’t you?” Wade teased as he buzzed open the door that led to the large area where police desks and officers were the decor. “Hot date last night?”

      “Yeah right, because I do that so often,” Jimmy replied drily. He pushed open the door that led to the inner office and immediately spied his two partners at their desks.

      Steve Kincaid shot him a lazy grin. “Ah, look what the cat finally dragged in.”

      “Nice of you to join us this morning,” Frank Delaney added.

      Jimmy sat at his desk between the two. “I’ve been working already, interviewing a potential suspect.”

      Frank frowned. “A suspect for what?”

      Jimmy quickly explained first his call to Sheri’s house and finding her holding Travis at gunpoint and then his subsequent visit the night before. “Travis swears it wasn’t him on her property last night.”

      “It could have been anyone or it might have been nothing more than her imagination,” Steve said. “Maybe with everything that has happened with all the other members of her family she’s feeling particularly vulnerable right now.”

      “Maybe,” Jimmy agreed reluctantly. “But she was pretty sure somebody was out in those woods by the way Highway was reacting when she got home from the store.”

      “Maybe Highway was just acting like a normal dog and barking just to bark,” Frank said.

      “According to Sheri, Highway isn’t a normal dog. He’s been highly trained by Jed.”

      “Then maybe Sheri just wanted to see you,” Steve said with a sly look in his blue eyes. “After all, two of the three detectives in town have found love with her sisters. Maybe she’s looking for a trifecta.”

      Jimmy laughed and shook his head. “No way. I’m the antithesis of what she’s looking for in a man.”

      “What does that mean?” Steve asked.

      “Sheri is waiting for a blond-haired, blue-eyed prince to ride into her life, and if he’s a prince you know he’ll be tall. She’s definitely not looking for a short meatball like me.”

      His partners laughed. “You aren’t round enough to be a meatball,” Frank protested.

      “And you aren’t short, you just aren’t overly tall,” Steve added.

      “I’m average,” Jimmy said. “And if Sheri is looking for a prince, she’s definitely not interested in an average kind of guy like me.”

      “You definitely aren’t an average guy, Jimmy,” Frank said. “Average guys don’t have black belts in martial

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