A Penny for Your Thoughts (24 page)

“Oh, just a romance. I find them relaxing,” Penny blushed.

“I see. What do they call them? Bodice rippers?” Kevin flashed a bright grin and waggled his eyebrows. “Doesn’t sound too relaxing to me.”

Penny laughed. “I wouldn’t know about that. This gal,” she waved the paperback aloft, “doesn’t wear a bodice, so there’s not a lot of ripping going on.”

Kevin chuckled. “I love suspense myself. Can’t get enough of--” He brought himself up short and colored. “I can’t believe I said that. I’m sorry. After what you’ve been through, you know, with the phone calls and stuff.”

Penny shrugged, the mention of her caller a mere shadow on her otherwise bright day.

“Don’t worry about it. I didn’t even think of it.” She grinned.

Kevin’s forehead relaxed, and he gave her a tentative smile. “Well, I’d better get going. So, will I be seeing you down at the parade tonight?” He held up his hands in mock defense. “I know, I know, you’re going by yourself, but I just wanted to know if you’re going. I’m still undecided myself.”

Penny nodded awkwardly. “I am going, though I don’t know what time.”

Kevin nodded without rancor. “I hear you should get there early if you want to get parking.” He looked down the beach. “Well, I’ve got to get back. Appointment for granddad, you know. See ya!” He gave her a friendly smile and a brief wave before moving off.

Penny watched him walk away and fretted. Frankly, she would have appreciated the companionship tonight, but at this point, she did not want to put anything...or anyone...between Matt and her.

The rest of the day passed without event, and Penny relished the calm. She wished Matt would call--for any reason--but her phone didn’t ring. Perhaps that was a mixed blessing. The inevitable tightening of her throat and upheaval in her stomach when the phone did ring were miserable and seemed likely to remain with her long after her...caller...ceased his horrible threats.

In late afternoon, with Kevin’s warning to get to the parade route early in mind, she stretched one last time, grabbed her things and returned to her apartment. Completely stuffed with food and hypnotized by the warmth of the sun, she longed to take a nap, but a check of her watch indicated she needed to get to Orange Beach.

She passed by her bed on the way to take a shower and noticed her phone sitting on top of the quilt. She’d forgotten her phone! What if Matt had called?

She snatched up the phone. Her eyes widened. Twenty two missed calls? Had there been an emergency? Mom? Travis? With a tremor in her hand, she reviewed the numbers. They were all from a toll free number. A hospital? What if something had happened to Travis? Sweat broke out on Penny’s forehead.

She called the number, her stomach flipping somersaults as she waited through several rings.

“Continental Flower Shop,” a smooth female voice answered.

“What? Who is this?”

“I’m sorry? This is the Continental Flower Shop. Can I help you?”

Penny sank down onto the bed. A flower shop? “Someone called me from this number today...twenty two times.”

“What?”

Penny repeated herself.

“Is this some kind of telemarketing? Why would you call this number twenty two times?”

“Oh, no, ma’am. That can’t be right. We don’t do any telemarketing. Do you have the number right?”

“Yes. At least I think so.”

“Well, ma’am, that sounds very odd. We didn’t call you from here. We’re a small flower shop in Bangor, Maine. Do you live here in Bangor?”

“Maine?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Okay, I’m sorry. I don’t know what happened. Thanks.” Penny hung up with a sigh of relief. It wasn’t Travis or her mother in a hospital. She studied the numbers again. Surely her stalker hadn’t been up to his old tricks, had he?

She called her voicemail which announced in a censorial tone that it was full. The first call revealed nothing. Just a minute of silence. Seeing no calls from Matt, her mother or Travis, though it appeared her voicemail was full, Penny shook her head and deleted the rest of the calls. She dropped the phone on the bed and went in to take her shower.

She emerged from the shower and threw on some jeans and a comfortable short-sleeved blouse, thankful for the comfortable evenings in November on the Gulf Coast. She grabbed her purse and headed down to her car to drive the nine miles along the Gulf Beach Highway to Orange Beach.

Fifteen minutes later, she parked in a grocery store parking lot along the parade route. Throngs of parade watchers lined the four-lane highway on both sides. Orange barricades and oversized plastic netting blocked people from encroaching on the parade route.

She found an open spot against the barricade and gaped at the people around her with awe. Boisterous merry goers adorned their heads with colorfully festive masks of elaborate concoctions of feathers, headdresses of red paper crowns banded in gold foil, green and purple striped top hats, and glittering plastic tiaras. One man next to her sported a purple and yellow harlequin hat with huge bells dangling and jangling off the points. The color theme for Mardi Gras appeared to be canary yellow, emerald green and royal purple. Several middle aged women crossed the road in leopard-skin tights with neon pink boas wrapped around their necks.

Penny contented herself with watching the parade antics for the next hour or so until the start of the parade. As the evening turned into night, the festive mood of anticipation filling the air increased, and Penny absorbed the excitement. She delighted in watching the activity pre-parade as people dashed back and forth across the barricaded highway in search of the “best spot” and others jockeyed for position against the orange plastic netting. She wondered why such extravagant efforts to keep the highway clear were necessary. What did the police expect? That people would run out between the floats? Did the floats drive that fast?

Twenty minutes later, the crowd grew more animated--if that were possible--as two police cruisers appeared some way down the road to begin the parade in slow motion with flashing blue and red lights followed by several motorcycle units who performed maneuvers in the road. 

Penny leaned forward, as so many of her fellow parade goers did, at the sight of the first float farther down the road--a brilliantly lit rainbow creation featuring a glittering dolphin splashing amidst turquoise waves. It moved slowly toward them. Men in shining satin court jester suits poised above the two levels of the float and tossed sparkling necklaces from the float. Penny ducked as several bright beaded necklaces sailed through the air in her direction until one landed directly on her head with a thump. She grasped it in her hand and stared in stunned surprise as the revelers next to her scrambled on the ground for stray necklaces.

“Put it on.”

Penny swung around, startled at the familiar voice near her ear. Matt stood close behind her. He reached one arm over his head and deftly caught a bright red sparkling necklace flying overhead. He slipped it over her head with a grin.

“You’re supposed to beg for them. Scream as loud as you can, and they’ll throw some your way.”

“Are you kidding? This is insane,” Penny laughed as another necklace landed at her feet. No slouch to competition, she scrambled to grab the bauble just before the woman next to her took hold of the plastic treasure.

“It
is
insane! There’s no other word to describe it. But it’s fun.” Matt laughed as he caught three necklaces at once. He slipped two over Penny’s neck and dropped one over his head.

She patted the accumulated finery on her chest. The beaded necklaces were just inexpensive little plastic things, but they were bright, colorful, somehow desirable and gifts from above.

“I thought you were working,” she shouted above the voices of her neighbors as they screamed for goodies from the floats rolling by.

“Just a little bit today for setup. Some of our folks are over working this parade, and then they’ll come over to help out with ours. The parade in Gulf Shores is day after tomorrow in the morning. I just needed to see that the guys who volunteered from my unit were set up and in place. I wasn’t sure I could get here, so I didn’t suggest we meet.”

“Oh! Well, I’m glad you’re here,” she said as she threw a loving look over her shoulder. His bright smile took her breath away. She swung her head forward as several round objects landed at her feet. She dived for them and nabbed two of the three. Her wily harlequin-hatted neighbor snagged the third. Penny came up with two commercially wrapped pastries which she couldn’t quite identify in the dark. She held them up to the glow of the nearby streetlight.

“What are these?”

“Moon pies. I have no idea what the significance of the moon pies are, but they’re a Mardi Gras tradition.”

“Well, they look delicious!” Penny stuffed them in her jacket pocket and continued to reach for treasures flying through the air. The middle-aged lady on her right excelled at screaming, but Penny managed a few attention getting shrieks of her own. She turned a laughing face to Matt.

“This is great!”

“It is, isn’t it?” He seemed to be amassing quite a collection of necklaces as he caught those that sailed over Penny’s head. She beamed to see him laughing, and promised herself she would do everything she could to let him know how much she loved him. Right after the parade. He was not going to get away from her this time. She swung around to either block or grab another moon pie.

She bent to pick up another necklace and heard his phone ringing.

“Your phone is ringing.”

He shook his head with a hint of impatience and opened the phone. 

“What?” He put a finger to his left ear and leaned slightly to the right.

“What? I can’t hear you. Let me get out of the noise.”

Matt touched her shoulder and grimaced. “I can’t hear with all this noise. I’m going to head over to the store...away from the noise. Then I’m going to pop inside to...uh...you know. Don’t go anywhere. I’ll be right back.”

“Okay.” Penny watched him stride across the parking lot but turned back to the festivities as it behooved her to keep an eye on what objects traveled through the air in her direction. There seemed little opportunity to admire the colorful floats as she found herself distracted by screaming along with the rest of the spectators begging for goodies. Now, she understood the reason for the barricades.

“So you made it!”

Penny turned around.

“Kevin!” She looked beyond him toward the darkened parking lot, but couldn’t see Matt. He hadn’t been gone more than a minute or two. “Yes. I’m here. Isn’t this great?” She turned away to catch yet another moon pie as it flew through the air.

“Yes. It is. That’s why I wanted to bring you. I figured you hadn’t seen a Mardi Gras parade yet.”

Penny turned back toward him. “What? Oh, yes, I’m so glad I came.” She beamed in merriment. Another approaching float caught her eye, and she turned toward it waving her hands in the air with newfound Mardi Gras fever.

“But I can see you didn’t come alone. Why didn’t you tell me you were coming with Matt?” Kevin said near her ear.

Penny turned in the direction of his voice to find him close behind. His head was bent to her, and the warmth of his breath tickled the side of her face. With a vague sense of unease, she twisted to look beyond him but couldn’t see Matt yet. Had Kevin been drinking? She turned her back to him.

“Well, I did come alone, but Matt is here now.”

“Chief Williams,” he muttered.

Penny could barely hear his words over her boisterous, screaming neighbors.

“Yes, Chief Williams.”

“I asked you to come with me.”

“What?” Penny shouted. Kevin pressed against her, and she moved forward as far as she could, but the barrier pressed into her chest. “Kevin, can you move back just a--”

Penny suddenly felt a yank at her throat as Kevin grabbed hold of her necklaces and jerked her neck back.

Some of the beads broke, and Kevin slammed his hand over her mouth as he pulled her back from the barricade. Screaming Mardi Gras spectators quickly filled in the hole she’d left behind. Penny’s eyes bulged in terror as Kevin dragged her across the parking lot. She tried to struggle, to claw at the brutal hand over her mouth, but his physical strength overwhelmed her, and his fingers dug painfully into the side of her face. She was no match for his wiry six foot frame. The safety of the bright lights of the parade faded as he wrestled her farther into the darkness of the lot. She twisted to look toward the grocery store, but couldn’t see Matt.

Kevin suddenly slammed her up against the hood of a car. Penny cried out as her ribs cracked against the hard impact.

“Stop fighting me, or I swear I’m going to knock you out,” Kevin ground out through clenched teeth as he wrapped his hand around her neck and raised his fist menacingly above her face. Penny went limp. Even through the darkness, she could make out the terrifying bulge of his blue eyes and the snarl of his mouth. She couldn’t fathom how he’d gone from charming and harmless young man to violent and dangerous predator in what seemed like a split second.

“That’s better.” Kevin dragged her off the car by her hair and slapped his hand over her mouth once again. With his hand wrapped painfully in her hair, he began to walk her ahead of him in an awkward fashion toward the western end of the parking lot. The distant lights of the grocery store receded, and Penny struggled for air through her nostrils. Terror weakened her legs, and she stumbled several times. Kevin muttered indistinguishable curses and dragged her to her feet again. He pulled on her hair mercilessly as if she were some sort of draft animal while he urged her on. The pain in her head blinded her. She longed to scream, but the hand pressed against her face allowed no breath of air through her mouth much less a scream.