She and Harrold were going to a play that Aunt Jackie had wanted to see for months. The production was getting ready to close up shop here and move on to Salt Lake, I believed. I’d done some research a few weeks ago, planning on giving her tickets for her birthday, but Harrold had beat me to the punch.
He was good for her. She was getting out more, having more fun with him than she had since she moved to South Cove. Or at least she talked about it more. I knew she and Josh had done some antiquing trips, but he was more interested in his own hobbies and activities than what my aunt wanted to do.
I sipped my water and when I turned around a face was peeking around the side of the building, trying to see into the shop. The street lamps were on, but the corner of the building was too dark to see clearly. When I looked that way, the shadowed figure jerked back. With shaking hands, I set down my glass and picked up my cell.
“Hey, Toby.” I was glad he answered. I would have felt embarrassed calling this in to the 911 number. “Are you patrolling?”
“I’m sitting out here by your house waiting for speeders, actually. What’s up?” He turned the music down in the car.
“Can you drive by the shop? There’s someone lurking around the west side of the building, and they’re looking into the shop trying to see who’s here.” I kept my eyes on the window, wondering if the man was still there.
“Go lock the front door. Don’t hesitate, just walk over like you’re cleaning off a table, then throw the dead bolt. I’ll come down the alley without lights and see if I can catch him.” Toby paused. “Are you walking?”
I groaned inside. “Yes, I’ve got the phone in one hand and a wash towel in the other.” I paused at the door and turned the locks, not looking over at the side of the building as I did it.
“Fine. I’ll be right there.” I heard a click, then my phone rang back.
“This is Jill.” I kept my back turned to the window so no one could see how white my face must be. I’d caught a bit of my reflections in the window and I looked scared to death.
“You do have the back door locked, right?” Toby asked. He knew it was a rule that when only one person was working, the back door stayed locked. A rule I’d made and one I forgot to implement on most days I worked.
I headed to the back office. “I’m checking. I think I do.”
“Stay on the line with me. I’m coming up on the alley entrance now. I’ll be there in two minutes tops.” Toby sounded concerned.
I got to the back and jiggled the door, locked. Then I went to the door that led to the inside hallway between my aunt’s apartment and the shop and locked it, too. “There, I’m locked in. Now what?”
“Wait for me to knock on your door. Stay in the back, there’s more cover there.”
What Toby hadn’t said was if the guy had a gun, he couldn’t see me to shoot me if I was hiding in the back. I could read subtext, even when I was shaking like a leaf. “No problem here.”
I heard the tires crunch on the gravel, then heard, “Seriously?” The line went dead. I peeked out the back window, but all I could see was Toby’s squad car with the driver’s door still open. The car was still running. I opened the swinging door to the shop and tried to see Toby through the front, but apparently he was still on the side where I couldn’t put eyes on him. Well, I could, but I’d have to unlock the stairwell and run up to the second floor landing where the windows looked out over the parking lot and Josh’s building.
I figured Toby would consider that not staying put, so I kept pacing between the two doors, wondering which one he’d knock on when it was safe. I was peeking out the back door into the gathering darkness when I heard the knock on the front of the shop.
“Jill, come open up. It’s safe,” Toby called out and I skittered toward the front. When I saw who was standing next to Toby, I stopped in my tracks.
Shaking my head, I walked the rest of the way and unlocked the door. Josh came inside first with Toby following. “What in the world is going on?”
Josh didn’t look at me until Toby nudged him. “Tell her.”
He glared at Toby, then looked at me. “I’m sorry I scared you. I was just trying to see if Jackie was working tonight.”
“I thought she told you she wasn’t going to be here.” I met eyes with Toby, who had a wide smile on his face. “Not funny,” I mouthed to him.
He held up a hand with his thumb and forefinger separated a bit, signaling he thought it was a little funny.
Josh didn’t see our exchange as his gaze was still on where his feet might be if he could see over his gut. “I know what she said, but I thought maybe she was just trying to make me jealous.”
And right then, for just a second, my heart ached for Josh. He adored my aunt, and now that Harrold was in the picture, even he knew his days were numbered. Then he opened his mouth again. “Or maybe you were trying to break us up and sent Jackie off on some wild goose chase to make me think she wanted to end it.”