“Jerome, I have to get help.” She hadn’t gotten a good look at the front end of the car but didn’t think it had been damaged. Maybe something had startled him and caused him to drive off the road. Deer were common on the back byways of Point Pleasant. Far more insidious than local wildlife, the Mothman was said to lurk within the dense labyrinth of woodlands and ponds that comprised the TNT. Maybe the monster had forced Jerome into the ditch.
Worried, Katie pried her hand free. Jerome was probably in a state of shock, which would explain his confusion and the glazed look in his eyes. “I’m going to drive into town and call an ambulance. I promise I won’t be long.”
He reached for her again. “Cold.”
“I’m sorry, Jerome. I wasn’t thinking.” After shrugging from her coat, Katie draped it over his shoulders. The material wasn’t heavy, but it would offer some comfort until she returned. “I’ll be back as fast as I can.”
Before she could move, a revolving light sliced through the darkness in a welcome swath of red. Highlights blinded her briefly before the vehicle rolled to a stop behind Jerome’s disabled car.
“Thank God.” Katie breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of the Mason County Sheriff’s emblem on the driver’s door.
“Do you need help, ma’am?” the deputy asked as he stepped from the car.
She nodded. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“Not to worry.” He pulled a heavy-duty flashlight from his belt, flicking on the beam as he approached. She had a vague impression of dark hair and a strong jaw.
“Were you involved in an accident, ma’am?”
“No. I was driving home when I came across Jerome’s car. I think he’s hurt.”
The deputy cocked his head to look into the car. “Sir, are you all right?”
Jerome turned, blinking against the flashlight. “Cold.”
“That’s all he keeps saying. I gave him my jacket, but—”
“I’ll radio for an ambulance.” Turning away from her, the deputy headed back to his cruiser.
Katie clung to Jerome’s car, hovering in the open doorway. With a grunt, he pawed her jacket from his shoulders and thrust it at her. “Take this.”
“But I thought you were cold.” In the background, she heard the deputy requesting an ambulance. Clutching the crumpled jacket in her arms, she bit her lip.
She didn’t know Jerome that well. He was a frequent eater at the River Café inside the Parrish Hotel where she worked, and she’d occasionally see him around town. He always bobbed his head and stammered a greeting, noticeably awkward. Probably because he kept his nose buried in books on UFOs or unexplained phenomenon. He’d once told her friend Eve he’d moved to Point Pleasant to be near the Mothman.
“It shouldn’t be long now.” The crunch of gravel announced the deputy’s return. “There’s no need for you to stay, ma’am. You’ve done all you can.”
“I-I don’t know.” It didn’t feel right to leave, almost as if she was abandoning Jerome. She cast an uncertain glance in his direction, noting he appeared to be resting peacefully now, eyes closed, almost as if he’d drifted to sleep.
“I’ll stay with him until the ambulance arrives,” the deputy assured her.
She couldn’t leave him in better hands than a law enforcement officer. At last, she nodded. “I’m so thankful you were driving by, Deputy….”
“Brown.” He smiled slightly. “I’ll make sure he’s looked after.”
A sudden sense of well-being flooded her, banishing the last of her reserve. She was so lucky the deputy had come along. Of course he would take care of Jerome. She had absolutely nothing to worry about now that he was there. Smiling, she walked back to her vehicle, Deputy Brown’s flashlight bobbing along beside her.
Her feeling of security lasted a good two miles down the road, then swiftly departed as abruptly as it had arrived. A flutter of fear skipped through her stomach and she tried to shake it away. She had nothing to worry about. Jerome was with Deputy Brown. He was safe.
Except she couldn’t recall a single feature of the deputy’s face.
Jerome Kelly was still on Katie’s mind as she drove to her mom’s hair salon the next morning. Sam would be spending another night with her mother, since Eve Parrish and Sarah Sherman had talked Katie into a girls’ sleepover at Eve’s place. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d done anything so frivolous. She’d almost said no, but Eve and Sarah had been insistent, so she’d eventually relented.
Katie parked at the Parrish Hotel, then walked the few short blocks to her mom’s salon. It wouldn’t officially open for business for another half hour, but the stylists would be setting up stations with supplies for the day. Cutting down an alleyway, she held her coat shut against the morning air, then headed for the rear door.
Whisking a hand through her hair, she swept it from her face as she stepped inside. Her mom had been after her for weeks to color or cut it, but Katie liked the simplicity of her shoulder-length, blond locks, so easy for scooping into a ponytail. The curse of being the daughter of a hair stylist was having a mother who liked to experiment with the latest trends. Katie had endured several cuts she’d hated while growing up.
“Mom?” Sidestepping a box filled with shampoos and conditioners, she closed the door behind her. The pungent scent of perm solution and hair spray lingered in the air, reminding her of the hours she’d spent here as a child. Like the antiseptic smell of a hospital, the odor was a constant fixture, just as it had been when she’d sat in the back at a small table reading. Too many of her summers had passed that way while her schoolmates were outside playing. “Mom, are you here?”
“Out front,” her mother’s voice directed her.
Katie wound her way through the lunch room and past the supply closet into the main salon. It wasn’t overly large—three stations, including her mom’s, plus a small reception desk with a few chairs for waiting—but Doreen Sue had done her best to make the salon appealing. Right down to the butterscotch paint, hardwood floor, and glossy framed pics plucked from magazines. Katie doubted there was anyone in Point Pleasant who would request one of the radically teased hairstyles sported by models with sunken cheeks and pouty lips, but her mom seemed to think they made the salon more upscale.
“I swear it looked like the sky had a tail.”