Page 12 of Wolfish
The shop was clean and ready for more boxes of merchandise, but for now, she was done. The ladies paid for their merchandise and then left. Daniel asked her if she needed him to help her with anything else.
“No. I’ve changed my mind. I’m going to run to the cemetery we went to last night and search it further since I got so much done on the shop today.”
“Do you want me to go with you?”
“No, I know where it is, and the work can be tedious.”
“Okay, I’m off to work to see what they need me to do, and then we’ll have dinner tonight at the Timberline Ski lodge?”
“Sure, that would be nice.” Then she could see how they used the skeletons to decorate their gift shop and what else they carried.
This time, her mouth hovered at the edge of his, and he pulled her in with gentle certainty, and they kissed each other.
She smiled. “Tonight at six?”
“Pick you up at the hotel.”
If anyone had told Daniel he would be decorating a shop for Halloween and fall and visiting cemeteries at night, he would have thought they were crazy. But he’d had a ball when he’d done it for Selena. And seeing how thrilled Selena was and how her expression had brightened was worth it.
He realized after he had left to drop by the sheriff’s office, he should have bought something from her shop, but he could do it later. She would have more decorations by then.
He was glad the ladies had dropped in to help and to shop. It had made Selena’s day.
Sheriff Jorgenson greeted Daniel. “How’d it go?”
“Good. Except for getting some more merchandise in, Selena’s all set.”
Peter cleared his throat. “I mean between you and the she-wolf.”
“Oh, we’re having dinner again tonight.”
“Keeping the other bachelor males at bay?”
“You had better believe it.”
Peter laughed. “As to sheriff business, I need you to drive up to the lodge. A hit-and-run accident occurred, and I need you to check into it.”
“In their parking lot?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m on it.”
During the late afternoon, Selena slowly began looking for headstones with any engraving she could decipher at the cemetery she had visited with Daniel, when she heard crunching in the fallen leaves and twigs in the woods. She paused and watched for any movement. She usually wasn’t afraid of much, but it just felt ominous, like someone was observing her.
Instantly, she thought about the men out on bail who had stalked her back in Fort Wayne, Indiana. She didn’t think any of them would follow her there. But it still came to mind, sending chills up her spine. When she looked around, whoever or whatever it was had stopped still.
Maybe it was a deer. If it were a deer and she walked toward it, it would run. If it were a person…
Chill bumps covered her skin. She wanted to check it out, to reassure herself that it was nothing, but she couldn’t shake loose of the fear she had that someone was observing her.
She took a deep breath and began searching the headstones again, only to find a skeleton exposed to the elements. She was beyond excited and called Daniel. “I found a skeleton.”
“Right, because it’s Halloween. Wait, at the cemetery?”
“Yes, it’s just lying on the ground where running water unearthed it. It’s an old skeleton—1700s. Can I get permission to examine it?”
“At the morgue? Sure. It’s in the hospital basement.”
