"The guy's name was Pat Milton," Brian said. "He'd been in a mental hospital in Upstate New York for several years and was released about a week ago. The guy was staying at a hotel outside of Colwestern up until last Saturday. After that we're not sure where he wound up. Maybe he was hanging around on the streets trying to get a shot at Sally."
We were seated in the living room of our house. Mike and I were on the couch, and Brian sat across from us in an armchair. Spike was lying at our feet, sound asleep. My parents and Grandma Rosa were at home, Gianna had gone to meet Johnny, and Josie would be discharged from the hospital first thing tomorrow morning. Everything was slowly getting back to normal.
Mike had come to the bakery looking for me right after the incident. He'd tried to text me a couple of times, but with my phone being hacked, I'd never received it, and he'd become worried. When he hadn't been able to reach Ralph because of the incident with Marla, he'd grown alarmed and headed over himself. Mike said that when he'd spotted the police cars with their lights flashing, he'd thought the worst for a moment.
I didn't think I would ever forget that expression on Mike's face when I looked up from talking with Ralph and Brian and saw him standing there watching me. His arm was now wrapped tightly around my shoulders as if he never intended to let go. He was tired and dirty and like me, exhausted from the entire ordeal. At least we could breathe more easily now.
"This doesn't make any sense," Mike said. "Why did this guy have it in for Sal? She didn't even know him."
Brian shrugged. "He's been in the facility on and off since the age of eighteen. I don't want to upset you with all the details of how he got there, so let's just say he has killed before. I haven't been able to find any information on his family yet. We're checking on former visitors at the facility, so if I come up with any names of significance, I'll let you know."
Mike blew out a sigh. "Jenkins, I may not have always been your biggest fan, but if it wasn't for you and Adam looking out for Sal tonight—" He stopped midsentence and closed his eyes for a second then brushed a hand across them wearily. His voice shook as he released me and extended a hand for Brian to shake. "Thank you. Thank you for saving her life."
"Yes." My voice trembled. "I'm so grateful to you and Adam."
Brian's face flushed red. "To be honest it wasn't all pure coincidence. Sure, I thought I'd stop over to see why you hadn't answered my texts, but I also wanted to tell you that I heard back from my friend and fellow officer, Carl Riley, in Vermont. He stopped over to see Mitzi Graber earlier today. She had an alibi for Saturday when the shooting occurred at DeAngelo's Bakery. Apparently Mitzi has been working at her parents' shop in Bennington for the last three months. Several people reported seeing her there on Saturday as well."
"Her parents were fellow contestants on Cookie Crusades with Josie and me last January," I put in. "Mitzi had mentioned that they wanted to start up a storefront at the time, so I'm happy that worked out for them. How did she seem to Officer Riley?"
Brian grinned. "Carl said she acted normal, even flirted with him a bit. She admitted to him that she had stolen a recipe from you and Josie in the past and wasn't proud of her actions. Mitzi told him she was going forward in her life and not looking back anymore. She said she was going to phone you one of these days to apologize for her behavior."
To be honest I wasn't in any great hurry to hear from Mitzi again, although I was glad to learn things seemed to be going better for her. "That's good to know." The whole incident had been so unpleasant and unfortunate. Sure, I wasn't responsible for Colin's role in Mitzi's fiancé's death, but I'd be lying if I said the entire incident didn't weigh heavily on my conscience.
"So Pat was the one who shot at Josie and killed Alexandra?"
Brian's phone beeped, and he stopped to read a text before answering me. "We found car keys on him for a Chevy that was parked a street over from the bakery. It was reported as stolen last week. We checked with the DMV, and the guy didn't even have a valid driver's license."
He paused to look at the text again and then stared up at me, his green eyes without their usual vivacity. "A rifle was found in the trunk as well. Adam just sent me a message, and they've verified it's the same one that killed Alexandra. Of course we don't know for sure that this wacko is the one who fired it, but since it was inside the car he was driving, it seems to be a safe presumption."
Even with Mike's arm around me, I was cold, chilled to the very core of my being. Had Brian and Adam arrived even one minute later tonight, there was no doubt in my mind that I would have been a goner.
Mike shook his head. "So did this guy see Sal somewhere and decide to terrorize her? I don't get it."
He wasn't alone.
"We're still checking things out," Brian said. "Maybe you went to school together years ago, and he had a crush on you. Maybe he spotted you in the bakery one day and wanted to ask you out for a date. He could have seen your engagement picture in the paper and snapped. Who knows what his motive was. Have you seen the news lately? A woman was killed for unfriending another person on Facebook recently. We're living in a disturbed society." He sighed. "Some days I feel like I'm fighting a losing battle."
"You should never feel like that," I said quietly. "I have such great respect and admiration for the work that you and your fellow officers do. You saved my life, and I'm sure there have been many others besides me. Compared to my job—well, there is no comparison. What do I do for society? Besides make people gain weight."
He laughed. "I wouldn't say that. Your bakery provides fuel for people like me. Hey, we all have to eat, so why not indulge in comfort foods once in a while? Say, any chance I can get some of those famous chocolate chips before you fly off on your honeymoon?"
I smiled. "I'll slip in the shop tomorrow and make up a batch special. On the house, of course. Find out what Adam's favorite is, and you can pick some up for him as well."
Brian dashed off a quick text on his phone. "I thought you guys were taking off tomorrow."
Mike ruffled my hair and smiled. "Since this guy is no longer a threat to Sal's safety, I'm going to switch the plane tickets back to Saturday. That way we can get married as originally planned—with her family around her."
"Our family," I reminded him.
He kissed the top of my head and tightened his arms around me.
Brian rose to his feet, looking slightly embarrassed at our display of affection. "Sounds good." He extended his hand for Mike to shake and then gave me a broad smile. "I hope you two will be very happy."
I walked him to the front door. "Wait a second. Is it okay for me to ask if you and Ally got everything straightened out?"
He leaned against the door and gave me a wan smile. "We're meeting for dinner tomorrow night to talk. I'm really sorry about what she put you through."
"No worries," I assured him. "I've had my share of insecurities too. It's awful when you don't know who you can trust. I hope you guys can work everything out."
"Thanks, Sally. I hope so too." His voice turned from serious to teasing. "So what time should I pick up that cookie order? By the way, Adam said he'll take chocolate chip as well and two dozen sounds great. But you shouldn't be spending time on this. It'll be the day before your wedding, and I'm sure you'll have a million other things to do."
"Not as much as you think," I said. "After I get my phone taken care of, I'll text you and let you know what time to stop by."
"Sounds good." He nodded to Mike then shut the door quietly behind him.
I locked the door behind him, and when I turned around, Mike gathered me in his arms and kissed me tenderly. "The nightmare is over, princess. Come on. Let's go to bed and celebrate."
"That sounds great, but I may pass out on you. I haven't gotten much sleep all week."
"Believe me, neither have I," he admitted. "But we haven't had any time to ourselves either, so let's fix that right now. Come on. I'll make you one of my fabulous caffeine concoctions that's guaranteed to keep you up for a while."
I laughed. "How can I refuse an offer like that? Besides, I can sleep all I want to when Sunday arrives. We'll be on our honeymoon."
We walked over to the kitchen, our arms around each other. I removed this morning's used filter from the coffeemaker while Mike rummaged through the cupboard for coffee.
"It's such a relief not to have to worry about you every minute of the day," Mike said. "I have to stop over tomorrow to see Ralph and thank him. He's also got a small job for me to do at his house, and given everything he's done, I said I'd take care of it right away. So all we have to do is find another place to get married on Saturday. We still have the priest, right?"
I nodded. "I don't think my mother canceled Father Grenaldi, so three o'clock would still work. Let's go ahead with city hall. The place isn't important." I turned to kiss him and ran my hands down his chest. "I want to be your wife. That's all that matters to me. Not the location, the gifts, or what we eat. If this experience has taught me anything, it's that I'm lucky to be alive and to be with the man I love."
He leaned over to kiss me and then opened the coffee can. As I dumped the used filter into the garbage, I noticed a red rose lying on top, and my stomach convulsed. I was no longer as fond of them as I used to be. "Where did this come from?"
Mike stared into the garbage at the offending flower and looked embarrassed. "I meant to tell you about that."
A chill ran down my spine. "Did someone leave that for me?"
He shook his head. "No. It was a gift for me."
I cocked an eyebrow at him. "From whom, may I ask?"
Mike grinned. "You're cute when you're jealous." He kissed me and started scooping coffee into the machine.
Not amused, I said nothing and continued to stand there with my hands on my hips, waiting for an answer. Somehow I knew the offender's name before he even said it.
Mike sighed, defeated. "This morning, when you went to visit Josie, I stopped by the bakery. I had a new faucet for Gianna's bathroom. It was a five-minute job, and I remembered that she planned to move in this weekend, so I wanted everything to be perfect for her."
"That was thoughtful of you," I said. "Go on."
"Well, I was on my way out of the bakery, locking the door, when someone touched my arm. I thought it was a customer. You know, maybe wanting to ask why the bakery wasn't opened yet. Instead it was Marla from across the street, dressed in a see-through minidress. It might have even been a negligee. Whatever it's called, she wasn't wearing anything else."
I bit into my lower lip. "You noticed?"
Mike looked pained. "Sweetheart, it was impossible not to."
Ew. I thought I might retch. "Let me guess. Marla had a faucet for you to fix too."
He plugged the machine in and turned around, placing both hands on my waist. "She said she wanted to talk to me. Something about how she was sorry for pursuing me the past few weeks."
What the heck? "You never told me this had been going on for a while."
He shrugged. "I didn't want to upset you. It was right before the fire, and you had enough to deal with. I didn't even realize it might be Marla until you mentioned her by name the other day. She had sent me a few texts from a number I didn't recognize and kept asking if we could get together again. I just figured she must have been someone I'd dated briefly before and she'd stop when I didn't answer back."
"And you only went out a couple of times?" I struggled to keep the irritation out of my voice. There was no reason for me to doubt Mike. I knew how much he loved me, but I still hated the fact that this woman was running after a man who she knew was going to be my husband in a couple of days.
Mike was staring at me in earnest. "Yes. I never lead her on, Sal. Please believe me. I spent many years looking for you in every woman I dated. But I was never able to find you." His voice shifted to a lower volume, barely above a whisper, as he pushed my hair back, his fingers lingering on the strands. "There's never been anyone else for me. When I heard you were back home after the divorce, I told myself nothing was going to stand in my way again. Remember the first time I saw you, when you threw up on me at the bar?"
I laughed. That seemed like such a long time ago when in fact it had only been a year. "Yeah. Kind of hard to forget an intimate moment like that."
Mike's sexy smile illuminated the dark blue of his eyes as he cupped my face between his hands. "That night, when I was home cleaning up, I vowed that some way, some day, I was going to win you back. It didn't matter how long it took. I would have waited forever for you."
There was a lump in my throat the size of a mountain. This past week had been such a roller coaster of emotions, and it had all finally caught up to me. Tears began to roll down my cheeks.
"Come here." He hugged me tightly to him while I snuggled comfortably against his chest. "The nightmares are over, Sal. It's time to make our dreams come true."