A Penny for Your Thoughts Read online

  A tiny sandpiper darted past, stabbing the sand with its beak in search of food. The sound of a screeching toddler caught her ears, and she turned in the direction of the little blonde girl dashing back and forth as waves tickled her feet.

  Her cell phone rang, startling her out of her reverie.

  “Hello?”

  “Hello, Penny.”

  “Hi. Who is this?”

  “Take a guess.”

  She didn’t recognize the voice. It held a deep-throated tone that she couldn’t quite place.

  “Travis! You’re not playing some prank, are you?”

  “No prank, Penny. Who’s Travis?”

  Irritation made Penny abrupt. “Look, who is this? I’m really not in the mood.”

  “Oh, I see. You’re not in the mood. Well, excuse me. You should be nicer to me, Penny. Because you know what? I’m the guy who’s going to kill you. That’s who I am.” The male voice spoke in a calm tone that belied his horrific words.

  Penny froze.

  “What?” she whispered. Surely she had misheard. “What did you say?”

  “You heard me right, Penny. I’m gonna kill you, and you won’t even know when. You won’t even know why. Wait for me. I’m coming.”

  Penny snapped her phone shut and dropped it onto the sand as if it were on fire. She jumped out of her seat and swung around to search the beach, keeping her back to the sea. Who would call her and say such a thing? She scanned the faces on the beach--the couples who strolled arm in arm, too busy to carry a phone, the children who chased the waves, too little to carry a phone. She wrapped her arms tightly around her body, suddenly cold. No one knew her here. She’d hardly met anyone in the two months she’d been in Gulf Shores.

  She stared down at the offending phone half buried in the sand. Caller ID. She bent and picked up the phone with the tips of her fingers, gingerly opening the face. A push of a button revealed an area code from her home state of Michigan. She sank to her knees. Who would call her from Michigan with such horrible words? None of her clients were violent or inclined toward making threats. She’d been lucky that way.

  She eyed the number and took a deep breath. With a knot in her stomach, she pushed the button to call. Her hand shook slightly as she held the phone to her ear. It rang.

  “Tim Matthews.”

  Penny almost dropped the phone again.

  “Tim?” she squeaked. Her beautiful surroundings grew more surreal.

  “Who’s this? Penny? Is that you?” His familiar high-pitched tone sounded nothing like the deep harsh voice on the phone.

  “Did you just call me?”

  “No. How’s it going down there? Are you feeling better?”

  “But I just got a call from your number. It...” She choked on her words.

  “Penny? Wasn’t me. I didn’t call you. I’ve had the phone on my hip all day.”

  Suddenly, Penny wasn’t sure of anything. The sound of Tim’s voice took her back to a time two months ago when her life changed dramatically, when she lost faith in her judgment, her competence as a therapist and her humanity. The cold, familiar sweat beaded on her forehead, and she wiped it away. Nausea seemed ever present.

  “I’m sure it was your number. I just hit the call back button.”

  “I can’t imagine how that happened. What was the call about? Was anyone on the line?”

  “Yes,” Penny mumbled.

  “And?”

  “I-I...um...it’s too bizarre.”

  “What’s going on, Penny? Talk to me!” His voice grew louder...as it always did when he was anxious.

  Penny scanned the faces and figures of the people on the beach.

  “It was a man. He said...” She swallowed hard. “He said...he was going to kill me.”

  “What!” Tim bellowed. “What?”

  Penny winced and pulled the phone from her ear for a moment. “I can’t say it again, Tim. You heard me.”

  “Did you call the police?”

  Penny shook her head, but realized he couldn’t see her.

  “No, not yet. I don’t think... It was probably just a prank, Tim. But how did they get your phone...your number?”

  “You need to call the police, Penny. I don’t care if it was a prank. There’s this thing I’ve read about--some kind of caller ID spoof--where people can buy a phone card and put in whatever originating number they want.” She heard him clear his throat. “I wonder if that’s what happened. It can’t be my phone. I have it in my hands. And I sure as heck didn’t call to threaten you.”

  Penny swallowed a moment of skepticism. She’d known Tim for five years. He wasn’t capable of this type of call...even as a joke. His dry sense of humor bordered on irreverent, but never cruel.

  “Penny. Are you... I mean, are you all right?”

  Penny heard that certain note in his voice, a note many therapists had--a quiet search for an unspoken truth.

  “Do you mean...have I recovered?” Penny choked down the familiar wave of nausea. “No, not yet. I’m not ready to come back, Tim.”

  “I understand, Penny. Take your time. Your job is waiting for you. We’ve got your clients farmed out to the other therapists. Everyone seems to be doing okay although they say they miss you.”

  Penny tried to chuckle. “I miss them too,” she said, although she felt certain that she lacked the strength of character--the stability--necessary for the job. After all, she’d turned her back on them and run for the hills...or the beach.

  “Well, listen, I’ve got to get going. I’ve got a client who’s been waiting for me for ten minutes...and he’s hovering around my door, but I want you to call the police. Now! Do you hear me?”

  Penny shook her head and shuddered. “I’ve had enough of police, Tim. I can’t face them anymore.”

  “That’s your misplaced guilt talking, Penny. I don’t think the police blamed you in the least. You kept Jerry on the phone as long as possible. You know very well if a person wants to take their own life, they’re going to do it.”

  Penny slapped a hand over her mouth to stifle an unexpected sob.

  “Call the police. Where are you?”

  “I’m still in Gulf Shores, Alabama,” she mumbled. “At the beach.”

  “Which beach? Maybe you shouldn’t return to your place right now. You’re staying in a condominium, right?”

  Penny jerked. “What? My condo? Why not?”

  “Because this guy took the time to call you. He knows something about you...and me. Maybe it’s a prank, maybe not. I don’t think you should take the chance. Take this seriously, Penny. Call the police!”

  “Okay!” she said irritably. “Okay! I will.”

  “And call me and let me know what they say. Because if you don’t call them, I will.”

  “Yes, Tim.” Penny hung up the phone and stared at it for a moment. What was she supposed to do? Call 911? As terrifying as the phone call had been, it hardly seemed like an emergency. Maybe she should just go down to the police precinct.

  Penny stuffed her cell phone in her pocket, grabbed her tiny chair and folded it up. The sun had settled on the horizon, glowing bright orange as it lingered there momentarily before disappearing for the day. A purple-blue haze descended over the once sunny beach, and Penny shivered as the temperature dropped dramatically. February on the Gulf Coast was proving to be colder than she’d imagined. She trotted back to her condominium and made a beeline for her car in the open air parking lot on the ground floor. Tim’s words of warning left her more uneasy than ever, and she opted to go down to the police station before returning upstairs. Maybe she could coax them to send over a patrol to check out her apartment before she went in. Did they do that sort of thing? Or was that just something she’d seen in movies?

  Penny dragged her keys out of the pocket of her shorts and unlocked the trunk of her small white hybrid. She dropped the chair in, closed the trunk and hurried to the driver’s side door, unable to stop herself from looking over her shoulder.

  She r
eminded herself that the call had come from Michigan. As she pulled out of her parking lot and headed down the highway toward the police station, she tried to form some coherent thoughts.

  Excuse me, someone just called me and said they were going to kill me. Ummm...yes, the phone number belonged to my boss in Michigan. No, he says he didn’t make the call. How do I know it wasn’t him? Well, because I know him...that’s all. He wouldn’t do something like that.

  She rolled her eyes and grimaced. Oh, yeah! That was going to go over well. She pulled into the small parking lot of the Gulf Shores police station and entered the thick glass double doors of the one-story red brick building. A young African-American woman in a sharply creased, dark blue uniform rose from a desk directly behind the counter.

  “Can I help you, ma’am?” she asked. Her sleek black hair, pulled back in a small chignon, emphasized high cheekbones and the almond shape of her dark eyes.

  “Well, yes. I was wondering...” Penny hadn’t really come up with an intelligent premise for her report. “Ummm...”

  “Yes, ma’am?” Officer Jenkins, whose name tag identified her, waited patiently with raised brows.

  “Uh, well, I’m staying down here for the winter. You know, one of those dreaded snowbirds...” Penny attempted a chuckle, but Officer Jenkins did nothing to encourage inconsequential humor, offering only a polite smile. “Well, the thing is...I just got an anonymous threatening phone call on my cell phone.”

  Officer Jenkins reached for a pad of paper and a ballpoint pen.

  “What was the nature of the threat, ma’am?”

  Penny’s face flamed. “Well, he said he was going to...ummm...kill me.”

  Officer Jenkins’ large dark eyes shot up from her pad of paper. She alerted, almost as if her ears actually pricked up.

  “I’m sure it’s nothing. But my boss insisted I call the police.” Penny shuffled nervously. What could the police do? Trace the call? Look up her phone records, as she’d seen on TV? To Tim’s number? She wished she’d never come in.

  “Yes, ma’am. You should make a report. Come around inside and have a seat. I’ll have you fill out a statement.”

  Penny’s shoulders sagged. It seemed she’d filled out more than her fair share of statements....just a few short months ago.

  She moved past the counter and pushed open a solid blue metal door as the young policewoman buzzed her in. Officer Jenkins pulled out a utilitarian blue acrylic chair, and Penny lowered herself heavily into it. What if they checked her records? Would her name come up in relation to Jerry’s suicide? She couldn’t bear to face the curious stares once again, the reports in the newspaper bandying her name about. How that information had been released to the public, she’d never know. It violated the standards of confidentiality--even after Jerry died.

  Officer Jenkins took a seat behind the desk and leaned her long-sleeved arms on the surface.

  “So, can you tell me exactly what the caller said?”

  Penny swallowed hard. “I answered the phone and someone...a male...I didn’t recognize his voice, but it was deep...said ‘Hello, Penny.’ When I asked who it was, he said...” Penny took a deep breath to steady her voice. Moisture broke out on her upper lip again. “‘You want to know who this is? I’m the guy who’s going to kill you.’” She gave her head a quick shake. “Or something like that. All of a sudden, I can’t remember his exact words.” Penny exhaled and slumped in her chair.

  “I see,” Officer Jenkins said. She dropped her eyebrows and resumed a professional expression. “And you say you didn’t recognize the voice?”

  Penny shook her head.

  “Do you still have the number? Do you have your phone with you? May I see it?”

  Penny nodded and dragged the phone from her pocket. She laid it on the desk.

  “I called the number back, and it was my boss’s cell phone. He’s in Michigan. But he says he didn’t call, and I believe him. He wouldn’t do something like that. He’s a mental health therapist. He wouldn’t...” She stared at the phone as if it were a malevolent creature.

  “You’re sure he’s in Michigan? How do you know?” Officer Jenkins picked up the phone and pushed a button. She showed the screen of incoming and outgoing calls to Penny and pointed to the last incoming call. “Is this the number?”

  Penny nodded. She watched the young woman write the number down on her pad of paper. “Yes, I’m sure he’s in Michigan. Well, I’m pretty sure he’s in Michigan right now. I’ve known him for five years. He wouldn’t do something like this. Not even as a joke. He said something about people buying phone cards where they can spoof someone else’s number. Have you ever heard of that?”

  Officer Jenkins nodded and sighed. “Yes, we know about them. What a pain.” She didn’t elaborate.

  A door opened from the rear of the room, and a man strode out toward them.

  Penny tossed him a quick distracted look and then returned her gaze to Officer Jenkins.

  “I’m back in for a little bit, Patty. Anything else going on?”

  Penny heard the smooth, rich voice of the man she’d once loved and whose face claimed her nightly dreams. She gasped and froze in place for a moment, then carefully turned her stunned face away from him toward the empty counter.

  Chapter Two

  “No, nothing much, Chief Williams.” Patty grinned and reached for a form which Penny recognized as a statement. “Are you all right, ma’am?” Penny was vaguely aware that Patty had rolled over in her wheeled office chair and stared into Penny’s downcast eyes. “Can I get you some water?”

  Penny shook her head and kept her face averted.

  “What’s going on, Patty?”

  Penny knew he approached. She would have felt his presence a hundred yards away.

  “I don’t know, Chief. She just went pale as a ghost.”

  Penny watched two familiar blue-jeaned legs come to a halt in front of her. She kept her eyes fixed on his feet encased in black flat-soled casual boots.

  “Penny?” His voice sounded just the same--wonderfully deep and melodic--the kind of voice that made her want to jump into his arms and stay there forever.

  Penny raised her head. She tried to stand, but her legs were as paralyzed as were her lungs. She could barely breathe.

  “Matt,” she murmured. He stood before her in jeans and a forest green plaid flannel shirt, looking just like the day fifteen years before when she’d waved a tearful farewell to him at the airport in Missoula, Montana. She’d boarded the plane with her young six year-old son in tow not knowing if she would ever see the man she loved again. As it happened, she hadn’t...until now.

  She tried to stand, and Matt reached out to take her hands and pull her to her feet. As short as she was, her eyes still came only to the level of his mouth. He’d never been a tall man, and she’d loved the fact that she could kiss him without getting a crick in her neck. Back then...

  “I can’t believe it’s you,” he said. Her eyes flew to his dark-lashed hazel eyes. The color of his shirt brought out the green flecks. “What are you doing here?”

  Penny dropped her gaze to his mouth. “I’m...I’m visiting Gulf Shores for the winter. I thought you were in...Gulfport, Mississippi...a hundred miles away. What are you doing here?”

  He flashed a well-remembered charming smile of even white teeth, and she melted. He really had not changed.

  “I was...for over ten years. I got promoted to captain, but the Chief of Police in Gulfport had no intention of retiring, so when they offered me this job...” He shrugged, and his self-deprecating smile touched her as it always had. Her recent dreams remembered him accurately.

  “So what brings you to the police station? Are you all right?” He seemed to realize he still held her hands, and he released them.

  Penny finally remembered Officer Jenkins who patiently sat at her desk watching the two of them with interest.

  “I...well...um.”

  “She’s filing a report, Chief. Someone called her an
d threatened to kill her.”

  “What?” Matt jerked his head back toward Penny. “Sit down. Tell me.”

  Penny gratefully sank back down onto the acrylic chair and gave Patty a pleading look. Patty came through.

  “Someone called her today, Chief. Someone who knows her, called her by name. He said he was the man who was going to kill her.” Patty looked to Penny for confirmation, and Penny nodded.

  Matt’s sharp eyes darted back and forth between them. Penny noticed the beginnings of gray at the temples of his straight, dark hair. He looked more handsome than ever. Was it possible?

  “So, she called the number on the phone, and it was her boss who lives in...” Patty consulted her notes, “Michigan. He said he didn’t make the call. Mrs. Brown believes him, and they’re wondering if the call came from one of those spoof phone cards where they can change the caller ID.”

  Penny nodded and gave Patty a grateful look for summarizing the situation. The shock of the phone call seemed to pale in comparison to the stunning news that the man she’d never stopped loving was now the Chief of Police in a town she’d chosen out of the blue as a healing sanctuary. Had she chosen it out of the blue? Had Jerry mentioned it once? She couldn’t remember. She threw Matt a quick glance and ran a hand to her hair. Had she changed much over the years?

  “Patty, I’ll take care of Mrs. Brown. I’ll have her fill out the statement. Come on back to my office, Penny.”

  Penny’s face flamed as she saw the startled look on Officer Jenkins’ face. She pulled herself up, smiled her thanks and followed Matt who led the way to an office in the rear.

  He pushed open the door and allowed her to precede him into a somewhat cluttered room which featured a large dark wooden desk overflowing with papers, file folders and several “in” and “out” baskets. Several plain black metal file cabinets stood behind the desk. Penny scanned the room for personal photographs or mementos and found none.

  “Can I get you something, Penny? Some coffee?” Matt touched a dark blue-cushioned chair with wooden arms in front of his desk and indicated she should sit.