No Plans for Love by Ruth Ann Hixson Read Free Book Online Page B

plastic bag of pins to the line. "I just wanted to get out of there."
    "Why?"
     As she picked up a pair of jeans, she reiterated what had happened at the Laundromat. "I don't know why she is harassing me. There's nothing between us."
    "There could be." He picked a pair of pink panties from the basket. "Ooh! Look at that--pink with lace. And a bra to match."
    She grabbed her underwear from him. "Hang up something other than my uns."
    "Go out with me, Sherry"
    "Out where?"
    "You know what I mean. Dinner and a movie on Friday night."
    "I have to work Friday."
    "What time do you get off?"
    "Nine."
    "I'll pick you up there."
    "Oh, no! I'm not giving Elena any reason to believe that what she thinks might be true. You pick me up here after I drive home. And just for supper. Some place where she won't show up."
    "I know just the place. A little family restaurant that Elena wouldn't be caught dead in."
    Sherry was leery but she agreed. "I'll call you when I'm ready."
    While they waited for the cops, she had Mark install the other light bulbs where she wanted them. "Outside the breezeway door, in the downstairs hallway and in the upstairs bathroom."
    The state trooper who answered the call was one neither Sherry nor Mark knew. He had sandy-colored hair and a humorless look as if he were afraid his face would break if he smiled. "I hear there were shots fired here," he said as Sherry opened the door for him.
    She held up one finger. "Just one. She shot through the garage door window. I heard the bullet go zinging past my head. I have never been so scared." While Sherry went with him to the garage to show him the bullet hole in her window, she again told the story about the Laundromat. "Officer Wade handled that. I'm charged with assault for defending myself. I have marks on my face where she dug her nails in."
    He shone his flashlight on her face. "What were you fighting about?"
    "I was just defending myself. I'm not quite sure what her problem is. She seems to think Mark and I are having an affair."
    "Are you?'
    "No. I just moved here from New Jersey. I haven't been here a week."
    "Show me where you were standing when the shot occurred."
    Sherry opened the door to the car and stood beside it. "Just as she shot I leaned in to get my clothes basket. If I hadn't I might be dead."
    "What did you do then?"
    Sherry dove into the car and hunkered down on the floorboard.
    "Did you see her shoot?"
    "No."
    "Did you see her at all? By the way, who is 'she'?"
    "Elena Bayshore. I could see her in her car when she pulled in the garage behind me."
    "You're certain it was Miss Bayshore? Could you identify her without question?"
    "Yes."
    "But you can't actually put the gun in her hand?"
    "No. She followed me home. Last night, too."
    Mark spoke from the doorway. "I can't put the gun in her hand but I can put her car at the scene. When that car backed out of the driveway we could read the license: a vanity plate--ELENA."
    "What kind of car does she drive?"
    "2009 silver Lexus."
    The trooper shone his flashlight on the bullet hole. "How tall is Miss Bayshore?"
    "Five nine," Mark answered.
    The trooper took a measuring tape from his jacket pocket to determine the height of the bullet hole from the garage floor. With his flashlight, he scoured the garage's back wall to find the missile. "Here it is." He took out a pocket knife and popped the chunk of lead into a small plastic bag, sealed it and put it in his  pants pocket. He returned to Sherry and Mark. "Did she touch anything?"
    "Not that I know," Sherry responded. "She didn't come inside."
    "That's all," he said. "We'll run the ballistics on the bullet to find out if it came from Miss Bayshore's gun. If we can find the gun."
    A call came for the officer to respond to a domestic dispute. "I must go."
    "Will you take Mark home?" Sherry asked quickly.
    "I'm staying the night," Mark insisted.
    "Oh no! I only have one bed and you aren't going to be in it. Officer, will you please get this man out of my