Rogue Angel - Footprints Part 60

Joey shrugged. "I guess we take a chance and head on inside."

"Just like that?" Jenny asked. "We're not even going to see if it's all clear?"

"I did the best I could," Joey said. "We'll just have to risk it."

Annja nodded. "Okay. I'll lead the way this time." She rose on her haunches and stalked up the back steps. The screen door opened easily and she was glad it didn't squeak.

Inside the back pantry, shelves lined with all sorts of foodstuffs loomed over them as they kept close to the ground. Annja could hear voices ahead of them in the main kitchen area.

She recognized Tom's deep voice. But whose voice was the other one? It seemed somewhat familiar but then she couldn't be sure.

She peered around the stainless steel cabinet and spotted Sheila. A wave of relief washed over her. All she had to do was stand and call to her.

Annja held her hand out behind her to signal Joey and Jenny to hold their positions. Something strange was going on.

She heard Sheila speaking clearly. But the tone of her voice was very different. And she wasn't addressing Tom as if he was her husband at all, more like he was her slave.

"I don't care if you don't want to make it, I said just do it!" And then she spun and marched out of the kitchen through the swinging door that led to the dining room.

That exchange didn't sound like the Sheila she'd met, Annja thought. What was that all about?

She peeked around the corner, but Tom's back was to her.

Good.

She darted out from her hiding spot and raced to the swinging doors. Small porthole windows were cut into each door. Annja rose and looked through one of them.

Out in the dining room, she saw a surprising scene.

Sheila sat at a table nursing a cup of coffee.

Across from her, holding her hand, was David.

Chapter 31.

Annja pulled back from the window. What in the world was going on? David was with Sheila? But how? And why?

"Hey."

She wheeled around and found herself staring at Tom. He looked her up and down and frowned. "Aren't you one of the girls who came in here yesterday?"

"Annja, yes."

He nodded. "What are you doing here in the kitchen? You look like you're sneaking around."

Annja smiled. "You wouldn't believe it if I told you."

"Try me."

Annja gestured outside to the dining room. "I thought you were married to Sheila."

"Unfortunately, yes. That's true. What about it?"

Annja shrugged. "Aren't you a bit upset that the sheriff is holding her hand right now?"

Tom grimaced. "Is that all he's doing? Then it's a pleasant change from the way things normally are."

"What do you mean?"

He turned and went back to working the grill. "Those two can't keep their hands off each other. Ever since they hooked up, it's as if I haven't existed except to fulfill whatever demands they make on me."

"What kinds of demands?"

"Usually has to do with what Dave wants to eat. Apparently the items on the menu aren't good enough for him anymore. Now Sheila wants me to make things I haven't cooked in years. All that foo-foo stuff that has no place being served in a joint like this."

"David's got expensive tastes?" Annja asked.

Tom nodded. "Ever since he started traveling. He became a bit of a globe hopper a few years back. Never seemed right to most of us in town, how he came into all that money to take those trips, but the town's bookkeeper can't find any money gone missing, so we don't think he's robbing us blind."

"So where's he getting it all, then?"

"Don't know. I do know that ever since he gave Sheila a little gift one time, she hasn't been able to stop falling all over him. Literally. They spend so many nights together, it's a wonder she even remembers that this place is her real home."

"You haven't divorced her yet?"

Tom didn't say anything for a minute and then he cleared his throat. "Guess I'm a d.a.m.n fool romantic. Maybe I keep thinking she's going to wake up and come to her senses, see that he's not the guy for her and that she ought to be with me, instead. Like it used to be."

Annja frowned. Seeing the way David held Sheila's hands out there, that didn't seem likely. "You might just be better off without her. Did you ever think of that?"

"Yeah. Sure. I guess. But who's going to want a guy like me? I'm a grill jockey at a backwater hotel in the middle of nowhere. No wonder Sheila fell for Dave. Even though he lives here, he travels and can take her places and give her stuff I never could."

"There's more than stuff to making a marriage work."

Tom glared at her. "You think I don't know that?"

"When did they start hooking up?"

"About a year back. Right after he came back from someplace abroad. He said Europe, but I thought he went north to Canada for some reason."

"Why?"

"Kinda slipped one time and mentioned he'd once seen parts of British Columbia. Seemed odd to me since I'd never heard him talk about Canada before. But I think he's been there. A lot."

Annja frowned. If David was getting money from somewhere other than the town, then he had to either have something of value or be doing something that made him money. But what?

"Annja!"

The harsh whisper broke her concentration. She turned and saw Jenny waving her over. Tom noticed.