The Missing Dough(62)

“That’s nothing but lies, rumors, and falsehoods,” he said as he grabbed his apron. “I’m going to be like Peter Pan myself; I’m never growing up.”

“Sorry, but it’s too late for that. You already did,” she said as she stuck her tongue out at him.

Thankfully, it was a quiet evening at the Slice, and by the time we were ready to close for the night, I was all set to go home, take a hot shower, and read a little before I fell asleep. Maddy was still bunking with me, though, so it was hard to say what our evening would really end up like.



Maddy and I were standing outside at the front door of the Slice and locking the place up ten minutes after Greg had left when someone came hurrying toward us out of the shadows.

I just had enough time to get my sister’s attention and turn her around to face the onrusher with me, but there was really nothing else I could do.

“Where’s my wife?” Kenny Stout demanded angrily when he reached us.

“We have no idea where Samantha might be. Why are you so upset about it? I thought you two were finished,” I answered as calmly as I could manage. Maddy was slowly reaching into her bag, so I needed to distract Kenny long enough to give her time to take something out of the bag of defenses she called a purse.

“Don’t try to get cute with me, Eleanor. I’m not in the mood for it. Tell me where she is, and I’ll leave you two alone.”

“Like I said, we don’t know where she is, but even if we did, I doubt that we’d tell you while you’re shouting at us,” I said.

He shook his head in disgust. “You women all stick together like you’re in some kind of a club. I just want to see her.”

“Well, she clearly doesn’t want to see you. Doesn’t that tell you anything?” I asked.

“What did she say to you?” he asked angrily. “Did she tell you that I was abusive toward her or some kind of nonsense like that? The woman’s an artist. She exaggerates everything that comes out of her mouth.”

“Well, she was pretty convincing when she came by my house this morning,” I said.

Maddy finally pulled something out of her purse and pointed it at Kenny. It was her stun gun, and for once, I was glad she always had it on her. “Back off, Kenny. I don’t want to hit you with this, but I will if you push me.”

Kenny looked at Maddy, took one step forward, and then casually jerked the weapon out of her hand. “Don’t point something dangerous at someone and then warn them about what you’re going to do,” he said. “What if I really were a bad guy, instead of a man just looking for his estranged wife?”

“Give that back to me,” Maddy demanded. She looked shaken by how easily Kenny had disarmed her.

“You’ll get it when we’re finished here,” he said, “and not a second sooner.”

“I already told you,” I said. “We honestly don’t know where Samantha is.”

That was when Kenny took another step toward Maddy.

“Don’t shoot her with that!” I commanded.

“I wasn’t going to,” Kenny said. He offered the stun gun to Maddy, who took it and jammed it back into her bag.

In a softer voice, he said, “Contrary to what Samantha must have told you, I’m not some kind of monster. Go on. You can go.”

Kenny stood there as we walked away, and I held my breath until we made it around the corner.

The second we did, I turned to my sister. “Maddy, are you okay?”

“No, I’m not, not even one little bit,” she said. “Can we leave my car here tonight? I want to ride back with you.”

“Of course we can,” I said. I put my arm around her shoulders and felt the rigidity of her body next to mine. “Maddy, I couldn’t believe how fast he was when he grabbed that stun gun. He would have taken it from anyone.”

“But he didn’t, did he? He took it from me like I was some kind of spoiled child with a toy. Eleanor, I’ve been putting my faith in my purse arsenal all these years, but I can see now that I was wrong to do it.”

“You can’t beat yourself up about what just happened,” I said as we got into my car and headed to my house.

Maddy was shaken more than I even realized.

We drove in silence, and neither one of us was completely at ease until we were inside my place with all the doors and windows locked.

“He was right, you know,” Maddy finally said softly as I made us both some tea.

“About what?”

“I shouldn’t have warned him first. We felt threatened, and I should have zapped him when I had the chance. Worse yet, I saw him reaching for the stun gun, and I just stood there and let him take it from me like I was some kind of helpless fool. It’s not going to happen again. I can promise you that.”