Wolf's Deal: A Nick Lupo Novella (The Nick Lupo Series) (21 page)

“You must be a regular,” she
said, and he was happy to see that she wanted to keep talking. So they chatted
about squirrels and rabbits and their feeding habits, and he told her that he'd
been feeding them every day. He noted that when she smiled her eyes sparkled.

“Well, I have to get back to
work,” she said after a while, real regret apparent in her voice.

“Where do you work?” he asked. An
innocent question.

She told him a lie and he smiled.
“Very nice! Maybe I'll see you again.”

“Yes,” she said, “maybe.”

So he continued going back to the
park, his starched collar in place. The next day she didn’t stay long –
she had a lunch date – but she said hello and watched him feed a pudgy squirrel.
She laughed and called him Piglet. He looked at her as she laughed. She really
did feel safe, and that made him happy.

She didn’t come the next three
days, and he wished he had taken her picture. He had a camera in his bag, but
it might have been difficult to explain why a priest would want to photograph a
pretty girl. So he spent hours sitting in the chilly early spring sunlight,
throwing nuts to the gathered squirrels with little angry gestures.

She was back the following
Monday, calling out a cheery hello that startled him. He looked at her eyes for
a second, then her mouth. She smiled; then he smiled, too. The squirrels were insistent,
though, and he had to concentrate on the feeding. She took a brown bag out of
her spacious purse and sat on the next bench. That was when she first told him
her name.

He told her his name, and she
said, “Martin, that’s a nice name.”

“Father Martin,” he corrected
her, “though I’m between parish assignments right now.”

He fed hungry squirrels, and she
ate a sparse lunch, throwing out crumbs that the furry creatures scooped into
their tiny mouths. Then, while he watched, she refreshed her bright lipstick
before smiling and waving goodbye.

His hands itched, and he scratched
them until they almost bled, the camera lying screaming and unused in his
duffel bag. If only he could have planted an excuse, a reason, to photograph
her.

But, no, a priest couldn’t get away
with it, not this day and age.

Martin felt a sharp pain behind
his eyes. Susan’s face blended into Caroline’s, and he knew that her memory was
weighing on him again, causing his vision to blur and his hands to itch. Her
loss was the catalyst, the reason for his visits to the park this month, and
for his visits to the airport last month. No, it was the moon’s position, he
thought, pushing the pinprick pain aside once again.

He knew it was almost showtime.
His great crusade, his life’s work. Everything he’d done up to now was just a
warm-up, an opener, a prelude. He was ready now – almost ready – to
make the blood flow.

“It won’t be long, Caroline,” he
thought. “Not long at all.”

Now, as he spread peanuts on the
bench and called the squirrels, he spied Susan approaching on the path from the
parking lot. She was right on time – had her lunch hour planned to the
minute – and she waved as he looked up. In one hand she carried one of
those colorful reusable lunch sacks and in the other a clear bag of goodies for
the squirrels.

He smiled and waved, too, and wrestled
his bag closer, making sure the flap was closed. He didn’t want her to see his surprise
too soon. It was time to move on, and the expectation surged through him like
high voltage. He always enjoyed the culmination of his plans. He always enjoyed
the moving-on part, and this time he had something even bigger to look forward
to.

He patted the bag. One thing at a
time. Finish one series of actions before beginning another.

He had planned this well. He
planned everything well.

He smiled at the thought of it.

When he looked up at Susan, he
knew that for the first time she could see into and beyond his bland eyes. Past
his smile. Into his darkness. She hesitated, her steps first slowing and then
coming to a halt.

It was too late. Understanding
crossed her features just as his hand came out of the bag.

Continued in
Wolf’s Trap
(Samhain Publishing),

the very first Nick Lupo
Horror/Thriller!