Stormy Cove by Bernadette Calonego

faces, and the wild cheering at a bull’s-eye.
    She couldn’t see Noah anywhere, even though Patience had said he was one of the best players around. Why wouldn’t he come on a night like this? Did he not want his picture taken? Or did he have more important things to do?
    She focused her camera on a woman who looked at least seventy. She leaned slightly forward, arm bent, her dart hand pointed like a bird’s beak, completely absorbed in the task at hand. Lori pressed the shutter release repeatedly. She soared with euphoria whenever she knew she’d caught the right moment.
    “What’s that lady’s name?” she asked the girls.
    “That’s Elsie Smith. She’s seventy-six and a great-grandmother, isn’t that incredible?” The girl’s voice rang with pride.
    Lori watched Elsie and her teammates exchange high fives. The interaction between the generations was touching.
    As the evening wore on, both alcohol consumption and the noise level increased. Lori had finished her beer long ago but didn’t want another. As always, when she was out with people in the evening, she quickly reached a point where she couldn’t imagine anything nicer than climbing into bed with a good book. And as always, she felt a little bit guilty about not being a night owl. She couldn’t shake the idea that nighttime was more exciting than the rest of the day and that she was missing out.
    She made a deal with herself to step outside for no more than five minutes for a breath of fresh air. Smokers lolled around in small groups in front of the entrance. She zipped up her jacket and put some space between herself and the clouds of nicotine. Back when she had resettled in Canada after leaving Germany, she’d surprised herself by taking up smoking, and again a year later by quitting cold turkey.
    A shape emerged from the parked cars. She didn’t recognize Mavis until the illuminated signs shone on her face.
    “Where’s our guardian angel?” the saleslady shouted at her. Mavis must have drunk more in the past few hours than one bottle of Moosehead Light. Her tongue had trouble getting around the words.
    It suddenly crossed Lori’s mind that she hadn’t seen Patience or Ches for a while. But she figured Mavis wasn’t referring to them.
    Against her better judgment, she said, “I hope I’ve got more than one guardian angel!”
    “He comes and plays every time,” Mavis went on. “He must have gotten held up.”
    Her jacket was open despite the cold, and her plunging neckline was eye-catching. Lori resisted the temptation to cover the woman’s bare skin with any warm material she could find.
    “So Mr. Cape Lone Courier came to harass you?”
    Lori shouldn’t have been surprised, but nevertheless she was unprepared to hear that her meeting had been advertised all over Stormy Cove.
    “Yes, somebody must have tipped him off about me.”
    Mavis didn’t take the bait. “Will Spence is sure to have told you a few things, eh?”
    Lori’s reply was cautious. “It obviously wasn’t the first time he’d been in Cletus’s house.”
    “Well, he certainly isn’t about to go into any of the Whalens’ houses.”
    Mavis pulled her jacket over her chest. Her breath was as white as the cigarette smoke at the entrance.
    “Why’s that?”
    “Because Noah dumped Will’s sister Blanche for Glowena Parsons. Blanche never got over it.”
    “Parsons?” Lori dropped her reserve. “Like Jacinta Parsons?”
    “Sister.”
    Lori took a moment to absorb this new information. Her head began to hurt, but it might have been the cold.
    “Will Spence told me Noah was a close friend of Jacinta’s.”
    “He told you that? What a jerk. He should’ve kept his trap shut.”
    Lori suspected that alcohol was making Mavis say things she’d regret later. She decided to unashamedly exploit the situation.
    “So you were Noah’s girlfriend after Glowena Parsons?”
    “No, there was a woman from Port Wilkie in between, but I never met her.”
    Lori thought