Storm Surge (A Dark Tides Romance) by Celia Ashley

Author:Celia Ashley [Ashley, Celia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2016-05-09T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

Driving along Main Street, Paige passed the various shops and people thronging the sidewalks. Dan Stauffer hadn’t been wrong about the crowds. Apparently they began to congregate early for the Fourth of July display. She had to break continually for pedestrians in the crosswalks. Many of the shops displayed flags and banners as wells as signs in red, white, and blue proclaiming holiday sales. While waiting for two families to traverse the crosswalk by the drugstore, Paige perused the items listed for sale on the sign in a huge plate glass window. In her side mirror, she caught sight of a man in a distinctive purple shirt crossing between traffic close enough to the back of her car that her brake lights emblazoned the khaki covering his legs. He continued past with an aggressive swagger onto the sidewalk to her left. Paige gasped and lowered her window, leaning her head out.

“Hey!”

He didn’t turn in response, but she knew it was him. The Bookmark Man. She kept her gaze on him as he continued across the street until the driver behind her tapped his horn. The crosswalk had cleared so she shot forward, trying not to lose sight of the man in the oblong of the side mirror, and made a quick left into the angle of an open parking space halfway down the block. Throwing the car into park, she got out and hurried as fast as she could manage along the crowded sidewalk, making her way back toward the drugstore. She was certain he’d gone in there.

As she wove a path between people with everything from packages, chairs, and coolers in hand to children in tow, Paige pulled her cell phone from her purse in anticipation of calling Dan or snapping a photo at a safe distance. Reaching the drugstore, she pushed her way inside. It appeared they were giving everything away, if the jammed aisles were any indication. “Excuse me. Sorry. Would you let me through, please?” She rose repeatedly up onto her toes, hoping to see farther into the store over the display shelves.

At the building’s back end, she spotted a flash of purple on a patron making a beeline toward the pharmacy counter. As Paige reached the end of the aisle, one of the store employees stepped out in front of her wheeling a laden cart for restocking the nearest shelf. Paige put out both hands to keep from being run over.

“Sorry, miss!”

“No problem,” Paige said, trying to ease by without success. “Could you move this, please?”

“I’m trying.”

“I’m in a hurry.”

“So’s everyone.”

Paige half climbed over the cart to get around it, ignoring the young girl’s comments about rudeness. By the time she reached the pharmacy window, there was no sight of the man. A bright red Exit sign indicated a door at the back, but she didn’t think he’d gone out that way since it wasn’t standard egress from the store and would probably have set off an alarm. Determined, she paced the ends of each aisle, taking a moment to study the customers down each one.

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