“Who knows?” Victor said wearily, pulling her against his chest.
“There are hunters crawling all over Toronto looking for him,” Katricia said quietly, continuing to look out the window. “He probably got out of town to avoid them.”
“But London? Why London of all places?” Elvi asked almost plaintively, and Sherry frowned, sure there was something going on here that she wasn’t quite getting.
“Could he have followed you girls down from Toronto?” Teddy asked, and Sherry’s eyes widened as she recalled spotting someone she’d thought might be Leonius in the service center parking lot.
“No,” Drina a.s.sured him. “I was watching for—”
Sherry blinked her thoughts away and glanced to Drina curiously when she abruptly went silent. The woman was peering at her, dismay on her face. She wasn’t the only one. Everyone in the room was staring at her with expressions that varied from surprise, to horror, to anger. Only Basil wasn’t. He was glancing from expression to expression, his eyes narrowing.
“What is it?” he asked finally.
“You saw him?” Elvi asked Sherry, accusation in her voice. She pulled away from Victor and stalked toward her, growling, “And you didn’t say anything?”
“I wasn’t sure it was him,” Sherry said at once. “And then a truck went by and he was gone and . . .” Her gaze slid to Basil as she recalled how she’d been distracted by his kisses. By the time the others had returned to the truck, Leo was the last thing on her mind. Shaking her head, she sighed. “I’m sorry. I—”
“You’re sorry?” Elvi interrupted in a voice that shook with a rage and grief that left Sherry bewildered. “We are about to lose our daughter because of you and you’re ‘sorry’?”
Sherry stared at her wide-eyed. “I don’t understand. Your daughter?”
“Stephanie,” Victor said quietly. “She was sent here because it was a safe place Leo couldn’t know about. But now—”
“But now he knows,” Elvi said grimly. “Because you didn’t say anything about seeing him in that service center parking lot. If you’d said something, Drina and Tricia could have kept driving, or turned back to Toronto, or something. Anything but lead him here to Port Henry. But you said nothing and now he knows about this place. She’ll never be safe here again until he’s caught. She’ll have to leave. We’ll lose her . . . because of you.”
“Elvi,” Victor said wearily, pulling her into his arms again. “This is not Sherry’s fault. Leo is the villain here.”
Elvi pushed at his chest, trying to break out of his hold. “But if she’d just said something.”
“She was not sure it was him, and did not even remember it once Basil got done kissing her,” Victor pointed out quietly, rubbing her back. “Not until now. You remember what it is like when you first meet your life mate.”
“Yes, but—”
Sherry didn’t stay to hear more. Turning on her heel, she hurried out of the kitchen and upstairs to her room. But when she tried to push the door closed behind her, it bounced off of something. Swinging around, she stared wide-eyed at Basil as he followed her inside.
“I—” she began, but it was as far as Sherry got before Basil pulled her into his arms and kissed her. As usual, her body responded at once, flooding with pa.s.sion and overwhelming need, but he broke the kiss quickly and rested his forehead on hers. They were both silent for a minute, trying to catch their breath, and then Basil raised his head and peered her in the eye.
“None of this is your fault,” he said solemnly.
“But—”
“None of it,” he repeated firmly, and then said, “Sherry, the day before yesterday you were just a store owner with a normal life, friends, and family. Then Stephanie charged into your store, Leo and his men followed, and everything changed. This is all down to Leo.”
“But if I’d told them that I thought I might have seen him at the service center—”
“You did not remember it, Sherry. You could not tell them something you did not remember,” he reasoned.
“Yes, but I should have remembered,” she said grimly. “That’s the point. I should have remembered. It’s not like forgetting where you put your keys or where you parked your car. Leo is a monster. I should have remembered seeing him. In fact, I can’t believe I didn’t.”
“Victor said you were not sure it was Leo in your mind. Is he right?”
Sherry sighed. “I suppose. Still—”
“How close was he?” Basil interrupted.
“What?” she asked with confusion.
“How close was the person you saw that you thought might be Leo?”
Sherry hesitated and shook her head. “I’m not sure. He was on the other side of the parking lot, by the service center.”
“And we were in the van, about two hundred feet away,” he said dryly. “Sherry, you are mortal, with mortal eyesight. There is no way you could have been able to tell more than that someone with blond hair was there. From that distance it would have been hard to tell if they were even male or female unless they were very curvy or wearing gender appropriate clothes. What were they wearing?”
“Jeans and a T-shirt,” she said unhappily.
He arched one eyebrow at that. “In today’s society everyone seems to wear jeans and T-shirts. For all you know it could have been a woman you saw at the service center,” he pointed out, and then asked, “Was he alone?”
“Yes. No. I don’t know,” she said with frustration. “I didn’t see anyone with him.”
“So you saw someone with long blond hair?” he asked. “And immediately thought of Leo?”
Sherry nodded.
“That is not surprising. He would have been firmly on your mind after what happened the day before in your store. But it might not have been him,” he pointed out.
“But he’s here,” she countered. “At least, he was in London. It has to have been him.”
“Actually, no, it doesn’t,” Victor said from the door, and Sherry glanced to the man sharply.
“Victor,” she breathed unhappily. “I’m sorry. I—”
“There is nothing to apologize for,” he a.s.sured her, moving into the room and easing the door closed. “That is why I came up, to apologize for what Elvi said. She does not mean it. She is just upset.”