Sharon Love Cook - Granite Cove 01 - A Nose for Hanky Panky by Sharon Love Cook

freak. Lately, she’s got a stranglehold.” Cal’s wife is old school Italian. Unlike me at eighteen, Marcie Ventimiglia knew what she wanted from life. Thus, when I broke up with Cal and subsequently left Granite Cove, she moved in like a shark smelling blood. Two years later, Marcie Devine gave birth to the first of three sons.
    Time passed. I returned home to help out when Mom got sick. One night, fearing she was having a stroke, we went to the emergency room where Marcie Devine, RN, was on duty. She took Mom’s vital signs and within minutes inserted an IV line, at the same time hooking her up to monitors. She was professional and efficient, but her manner was impersonal. As far as Marcie was concerned, I was the one that got away in her husband’s life. People like that never forget.
    “Where are you living?” I asked.
    “Home Suite Homes, off 128. I’ve been there a couple weeks.”
    “What about your kids?”
    “I pick them up after school every day. I’ve been honest. I tell them their mother and I are having problems right now. I hate hurting my kids, but I can’t live with Marcie the way things are now.”
    “What is so bad?”
    He shook his head. “It’s a long story. You see, Marcie’s dad died when she was twelve. He was at the wharf loading his truck when a freak storm came out of nowhere. Lightning killed him. Recently, when Tyler, our oldest, turned twelve, Marcie began having nightmares about her father. She thinks history will repeat itself, and something bad will happen to me. Now she’s pressuring me to quit the force.”
    “Has she talked to anyone about this?”
    “Yeah, she was seeing Dr. Klinger.”
    “Oh.”
    “If Marcie was nervous before, she’s frantic now with a murderer loose. She expects me to check in every hour. If I don’t, she calls around looking for me.”
    “How does she expect you to earn a living if you quit the force?”
    He smirked. “She’s got it all planned out. That woman could run the universe. Her brother Sal is involved in real estate in Alabama. Ever meet Sal? A born salesman. He and a couple investors are putting together a development called Lagoon Estates. They hope to lure the Baby Boomers. For six hundred thousand dollars, you get two and a half bathrooms, a wine cellar, and a private putting green.”
    I laughed. “What do they have planned for you, wrestling ‘gators?”
    “I’d be head of security, keeping out the Bible salesmen. It’s a gated community. Marcie says we’ll be nice and safe down there.”
    “What do you think?”
    He paused. “Tell you the truth? At first I thought it was totally insane, but the more I think about it, the more I’m liking the idea.”
    “Cal Devine! I’ve known you since fifth grade. Even then you wanted to be a cop.”
    “Things change, Rose. When my dad was on the force he dealt with bar brawls and lobster poachers. Today, we’ve got punks in this town who’ve seen too many Quentin Tarantino movies. They all want to fight. I’m getting it from all sides. Even Stella’s on my ass about those damn pigs. She’s threatened to sue the town if the kids steal one during Senior Week.”
    “Can’t the chief deal with her?”
    He shook his head. “The chief’s scared of Stella. That leaves me, who graduated second at the police academy, guarding plastic pigs.”
    “Cal, it sounds like you need a vacation. Why don’t you and Marcie find a nice sunny beach and chill out for a week? It’s been a long winter. Everyone’s feeling the stress.”
    “Marcie would never leave the kids. She’s afraid something will happen.” He shrugged. “Maybe I’m burned out. That might explain my attitude. Fifteen years ago my mother pinned this badge on my chest. I’ve loved every minute of being a cop, except lately, something’s changed, and I can’t figure it out.”
    “This doesn’t sound like my former partner in crime.” I leaned out the window. “Remember prank night our senior year? The statue of