Cry of the Wolf Read Online Free Page B

gives me the evil eye every time I walk past her damn door.”
    “Shhh! He’ll hear you!”
    Billy, who had raced across the street between traffic, now walked into her boutique. His eyes landed on her and he suddenly seemed nervous. Red crept up his cheeks.
    Beth nudged her again, but she ignored her and smiled brightly at the boy. “Hi! It’s Billy, isn’t it?”
    He turned a brighter shade of red and nodded.
    Beth scurried away, no doubt to hide the bubbling laughter that wanted to erupt from her.
    “What can I do for you, Billy?”
    He hurried towards her and thrust something into her hand.
    When she saw what it was, inanely, her heart flipped and she all at once felt giddy. The porcelain unicorn was a beautiful piece, modelled perfectly, pinks and purples surrounding most of it, with its horn a brilliant white… But how in the world did he know that she—
    “He said he wished he could stay,” he blurted out, “and to say goodbye.”
    Beth, whose interest had peaked, spoke from behind the till. “Amil’s saying goodbye?”
    “No, this isn’t from Amil.” And somehow, Sarah knew that with complete certainty. Amil didn’t know about her love of unicorns. Nobody did except her family. Even Beth didn’t know the extent to which she collected the little things. “Billy, who is this from?”
    The boy shrugged. He did that a lot, she had noticed – must be some kid thing. “He didn’t give his name. Looked like he was gonna be sick, though,” he added, matter-of-factly. “Reckon he started on the whisky a bit too early this morning.”
    A drunk? Why the hell would a drunk person give her a unicorn, and how would he know she liked them?
    “Gotta go,” Billy said, then he pulled out a wad of change from his pocket, just shy of twenty pounds. “There’s a limited edition 50 th Anniversary Spiderman comic waiting for me,” he beamed, before turning to rush out the door. But he stopped on the pavement and turned back. For the first time she’d seen, the boy actually looked sympathetic. “He really wanted you to have the unicorn. He looked kinda sad.”
    He stuffed the cash back into his pocket and wandered off towards the comic store.
    “Jesus Christ, Sarah. You sure know how to pick ‘em.”
    Sarah glared at her friend. “Are you talking about Amil, the kid, or the mysterious drunk who knows I collect unicorns?”
    Beth laughed. “All three! And I know you love unicorns, but I didn’t know you collected them. Since when, might I ask? I’ve known you for years. This could have saved me hours of searching for birthday and Christmas presents for you,” she teased.
    “I’ve always collected them, I just…” She hesitated, unsure as to why a confounding sadness filled her. “I’ve never really talked about it.”
    Something that felt like a memory tried to push its way into the front of her mind, but unsuccessfully, because no memory appeared. Nothing at all, except the strange feeling that she had talked about her unicorn addiction with … someone … “I, er … I put my collection away last year, some time before Christmas.”
    Beth looked at her, puzzled. “Why?”
    And honest to god, she felt as puzzled as her friend looked. “I don’t know. I just … I used to look at them and feel happy, and last year, I looked at them and felt sad.” She looked down at the little magical creature sitting in the palm of her hand. She felt sad now as she stared at it, but also, a strange kind of hope. She had shut her unicorns out of her life, and one had found its way back in. She didn’t know what that meant, but she knew it was important, somehow.
    The bell above the door tinkled, and Amil walked into the shop, his imposing frame filling the entrance as his dark eyes found hers. They twinkled in greeting, and she swore she heard Beth swoon to her right.
    For no good reason she could think of, she closed her hand around the unicorn and brought it behind her back so he wouldn’t see it. “Amil,