Chapter 22 – Shock at the Shop

Chapter 22 – Shock at the Shop

Danni stared at the array of sticky notes covering her walls, turning her head this way and that but no matter how she arranged and rearranged them, something about this didn’t click into place. Like she was trying to undo a complex chess puzzle but could only see her own half of the pieces, there was something that she was missing. At the top of her list was still the widow, as incredibly unlikely as that may be, but now there was also the burglars. Though unless she caught one, whoever they may be, they would have to take a backseat to the suspect that she had yet to meet but was easy to find. She could easily ask the vicar where she could be found and what might be used to coax her into talking.

Taking a seat on her bed, Danni kneaded her eyes with her thumb and forefinger, wishing she could find the missing the piece, the strategy, the way through this quagmire of the unknown. All whilst she had been up here, she had heard the whispers of Cesare, Victor and Erik moving around downstairs. For the most part, they had all left her alone and she was grateful for that, only having to entertain them when they peeked their heads into the room, saw what she was doing and offered what little advice they could. Mostly it was them telling her to give up and she would spit a retort in one form or another at them. She glanced at her watch, wondering if it wouldn’t be worth slipping into a bath or even curling up in bed. Though, despite the darkness outside, it was only 5 in the afternoon! Far too early for bed.

Then she noticed the date. The 20th. She’d been there almost a month… Almost the whole month that Tawney had asked from her. Like she had swallowed a lump of ice, cold spread through her entire body at the very thought. Checking her phone, something that had become less and less of a reflex the longer she stayed here, she was simultaneously dismayed at the lack of messages from Tawney and relieved not to see any from her parents. Still, shouldn’t Tawney have asked her about how she was getting on? Then again, would she have been able to keep herself from telling her all about the insanity that had been happening around her? From the three unexpected guests to the dead body… how well had Tawney gotten to know these people? They clearly knew of her, if they didn’t know her on a personal level. They had to if they had observed the construction of the house.

Letting herself fall back onto the bed, her eyes traced the many lines and divots in the ceiling, as if she could unravel the secrets of the universe there or even just the secrets of what was going on.

It was too late for lunch, of that she was assured. Besides, she didn’t have the appetite for it. Still, it wasn’t too early for a cup of tea.

Slipping downstairs, she ignored the trio having a heated, hushed discussion around the breakfast table and stuck her hand into the tea tin. Only for her fingers to brush against the bottom and when she withdrew it, her fingertips were smudged with the dusty residue that had spilled from the bags. Had she really gone through so many… in just a few days? How had time flown by her so fast? The cold feeling only grew. She really had been having fun… so much so time had flown like the summer birds, too swiftly gone away right before her eyes and she had never known.

Soon, she must return to her parent’s home. With only a fraction of the town discovered, investigated, and experienced. Above all, that thought chilled her straight to the bone.

“I’ve got to go back into town. Turns out I’m out of teabags and if I don’t get some more, I’m going to be impossible to deal with.” She announced, marching past the trio at the table to retrieve her coat.

“You mean, you can be worse?” Victor remarked if what he must have thought was an undertone only for Cesare to cuff the back of his head. “Ow!”

“If anyone comes, hide yourselves. I don’t feel like explaining why you three are here.” She warned them, pulling on Joey’s coat, boots and sticking a hand outside to check for rain. At some point during the darknesses approach, it had stopped raining, but she hoped to find somewhere that sold umbrellas, just in case. Just before she stepped out, she looked to the fridge then the ceiling. “Poppy, if anyone comes up here, make sure these idiots stay out of sight.” Rather than see a message appear on the fridge, the lights clicked off and on. She supposed that passed for a signal. “Thank you again for letting me put sticky notes on your walls.”

Would there ever be a time when talking to a house wouldn’t feel weird?

She picked up her bike and for a moment, contemplated if she should take it… maybe not, considering how wet it was still. It was just too dark. She really didn’t want to have to play Minesweeper on the road with a bike. Putting it back in the shed, she slipped the Salamanders more logs. It was a relief to see that despite her surprising them, they weren’t so upset that they wouldn’t stop heating the house in exchange for a few logs. As she slipped more into the pipe mouth, she pondered if there was a particular kind of log or wood that they enjoyed? Maybe she could find a way to pass on that info to Tawney… provided she believed her.

Walking down the road, her mind kept telling her that it was so much later than it was, that it had to be. She shoved her hands into her pockets, ignoring how her teeth were chattering and how the air seemed to carry some of the rain with it, slapping it against her face and the exposed skin of her neck. Forget an umbrella, she needed to get herself a damned scarf! Buttoning the coat as high as she could manage, she walked the now familiar roads down to the grocer, eager to get some teabags and maybe something sweet. She only realised her mistake when she was just a few minutes walk away from the grocer. There wouldn’t be anyone there… that made her stop.

She had forgotten… Joey was gone. There was no one to look after the shop now. But that wasn’t the part that had made her pause. She knew Joey was dead. That whole morning had been all she had needed to ensure she would never forget. But that wasn’t the problem. What was going to happen to these people now that the ever-reliable shop may be forced to close its doors? How much time and money would they have to spend to go to the city to get what they needed? Then there were the prices… produce in the city had to be so much more expensive than Joey’s famously low prices. Would they be alright with that? What if they didn’t want to or couldn’t make that journey? It was a painful idea, that this one aspect, this one event might have such a dramatic domino effect on everyone who lived here. The more she thought about it, the more anger roiled inside her. This was some bullshit!

Who in this wide world could be so selfish, so short sighted that they ruin this entire town full of lovely people?

As she thought all this, her feet carried her the rest of the way towards the shop. Much to her surprise, not only were the lights above the shop on but someone had lifted the shutters! There were boxes set up on the tables…and a crowd? What the hell was this? Picking up speed, she closed the distance between where she had been standing and the edges of the crowd, looking for a space in their ranks that she might squeeze through. One of the crowd shuffled away, her arms full of her purchases and a noticeably sour look gracing her features. Taking her chance, Danni slipped into the vacated space and what she saw made her eyes widen. Magge’s husband, whatever his name was, was standing in the lit mouth of the shop. He appeared to be glaring down from his not inconsiderate height at the woman in front of him, thick eyebrows furrowed, sending shadows over his eyes. On the other hand, the woman, one Danni vaguely recognised wrapped up so tightly in her thick fur lined coat, scarf and gloves, was violently gesturing towards something behind him.

“What’s going on?” She asked one of the gathered figures, watching the goings on with no small amount of bewilderment.

“You tell us and we’ll all know.” The man next to her remarked, folding his arms. “First, he made us all stand out here in a line then he has us waiting for,” He checked his watch, swearing at what it said, “20 minutes now. I’m missing my show because of this!”

“Well, what is going on? Any idea why he’s taking so long?” She questioned.

“We don’t know… just that whenever we try to talk to him, he gets angrier.” He explained.

Without the patience to wait around, Danni stepped forward to stand beside the wildly gesticulating woman, narrowly avoiding getting beaned in the head by her flailing arms. “Ma’am- ah! Ma’am! Ma’am!” She shouted into the woman’s ear, looking between the two as they fixed their eyes upon her.

“Back… line…” Maggie’s husband rumbled, his accent so thick, Danni needed a few minutes to mentally translate what she had just heard.

“I’m trying to help.” She insisted placatingly. “Now what’s going on?” She looked to the woman, relieved that she had stopped waving her hands around.

“I’m trying to get some groceries and he’s not helping!” She explained, red in the face and looking haggard.

“Okay, what do you need?” Danni offered, hoping to be the intermediary in this situation.

“I need some potatoes, they’re right there and he won’t let me grab them.” She pointed towards the where the eponymous root was sitting in its box.

“Okay, great. I can help. Give me a second.”

“No.” Maggie’s husband grumbled, his hand extending out to stop her before she could move and Danni bemoaned not knowing his name.

“Yes. You need my help and I’m giving it willingly.” She explained slowly, now recognising the look he wore. It was the same one that she had seen on her own face in the mirror a few times. He wasn’t angry, he was just confused.

She moved around his hand to the box, calling over her shoulder. “How many do you need?”

“Six, big ones please.” Danni nodded, looking towards Maggie’s husband. “Po-Tay-Toes.” She explained, pointing towards the sign adorning the box and realisation dawned across his face. Holding up her hands, she indicated six on her fingers and he nodded. Without another word, he grabbed a paper bag from a pile and, grabbing them three at a time, retrieved the desired spuds.

This strange system of indicating and interpreting carried them through the rest of the orders and she slowly came to realise just what his problem had been.

“Thank… you…” He said as they served the last one and waved them off.

“Why didn’t you say that you couldn’t understand them?” She asked, leaning against the nearest table.

He shook his head. It seemed that he didn’t know how.

“Ah… Do you have a phone?” She asked, pulling out her own and opening it. He nodded and she brightened.

“You need… a... translator… app.” At some point that she couldn’t recall, she had downloaded a translation app. “It should help you.” With shockingly gentle hands, he took her phone in his fingertips and looked over the app before pulling out his own phone and appearing to download the app.

“Did not… know… this…” His accent was so thick, she could scarcely make sense of it, but he was speaking slow and carefully, enunciating every word as best he could.

“It’ll help you.” She insisted, giving him her warmest smile. As soon as it had downloaded, he lifted the phone to his lips, said something in what might have been Russian, or what sounded like it, and his eyes lit up as it was translated right before his eyes.

He proclaimed something that she couldn’t begin to translate, eyes alight with the glow of his phone. He was so entranced by this new discovery; Danni took her chance to take a look around the shop.

So… he hadn’t been rude or ignoring the people around him. It sounded like he was from somewhere in Eastern European, somewhere like Russia… but it didn’t seem to fit. Maybe he was from somewhere around there instead? If she had the chance, she’d have to ask. Though Danni had been able to understand everyone from the moment she had arrived, she was a lifelong English speaker and accents didn’t bother her. But clearly, these accents had confused him.

Danni had been scanning the boxes, hoping to find something sweet, and as she was reaching for some chocolate bars that she hoped would soothe her craving, she caught sight of something shiny and red lying nearby. Strawberries! Punnets of fat perfectly formed ruby red strawberries were sitting right there! Where they had come from, she had no idea, but she was not about to look this chance in the mouth. Right next to them, was a fat box filled with teabags, just what she had come for!

“What… need?” He asked, tucking his phone away into his pocket and coming up behind her.

She flashed him her best smile, holding up the chocolate, the tea and grabbing a punnet of strawberries. He brought over a bag, and she slipped her purchases inside.

“It’ll be… what the?” She paused, now catching a glimpse of what looked like a fresh price tag that had been pasted over the box. “What are these prices?” She asked. It was double, almost triple what it had been before!

“Because my brother didn’t know what he was doing!” Maggie’s voice sliced through the cold air like a knife, making Danni jump.

“I’m sorry?” She asked, spinning on her heel to face Maggie. Meanwhile, her husband slunk back towards the front of the shop.

“This place is so deep in the red, it may as well be Russia!” She spat, crossing her arms. It might have been Danni’s eyes, but she saw that Maggie levelled a meaningful look at the back of her husband’s head.

“What? Since when?” Joey’s prices had always seemed fair and… hadn’t he said that the house was paid off? How could his shop be in the red?

“I’ve seen the records, I had to raise these prices, or it would have gone under completely!” Maggie snapped, wrapping her arms around herself. This was the first time that they had been face to face since they had discovered Joey’s body and it was a drastic switch up compared to how she had been acting that morning. Was all that crying the cause behind her foul mood?

“I imagine that hasn’t been a popular choice around here…”

“They’re all old-fashioned bags who don’t understand anything. They’re just busy with their own little lives.” She groused. The harsh words made Danni wince. Just what side of this village had Maggie seen compared to her? “Bad enough I had to get up early to get these in for that witch,” She stabbed a finger at the strawberries. For the first time, Danni realised that she was touting a set of venomously bright yellow nails, each an inch long and sharpened to points.

“When I first got here, I set up a sort of house party. I found that was a great way to make friends. I made them a cake, served tea, it was all really easy.” Danni tried.

“I can’t bake…” Maggie grumbled, pulling her coat closer around her neck. “Must be… all that… space… All those… rooms…” She appeared to be talking to herself, her eyes swivelling around to focus on the direction of the house.

“It’s not my house; I’m just watching it for a friend.” Danni explained, though Maggie didn’t seem to hear her. Her mouth was moving, but no sounds were coming out. Only when her husband returned, touching her shoulder did she snap back to herself.

“Maybe… I can… Help…” Danni tried weakly, glancing up at Maggie’s husband and sidestepping around the tables to collect in her things from the counter, paid for her purchases and, wishing for something else to say, she stepped away. It felt wrong to leave them there, like that, but Maggie had been acting so strange, she had been at a loss for what to do.

She went back up the lane in a disquiet silence, her mind spinning around and around like a hamster in a wheel. Except this hamster was on speed and it was trying to break out the front of her skull. She just… what had that been about? The bag in her arms was light but could have been a brick for all the attention she gave it. Admittedly, she was looking forward to her tea but there was a tight knot in her stomach that just struck her. Something familiar, horribly familiar was coming. She had been so relaxed here, she had forgotten all about that which plagued all women. Now she recognised the signs. Especially… the chocolate craving. Unable to help herself, she pulled out one of the bars, unwrapped it with trembling fingers and took a large bite, taking almost sinful pleasure in the way that it snapped between her teeth. Truly, there was nothing like that feeling!

By the time she had approached the house, she had finished half the bar but as she turned the corner, she realised that the lights were off. What’s more, there was someone standing before the front door!

“Halt!” She shouted, fumbling with her phone for a moment, flicking on the torch and bathing the whole area in blinding light. “Who are you?!” She ordered, struck with a sudden sense of Déjà vu.

“It’s me! It’s me!” Called out the person, Danni recognising her voice as one of the women from the church that morning, just as she stepped into the light of her torch.

“What… who are you? What are you doing here?” Danni asked, turning down the brightness now she was closer.

“I have something to tell you. I’m sorry, but I caught sight of the page you were writing in. I know you’re looking into what happened… I think I can help you.” She explained.

Danni stared at her for a second. “Let’s… let’s go inside.”