His delighted peal of laughter made up for my temporary embarrassment, and the two hundred dollars he paid me helped too. By the time Eleanor arrived at nine, I'd already had a busy and profitable morning.
But the clock striking nine—and I briefly wondered what the compliment clock was telling people right then—was like the ringing of a starting bell at the racetrack. The customers came in fast and furious in wave after wave, until suddenly it was noon, and I realized I hadn't had time to call Phin or even to go to the bathroom all morning.
I caught Eleanor's attention. "Should we close for a half hour to eat some lunch?"
She looked around at the crowded store and laughed. "No, I think we'd cause a riot."
"Or a stampede," I muttered, watching two people reaching for the same thing—the last taxidermied animal on the shelf. I'd even had multiple offers for Fluffy, but she was staying right where he was. The ratty-looking old girl had become the shop mascot and a good-luck charm.
"We can take turns chowing down on protein bars in the back," I said without enthusiasm. "I wonder what happened to Jack. He was going to bring donuts."
"You go first, dear. I'll stay here. I had a big breakfast. And Jack may have gotten caught up in that meeting at Mellie's."
While she turned to ring up more customers, I scanned the shop to see if anything needed my attention and then made a break for the back. I took five minutes to scarf down another cup of coffee and a thoroughly unappetizing protein bar, and then brushed my teeth and headed back out to the shop.
When I came through the door from the back, I heard the door chimes and looked up with an automatic welcoming grin, only to see Mrs. Engelhaupt step through.
"Mrs. Engelhaupt!" I waved. "I'm so happy to see you. How is that filly doing?"
She beamed and made her way through the people crowding the magical objects aisle to get to me. "Wonderful! She's a beauty, she is. How are you?"
I waved a hand at the crowd. "Happy and busy, as you can see. It's our final business day before Christmas, so people like to get their last bit of shopping done."
I leaned toward her and spoke in a quieter voice. "I'm just so happy you told us about Rooster helping you that night. He might have been in a tough spot if you weren't able to verify that he was with you."
"Oh, yes. He's such a dear man." She smiled at the memory. "He even went home in the middle of the night and fixed us all breakfast. Never ate eggs and bacon at four a.m. before, but he was so proud to have cooked it for us. Who was I to refuse? Took him so long to do it, too."
Her words hit me like a punch in the face, and I suddenly could almost physically feel my heart sinking in my chest.
"He … you … what?"
"Breakfast. The full deal, in fact. Eggs and bacon and biscuits. Fried potatoes. It was delicious!"
I felt dizzy. "You said it … it took him a long time?"
She pursed her lips. "Well, you know. He's a lifelong bachelor. The food was delicious, though! Don't get me wrong. But he left around two and wasn't back until four. I mean, it really doesn't take two hours to make breakfast, does it?"
With that, she laughed and wandered off to do her shopping, leaving me with my mouth hanging open and my brain exploding.
No, it didn't take two hours to make breakfast.
Not unless you were trying to fit "fry eggs" into your schedule around "beat Darryl to death with a hammer."
Oh, no.
Oh, no.
It was time to call Jack.
30
Jack
After ten or fifteen minutes squeezed into the bakery, listening in on dozens of conversations about how to stop UltraShopMart, I still hadn't made it even halfway through the line and decided I didn't need donuts after all.
What I did need, though, was a look at the UltraShopMart site for myself. Tess had been adamant that her friend Phin wouldn't have been doing anything illegal out there, but she'd admitted he'd had scrapes with the law in the past.
The endangered animal theory was interesting, especially since he'd told us he was meeting with some organization about it. But why wouldn't he have told Andy? Or at least told Tess, since they'd been friends since high school.
