Thirty
Here’s how it had gone down:
? Holly had called the store to say she’d be late coming in, so Carrie Ann stayed on to cover for her.
? During a lull in business, someone snuck up behind Carrie Ann and struck her on the head with enough force to knock her unconscious.
? She woke up to find herself tied to a shelving unit in the back room.
? When Carrie Ann heard noise from the front of the store, she called out for help.
? No one responded, but she heard someone hurrying past the back room, then a door slam.
? Holly arrived to find the front door locked. Since she had keys, she was able to open the door, but didn’t see anyone inside the shop.
? Holly found Carrie Ann in the back room.
? I arrived on the scene in time to help her untie Carrie Ann, then called 9-1-1 while Holly applied ice to Carrie Ann’s head.
? Holly discovered the empty cash register, which we estimated had contained four to five hundred dollars, counting the two hundred in various bills the drawer contained at the beginning of the day.
? Police Chief Johnny Jay chalked the whole thing up to a random robbery.
? Waukesha County and Moraine law enforcement were on high alert, but without a description, they didn’t have much hope of apprehension unless the criminal struck again.
? End of story.
Except it wasn’t that simple. Nothing ever is.
“If I’d been here like I should have been, instead of out at Hunter’s house, Carrie Ann wouldn’t be in the hospital with a head injury,” I said to Holly.
“IMO (In My Opinion), if I hadn’t been late,” Holly said, “I’d have been here and creamed the guy with one of my special moves.”
Okay, then. Both of us were having guilt pangs, blaming ourselves for what happened to Carrie Ann.
“She’ll be all right,” I said. “All our family members have thick skulls.”
“The way she was joking around with the paramedics, she’ll live,” Holly agreed.
Holly had been leaning against the counter. She straightened up. “What were you doing out at Hunter’s?”
“Nothing much.”
Holly stared into my eyes and sucked out the truth. Or close enough. “You’ve got the hots for him!”
“I do not.”
“Liar. I can see it in your eyes. Is he your BF (Boy Friend) now?”
“Here comes a customer. Time to get busy. We’ll talk later.”
I hid out among the shelves, straightening, putting in order the only things in my life that I could control at the moment. I felt the weight of responsibility.
“She’s going to be just fine,” I said to one customer after another, trying to reassure myself as much as them.
“You tell that police chief you need extra protection here,” one suggested. “He should do more drive-bys.”
Hunter called, having heard the bad news. I reassured him that I was fine and Carrie Ann would be, too. We made a date for Saturday night. He said he’d pick me up at seven at home, not at the “bed of intrigue,” as he called the store.
The attack on Carrie Ann was foremost in my mind, of course, and every time I had a second, I worried over it.
Would it have taken place at all if both of us had been at the store? Probably not, was my guess. Knocking out a lone woman was much easier than incapacitating two people at once. And getting the timing right would have been harder.
So how did this person know that Carrie Ann was alone?
People had been coming and going from the store all morning. Every single customer could have noticed that Carrie Ann was working alone.
Holly raised another big question. “Why didn’t the robber just grab the money and take off? If it were me, I’d have emptied the till and cleared out fast before Carrie Ann came around. Why drag her into the back and tie her up?”
“To gain time?” I reasoned, adding jars of honey to a display. “To make a clean getaway without anyone alerting the police?”
“MOS!” Holly suddenly called out.
“MOS?”
“Mother over shoulder!”
I cracked my head against the display shelf coming up, then spotted Mom right behind me.
“Oh, hey.” I straightened up, rubbing the sore spot and looking around. “Where’s Grams?”
“Baking.”
Darn! Grams was my best ally when Mom was after me. I saw Holly slink away. No help there.
“Your cousin could have been killed today,” Mom said in an accusing voice.
“We’re all at risk every time we cross the street,” I countered. “Besides, I feel bad enough as it is.”
“Where were you?”
“Away.”
“From now on, two of you have to be in the store at all times. And keep that back door locked. What were you thinking, leaving it open?”
“Nobody in this entire town had a reason to lock up anything until recently,” I said. “I bet you left your car unlocked when you came in here, didn’t you? Grams’s back door is wide open right now, isn’t it? What’s this town coming to if we have to go around afraid?”
“Johnny Jay better get on the stick and clean up this town, or we’ll fire him and get someone in who can do the job.”
Ooh, good. Get her mad at the police chief.
“I hear you were out at Hunter Wallace’s house.”
“Who told you that?”
“One of Grams’s friends saw you riding on the back of his motorcycle, heading toward his house. Please don’t tell me he’s back in the picture after all these years.”
“Nobody’s in the picture.”
I heard Holly snort from the other side of the aisle where she was listening in.
“We still need to have a talk,” Mom said.
“Not while I’m working.”
“What are you going to do until Carrie Ann can come back?” Mom wanted to know. “You and your sister will have to cover mornings and afternoons until the Craig boys can get here. Do you hear that, Holly? You both are opening the store tomorrow first thing.”
I heard a gasp and blathering.
“Or,” Mom said, “I’m going to have to pitch in and do it right. I could rearrange this store so things are laid out much better than they are.”
She had her hands on her hips and was studying the store with a sharp eye. Not good.
Not good at all.