"I was going to ask you about real-estate agents," he said. "Who would you say is the most trustworthy around here?"
"Oh, they're all thieves, but Mark Hopewell's probably as safe as any
He choked back laughter and put a hand to his mouth to stifle a spray of crumbs. Then he began to cough, and if her hands hadn't been so painful, she would have thumped him companionably on the back a few times. First acquaintance or not, she did like him
"Sorry," he said, still chuckling a little. "They are all thieves, though, aren't they?"
"Oh, absolutely."
Had she been another sort of woman@ne who kept the facts of her own past less completely to herself-Polly would then have begun asking Leland Gaunt leading questions. Why had he come to Castle Rock? Where had he been before coming here? Would he stay long? Did he have family? But she wasn't that other sort of woman, and so she was content to answer his questions... was delighted to, in fact, since none of them were about herself. He wanted to know about the town, and what the flow of traffic was like on Main Street during the winter, and if there was a place nearby where he could shop for a nice little jotul stove, and insurance rates, and a hundred other things
He produced a narrow black leather notebook from the pocket of the blue blazer he wore and gravely noted down each name she mentioned
She looked down at her plate and saw that she had finished all of her cake. Her hands still hurt, but they felt better than they had when she arrived. She recalled that she had almost decided against coming by, because they were so miserable. Now she was glad she'd done it, anyway
"I have to go," she said, looking at her watch. "Rosalie will think I died."
They had eaten standing up. Now Gaunt stacked their plates neatly, put the forks on top, and replaced the top on the cake container. "I'll return this as soon as the cake is gone," he said
"Is that all right?"
"Perfectly."
"You'll probably have it by mid-afternoon, then," he said gravely
"You don't have to be that prompt," she said as Gaunt walked her to the door. "It's been very nice to meet you."
"Thanks for coming by," he said. For a moment she thought he meant to take her arm, and she felt a sense of dismay at the thought of his touch-silly, of course-but he didn't. "You've made what I expected to be a scary day something of a treat instead."
"You'll be fine." Polly opened the door, then paused. She had asked him nothing at all about himself, but she was curious about one thing, too curious to leave without asking. "You've got all sorts of interesting things-"
"Thank you. "-but nothing is priced. Why is that?"
He smiled. "That's a little eccentricity of mine, Polly. I've always believed that a sale worth making is worth dickering over a little
I think I must have been a Middle Eastern rug merchant in my last incarnation. Probably from Iraq, although I probably shouldn't say so these days."
"So you charge whatever the market will bear?" she asked, teasing just a little
"You could say so," he agreed seriously, and again she was struck by how deep his hazel eyes were-how oddly beautiful. "I'd rather think of it as defining worth by need."
"I see."
"Do you really?"
"Well... I think so. It explains the name of the shop."
He smiled. "It might," he said. "I suppose it might, at that."
"Well, I'll wish you a very good day, Mr. Gaunt-"
"Leland, please. Or just Lee."
"Leland, then. And you're not to worry about customers. I think by Friday, you'll have to hire a security guard to shoo them out at the end of the day."
"Do you? That would be lovely."
"Goodbye."
"Ciao," he said, and closed the door after her
He stood there a moment, watching as Polly Chalmers walked down the street, smoothing her gloves over her hands, so misshapen and in such startling contrast to the rest of her, which was trim and pretty, if not terribly remarkable. Gaunt's smile grew. As his lips drew back, exposing his uneven teeth, it became unpleasantly predatory
"You'll do," he said softly in the empty shop. "You'll do just fine."
5
Polly's prediction proved quite correct. By closing time that day, almost all of the women in Castle Rock-those who mattered, anyway-and several men had stopped by Needful Things for a quick browse. Almost all of them were at some pains to assure Gaunt that they had only a moment, because they were on their way to someplace else