“What happened here?” he asked her.
“I’m still waiting for someone to tell me,” she said. “I got here early because Mr Curtis wanted to set up a new display for some ornamental scent burners he got on consignment. I let myself in as usual but the place was deserted. So I went around the back to the cottage – that’s where Mr Curtis and his wife live – and I found the front door wide open. Next thing I know, Mr Curtis and his wife are running at me like lunatics, screeching like animals. I ran back into the store but I didn’t know what to do, so I ended up in the closet with the two of them outside waiting to get me. After a while they went away, but I stayed inside anyway. That’s when you came along.” She looked at Mr Curtis, his head still trapped inside the fish tank, his body limp and lifeless. “I don’t get it,” she said. “He was a nice old man. I don’t know why he would want to hurt me.”
“It’s not just him,” Nick explained. “People have been losing their shit all over town. My wife, too, and my…my son.” He didn’t want to think about James. He turned his mind to more proactive endeavours. “We should try to get some help. Do you have a phone here? Or Internet access?”
The girl nodded. “Yeah, we have both in the office, but there’s a problem.”
“What?”
The girl nodded toward Mr Curtis. “Well, I’m looking at Mr Curtis, but where’s his wife?”
As if to punctuate her point, a far-off crash caused them both to turn towards the aquarium’s exit.
“Close by, would be my guess,” said Nick. The young girl started back towards the cupboard. He went after her. “Hey, you’re not going back into hiding. We need to deal with the situation.”
“You deal with it. I’m going to sit down on the vacuum cleaner with the door closed.”
Nick grabbed a hold of the girl, a little harder than he meant to. Fortunately, the show of force seemed to steel her nerves.
She sighed and shook her head resignedly. “Fine,” she said. “But can we at least get something to defend ourselves with?”
“Sounds good to me,” said Nick.
***
They found what they needed in the storage closet where the girl had been hiding. Nick removed the head from a broom handle to turn it into a weapon and the girl found herself a hammer.
“What’s your name, by the way?” he asked her.
“Eve.”
“Nice to meet you, Eve. My name is Nick.”
“What’s with your face?”
“I had a car accident. Hurts like hell. My car is in worse shape than I am, though. It was brand new. An Alfa Romeo.”
“Whoop-de-frikking-do. Can we just get this over with?”
They headed out of the aquarium and re-entered the rest of the store. Past the wind chime display and indoor plants was a greeting card stand. Beyond that was a maze of swinging benches and assorted garden furniture. Past all of it was a bottleneck leading to a totally new area.
“What’s through that archway?” Nick asked.
“The café and checkouts.”
Nick nodded and crept forwards, broom handle raised over his shoulder like a baseball bat. The area ahead was cloaked in shadow, lit only by the weak morning sunshine filtering in through the skylights. Through the archway, and to Nick’s left, was a quaint café – more of a cosy tearoom really. To his immediate right was the store’s checkout area.
He looked back at Eve and raised an eyebrow of concern. “Be careful,” he told her. “She could be hiding anywhere. These sick people have a habit of blindsiding you.”
Eve didn’t reply. She hung back and kept her distance.
The cash-tills up ahead were set into a booth with two long desks about four feet off the ground. Behind the booth was the store’s exit, leading back out to the parking lot.
“Hello,” Nick said in a raised voice, deciding it would be better to alert Mrs Curtis and see her coming than to have her sneak up on them. “Mrs Curtis, are you here?”
“What are you doing, dumbass?” Eve hissed.