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Around four Eddie and I left. I felt confident that Susan could manage on her own for about twenty minutes, and she had even regained some of the colour in her cheeks.
Eddie and I went to Stanley’s bakery where his wife always helped out. Olivia had done her best to scrub her face, but the markers used for her ‘make-over’ weren’t that easy to remove. The vague outlines were still visible. She had Harry Potter glasses drawn on as well as messy red lips. Her cheeks had perfectly round circles and three horizontal stripes were drawn over her eyebrows in order to resemble cartoon eyelashes. She also kept shushing customers even though it was relatively quiet and groaned regularly like a zombie. I’d already heard this from Nancy, who had heard it from Jessica, who had heard it from Dawn.
“Hiyaaaa,” I said loudly when we entered. There was only one customer, and she left as we came in.
She growled. “The insolence of youth,” she said. “And how dare you not be affected by the booze.”
“What booze? What did I miss?” Eddie asked.
“You missed a hell of a party.” I chuckled. “I think Poppy was licking windows at some point.”
“I didn’t think a book club would get so wild,” Stanley said and eyed his wife with mock disappointment. The corners of his mouth clearly twitched.
“It was all Maggie’s fault. She got the booze. Before that it was perfectly innocent.”
“Hardly. I saw Ava twerk.”
Eddie laughed. “Man, I can’t believe I missed that. Maybe I should join the book club.”
“You say that, but we usually talk about how uncomfortable bras are or we Google high heels we are in love with but will never buy because they’re so uncomfortable,” Olivia said. “Now, what can we get you?”
“Two chicken sandwiches, please. You make the best, Stanley,” I said.
“Always love to hear that,” he said with a grin as he went to work.
The phone rang and Olivia groaned. She sauntered to the back and picked up the phone.
“So, nasty business about Victor, ain’t it?” Stanley said without looking up.
“Very nasty,” I said.
“Olivia said the girls asked you to look into it. How is that going?”
“Err, not really a lot of progress yet. It happened yesterday.”
“Don’t worry about it. If anyone can solve it, it’s you. Just don’t do anything too dangerous.” He winked at me and handed us the paper bag in which he’d put our sandwiches. “On the house.”
“Oh, you don’t have to—”
“I insist, dearie. You’re our local sleuth, and you need your fuel. For the grey cells.” He tapped his temple.
“Right.” I fought an unsettling feeling without success. “Thank you.” After shouting goodbye to Olivia, we left. The bell above the door tinkled.
Eddie took the bag from me as we walked to the small park in front of the store. “You know you don’t owe anybody anything, right? I mean, you don’t have to solve anything.”
“I know. Strange as it may seem, I do want to. I just hope I don’t let them down.”
“See, that’s why I don’t like this. You shouldn’t put that kind of pressure on yourself. Do you really think you can do what the police do? I mean y—”
“I know. Trust me, I get what you’re saying. That’s why I didn’t want to do it at first. I didn’t think I could do it. But I’ve got nothing to lose if I try.” We reached the bench in the park and sat down. Eddie handed me my sandwich.
“It’s so nice to be outside and enjoy the warm weather and the gentle breeze.” I tilted back my face and enjoyed the rays of sunshine.
“I’m surprised you’re not bursting into flames.”
I chuckled. “Or that I’m blinded, not to mention that I should really exercise. Right now, the only exercise I get is banging my head on my desk.”
“You should go running or hiking. Do something outside.”
“I’ve thought about that. I’m just afraid that if I run, I’ll end up in a coma.”
He laughed. “If that’s how out of shape you are, then you better start running. Speaking of physical activities, there’s Alistair. Now is your chance to talk to him, flirt a bit.”
When he looked back at me, the seat was empty. “What the—” He glanced around.
I was behind the bench, peering at Alistair in the distance.
“How did you get there so fast?” he asked.
“I have skills,” I whispered.
“Why are you whispering when he’s at the other side of the park?”
It was a small park, but still, he had a point.
“Okay, forget the flirting. Why don’t you just offer to show him around the village or something like that?” He looked at Alistair and then back at me. This time I was back on the bench again. He jumped. “Wow, you move like a ninja.”
I grinned, then my face fell. “I don’t know. I don’t think he wants to talk to me much.”
“Why wouldn’t he? Even if he was born and raised here, he could use some friends that aren’t in their forties.”
“I guess I could say hi.” But somehow, despite the fact that we had spoken in my bookshop without me being too awkward, I just couldn’t approach him. Not without doom scenarios popping up in my head. Not to mention that Nancy had basically already told him I liked him. Or at the very least that she liked to see him with me. Despite that, I got up and started moving his way.
“Good, you’re getting up. You’re walking. Walking.”
I moved forward, then turned left in the direction of The Wicked Bookworm.
“And you’re going the wrong way.” He ran over to me, grabbed me by the waist and pulled me back.
“No, I don’t think he’ll want to talk to me.”
“Yes, he will.”
“I’d like to stay in my comfort zone. Alone.”
I had grabbed the bench by now and Eddie was trying to pull me away.
“You won’t die if you just talk to him.”
He pulled me away from the bench, and I went limp so that he nearly got dragged down by my weight. “Stop fighting me.” He tried to pull me up, but we fell down.
I made my way on top of him and pushed him down as I tried to step over him. He grabbed me by the ankle, but I managed to get up from the ground.
“You can’t make me do it.”
He got up as well and pulled me in, holding my leg to his side as he attempted to move me in the opposite direction. “Yes, I can.”
I put my hand on his face and tried to push him away as I was skipping on one leg.
“Maggie?”
We froze and our faces slowly turned in the direction of the voice. It was Alistair. He was standing there in his sharp suit, not a hair out of place as a grin pulled on the corner of his lips.
“Hellooo,” Eddie and I both said.
“Everything alright?”
We mumbled something incoherent at the same time.
Alistair nodded. “Well, I’ll be on my way then, I was just grabbing some coffee.” He turned around and started walking away.
Eddie pushed me forward, and I started following Alistair. I couldn’t have him think that Eddie and I were performing some kind of strange mating ritual. “So, Alistair,” I started as I walked next to him. “How do you like being back?”
He glanced at me. “The village hasn’t changed at all. Neither have the people. Not much anyway.”
“Except that you sometimes think you know someone, and they turn out to be cheaters or mistresses, or murderers,” I said.
Alistair stopped me with a touch on my arm. His dark eyes assessed me, like he could open up my forehead and see into my mind. If he could, he’d see how messy it was, as well as the heart-shaped posters of him. “Do you know something?”
I fidgeted with my hands. “Maybe,” I said in a high voice.
“That’s a yes, then.” He stood closer. I wasn’t sure if he even noticed he did that, but my body certainly did, and it flipped on the heating.
Stupid body. Be cool. I tried a seductive smile, not sure how it came across, and blinked at him.
“Do you have something in your eye?” he asked.
I grumbled something. “My employee Susan was the one who had an affair with him. She admitted that to me a short while ago. I haven’t told anyone, and I don’t want it to come out. I’m not sure how they’d treat her. The villagers, I mean. Victor and Patricia are popular, I’m sure you remember that. Also, I asked her if she knew anything that could help the investigation, but she didn’t. She was very distraught. If you go talk to her, which I’m sure you will, please be discreet about it. There really is no reason for her to get hurt even more.”
Alistair stared at me for a moment. “You’re very sweet.”
I felt my cheeks get warm and giggled. Actually giggled.
“Thank you for telling me. I’ll look into it.” He put his hands on my arms. “I really appreciate you keeping your eyes and ears open, but please be careful. Everyone is talking about how you’re going to solve this, but that means the killer is hearing that as well. Please don’t do anything dangerous.”
It took me a lot of effort to hear the words instead of getting distracted by the shape of his mouth. “Yep, yep, yep.”
He smiled at me.
“Would you like to catch up sometime? Have dinner? I’ll cook for you.”
He raised his eyebrows and his smile disappeared, so I expected him to say no. “Sure. Monday evening at seven?”
“Really?”
“Here’s my card.” He fished it from his breast pocket and handed it to me.
I stared at it. It took me all of four seconds to memorise his number. I had a good memory. “Thanks. I’ll see you then.”
“See you.” He turned to leave, and so did I.
Instead of striding away with dignity and grace, I started running back so I could wave the business card in Eddie’s face, but I’d taken only three steps before I fell flat on the ground.
Eddie had gotten up from the bench but wasn’t moving. Jerk. Why isn’t he helping? I felt an arm around my waist and Alistair’s lips were close to my ear.
“Are you alright?” he asked as he helped me up and turned me to face him. He scanned my body and hands for wounds.
“I like the purple squirrels dancing on your shoulder,” I said.
He looked up sharply. “What? Do you really see those?”
“No,” I said. “Sorry, I couldn’t resist.”
He sighed. “I’m glad you’re okay. Please be more careful.”
“Got it. No pissing off murderers and no tripping.”
He managed a smile. “Exactly.” Then he gently touched my chin right before he left.
I sighed and watched him go while Eddie’s footfalls sounded closer. “Did it go well or poorly? I couldn’t tell.”
I held up the business card. “I’ve got a date.” Sort of.
“Please invite me to the wedding.”
“Done.”
––––––––
EVERY SATURDAY NANCY cooked dinner for me and Eddie at her flat. This time she had made her famous lasagna, which was good enough to make me want to marry it. We sat at the dining table, right next to the open plan kitchen. Our flats were similar, but she had taken down some walls so that only her bedroom and bathroom were separate rooms. It gave her flat more light and made it seem more spacious. It always smelt of incense and the colour purple was dominant. It was her favourite.
“I taught mindfulness today at the shop. I wasn’t sure if there would be many people, but twelve showed up,” Nancy said.
“I’m not surprised,” I said. “People are upset about what happened. The most exciting thing that’s ever happened here is when those garden gnomes went missing, or when we found out that Harry stole those pies from Olivia’s windowsill.”
Harry was homeless, and once he’d gotten a taste of Olivia’s baking, he kept coming back for more. Now she gave him chores once a week in exchange for food. I also hired him whenever I had an event at my bookshop and wanted someone to hand out flyers. In addition to money, I would also pay for a haircut at the barbershop, which Jacob hated because apparently Harry was always rude to him, and many years ago had called him a fanny for cutting hair and shaving beards for a living. Jacob was one to hold a grudge, like most villagers. A few smiles from me would make Jacob do it, though.
“That’s not the only thing people are talking about,” Eddie said with enthusiasm. “I read on Twitter that those ghost hunters are here. They will start their investigations tonight. They should be at the B&B.”
“Oh, no. You’re totally going to stalk them, aren’t you?” I asked.
“Don’t say that like it’s a bad thing.” Eddie grinned. “Brian and I are going over there to talk to them and see if we can help. Our equipment is pretty good, but these are pros.” He turned to Nancy. “Why don’t you come with? They could probably use a psychic to come along.”
Nancy wrinkled her nose. “I’ve already been there, and if nobody is going to pay me, I ain’t going. Besides, I think those ghost hunters are just a bunch of idiots who scare themselves by turning off the lights and focussing on every little sound.”
“Well, we will find out.” His eyes held a twinkle.
“Cheers to that.” I held up my fork with lasagna.
Nancy chuckled.
“Why am I even friends with you?” Eddie shook his head.
“You’re one to talk, Ghostbuster.” I stuck out my tongue.
Eddie grabbed a handful of lettuce and threw it at me.
“Hey, no food fighting,” Nancy said. “I’ve been slaving away in the kitchen, you know? It took me several seconds to take that lettuce out of the packaging.”
“Fine, I’ll be the bigger person.” I peeled off a piece of lettuce from my forehead.