Chapter 14
I swung through the coffee drive-thru and picked up a vanilla latte for Yancy, a raspberry mocha for me, and two black with cream and sugar for…I wanted to say Gabriel and Sage.
The morning’s bright blue skies promised fresh starts, exciting possibilities, and hope. Since we only had two more days to get everything sorted and ready to be given to families for the Boast of the Coast, we needed all the hope we could get.
Yancy stood in the middle of the community center parking lot, wearing a bright Hawaiian shirt and a rain jacket, a suitcase in his hand.
“Hi!” I said as I sauntered over to him. “More donations?” I pointed at the suitcase.
“This isn’t a donation. This is my suitcase. I’m leaving.”
“On a vacation?”
“No. If I’m going to die, I’m going to do it somewhere warm.”
I lifted his latte out of the carrier and gave it to him. “So, you still can’t see the future, huh?”
“Not even a peep. Piper, I don’t know how folks live like this.
Never knowing what’s going to happen? I was up all night waiting for someone to break into my house and kill me.
I just can’t do it anymore. I’m going to find myself a nice warm beach with soft sand and lay myself down to die. No more guessing. No more worry.”
Futures rose in quick flashes:
Yancy paranoid on a boat…
Yancy paranoid on a beach…
Yancy still here, in Ordinary, alive and well and not paranoid…
“I don’t think leaving town will settle this,” I said. “If you stay in Ordinary, I see you alive and well. Give me a little more time to figure out why our seer powers are on the fritz. Let me fix this for you.”
“How long, Piper? How long do I have to live like this?”
“A couple days? Until after the Boast of the Coast. Can you hold out just a little longer?”
“I don’t know.”
“We’re all in this together, right? You and me and Jean? The three seer Musketeers?”
“I just don’t like it. All this not knowing.”
“Then let me be your eyes. I’ll keep looking into your future. If I see anything happen, anything at all, I’ll let you know. And you can text me any time you’re feeling worried or frightened, day or night. I’ll tell you what I see.”
“You’d do that?”
“Yes. No question. Will you stay?”
“Two days. I can do two more days. It’s not that I don’t like Ordinary. This is my home.”
“I know. I love it too. This is just a glitch. I’m sure of it.”
We crossed to the building and down the echoing halls to the old gym.
The tables still had plenty of donations stacked all around, but the walls were lined with boxes marked in bright colors for age and gender, or gender neutral.
Several were labeled for moms or dads or adults. Those would have things like kitchenware, coupons for grocery shopping, and even hair salon or barber shop visits.
“This is really coming along,” I noted.
“It is,” Yancy said, a little more like his positive self. “I like most of the festivals Bertie puts on, but donation drives are my favorite. I’ll start sorting. Thanks, Piper.”
“Happy to help.”
Sage spotted me from across the room and waved. I brought her the coffee.
“Hey, this is nice.” She inhaled deeply. “Cream and sugar. You know me well.”
I smiled. “I cheated.”
“You looked?”
“Yes.”
“Who’s the other one for?”
“Gabriel?”
She shot a look over my shoulder and grinned. “Speak of the devil.”
I twisted and saw Gabriel Brown, the local locksmith, strolling in through the door.
I handed him the coffee right as he was in the middle of a giant yawn.
“You are a saint.” He took a huge gulp. “I was out setting up a security system last night and it took forever. Bertie’s events start too dang early.”
I laughed. “You tell her that.”
“Nope. I have no desire to find out if a Valkyrie can reap an elf’s soul.”
“Oh, I bet she can reap every kind of soul. Who had you working so late?”
“Gail Malloy. She was worried someone would steal from Kenny’s shop, which I guess is hers now. I installed new locks, security cameras, the whole bit.”
“I thought she was selling the place.”
He made a sound. “She’s been through two deaths in a very short time. I don’t expect her to be thinking clearly. I tried to talk her down to just changing the locks, but she insisted on the works. Aggressively. So now the place has the best security system in town.”
“I guess that would make a good selling point.”
“If she sells,” he said. “She might decide to keep the building and re-open the business.”
“Do you think she would do that?”
“I’d say she has the moral fortitude to do whatever it takes to get what she wants.” He took another sip of coffee. “But from the rumors I heard, Kenny didn’t want her name on the business and neither did Hugo.”
“And now she’s the only one standing and the business is hers. Not that it’s worth much,” I added.
“It could be. It’s a solid building. It’s near the main street. If Bertie keeps pulling off all these festivals and events, someone’s going to see it as an excellent business opportunity. All it needs is a new coat of paint, maybe some new flooring and it’s good to go.”
“Huh.” I guess just because it was a little rundown didn’t mean it didn’t have a lot of potential.
But enough potential for Gail to kill for? No, I just couldn’t see that.
Gabriel gulped down more coffee, then studied the room. “You think we’ll get through all the donations today?”
“Not a chance,” I laughed.
With that, we got to work.
My thoughts turned to the mystery of Hugo’s and Kenny’s death over and over again. Was it odd that Jean’s and Yancy’s future sight had faltered right before Hugo was killed?
How had Hugo known there was a secret safe in Pandora’s storage unit?
Did it all connect into some kind of larger picture? Ordinary was full of odd happenings, odd people, odd powers.
But didn’t something feel off about the whole thing?
Yes. Something did feel off about the whole thing.
When the next shift of people came in to sort, I said my good-byes, assured Yancy (who looked a lot less worried) I’d stay in touch, and headed to my car.
Color me surprised to see Aggie at the corner of the parking lot.
I waved, and for a second, thought she was going to ignore me. Then she was all smiles as she walked my way.
“Piper! I didn’t know you were working on this…whatever Boast of the Coast is. A festival?”
“Charity drive contest for kids and families who need a little boost to get through the summer.”
“Donations for kids. Like toys?”
“Yes! Lots of toys. But clothes, of course, and backpacks, books, tablets, free movies. Buzz even gave a free meal and dessert coupon for each box.”
It made me proud that Buzz was being so generous, but Aggie just shook her head. “He’s going to run that place into the ground, and we’ll be out of our jobs.”
“I don’t think so. He’s been at this for a long time. He’s got a pretty level business head.”
“I hope so. I’m just starting to get the lay of the land. Say, how about lunch? Do you have time?”
She kept glancing over her shoulder like she was expecting someone to show up. I searched the area, but everything looked normal to me.
She was acting a little weird, but this was the first time we’d interacted outside of the diner. I really didn’t think she had many friends in the area. I wanted to be friendly, even though she was on my list of murder suspects.
Maybe she’d say something to prove she was innocent.
Futures fizzled and flashed, but they dissolved into static.
Huh. That was weird too.
“It’s fine,” she said. “I can see from the look on your face that you don’t want to hang out with me. I didn’t mean to corner you.”
“What? No. I mean yes. Let’s get lunch. I’m starving. How about Jump Off Jack’s?”
“The brew pub?”
“The award-winning brew pub.”
“Ordinary has one of those? Lead the way.”
We got in our respective cars, and I pulled onto the street with Aggie following. Delaney drove past us. I thought she took an extra moment staring at Aggie’s car, but then we all went on our way.
I never looked into the future while driving. (You think cell phones are distracting. Try seeing three different visions of the future right in front of your eyes!) But once I parked at Jump Off’s, I took a quick look into Yancy’s future.
Yancy going out with friends tonight…
Yancy staying home and chatting with family online…
Yancy going out to see a movie…
All good futures. All showing him alive and less stressed.
I sent him a quick text saying his evening looked good. He gave me a thumbs up emoji back.
Then I hurried to catch up with Aggie who was already waiting at the brewpub’s door.
* * *
“Busier than I expected,” Aggie said.
“It’s the one thing in Ordinary that’s on the map.”
“Other than that penguin statue,” she said.
“Look at you,” I laughed. “New to the area and you already know about Mrs. Yates’ penguin!”
She shook her head and popped a fry into her mouth and chewed.
“I do pay attention,” she said.
“I know you do. You caught that bowl of chowder the other day almost before it was off the table.”
“You saw that?”
“Sure. I pay attention too.” I smiled because she looked worried, but then she relaxed.
I was still getting weird vibes off her. Like she kept expecting the other shoe to drop and for it to be bad.
“The donations going good?” she asked.
“Yes. I think we’re going to win.”
“How many toys were donated?”
“Over a thousand. Some of the toys were little, like rubber ducks and bubbles, but yeah, a lot.”
“How many teddy bears?”
“Just bears?”
She sipped her strawberry lemonade. “Just bears.”
“Salem donated maybe a hundred? Then Kenny gave us those talking bears, which was two dozen or so. The crochet club and knitting club made up a few, too, I’d say that’s another thirty? So, what does that come to? Just over a hundred fifty bears?”
“Wow.” She wiped her mouth. “That’s a lot of bears.”
“It’s a lot of kindness.”
“I thought Kenny ran some kind of electronics business. How did he give you bears?”
“Repair. He repaired vacuums and electronics. But it was a pawn shop too. The bears were the kind that could talk. They had little tape players in them.”
“Oh, right. Aren’t those collectible?”