Chapter Twenty-One
Carol
Carol had always enjoyed her job. It wasn’t what most people would call glamorous but she didn’t care what others thought.
It was something she had been doing for decades and it fit her.
She first walked in the door as an employee at Kohl’s when she was in her thirties, getting a job as a cashier and working her way up, all the way to being one of the daytime assistant managers.
Kohl’s was your classic department store, sectioned out for women, men, kids, and toddlers/babies.
There was a home goods area, where you could buy everything from sheets to towels to saucepans; a section for makeup, jewelry, perfume, and luggage; places to purchase vacuums, blenders, shoes, and wrapping paper.
About the only thing they didn’t sell was food.
Carol knew the layout of the store so well she could tell you down to the square inch where everything was located.
It was Monday morning and Carol was scheduled to do some inventory in the back, then help design several carousels of sundresses. In the afternoon she would be interviewing a prospective cashier as well as helping out on the registers.
Her favorite part was the setting up of the clothing.
There was an artistry to it, and it was both creative and meditative deciding what dresses would go on what rack to catch the eye of the customers.
She was looking forward to the meditative part, especially.
It would give her time to think and reflect on her conversation with Olivia.
What a crazy thing for poor Liv to get wrapped up in.
Carol hadn’t wanted to scold her niece for looking at the note; she could tell how bad Olivia felt about it.
Carol herself might not have peeked at a note that someone gave her and asked to give to someone else, but Carol wasn’t Olivia.
Olivia had always been what Evelyn called “a rabble-rouser.” Carol actually thought it was exciting to be related to a young, strong, independent-minded woman who pushed conventional norms to the side.
And now Carol knew more information about Faith’s final night than almost anyone else.
It was a weird thing to think about. In some ways Carol was glad to have this bonus knowledge, and in others, it made her uneasy. She needed time to process.
Walking into the employee room at Kohl’s, Carol went to her locker and hung up her purse, turning the combination lock to keep it safe.
She poured herself a cup of coffee from the shared pot on the counter and added two creams and one sugar, just the way she liked it.
Glancing at the clock she saw she had four minutes until her shift officially started.
She was sipping the coffee when two other employees walked in.
“Good morning, Carol,” said Simone. “We were just talking about that big news from Channel 9. Did you hear what happened Friday night?”
“Yes,” Carol said with a sigh. “It’s sickening, just awful.”
“I heard they had a massive vigil yesterday,” piped in Rita. “I thought about going but we had other plans. Did either of you go?”
“Not me,” said Simone. “I never really watch the news. I mean, I know who Faith Richards is but I don’t watch hardly ever. The news is too depressing. My doctor told me it’s not good for my heart.”
“I actually attended the vigil,” offered Carol.
“You did? How was it?” said Rita.
“Extremely touching. So many fans there as well as people from Channel 9.”
“You have some of her earrings, right?” asked Rita. “Didn’t you get some for Christmas?”
“Yes, good memory,” Carol said.
“Well, I can’t stop thinking about it,” said Rita. “I didn’t have any earrings but I was a fan of hers. I watched some of her videos. She was so good. I just can’t believe the never-ending violence in our community.”
They all nodded solemnly. There didn’t seem to be much else to say, and they each futzed with their own things before drifting in different directions.
Carol walked to the back storage area for inventory.
She spent ninety minutes figuring out what needed to be ordered in juniors tops and shorts, then grabbed the empty circular metal racks for the sundresses she had to organize.
The dresses were in every bright color you could imagine, and Carol debated whether to design the racks by color or by style.
There were short dresses, long ones, knee-length styles, with sleeves, without, low-cut, medium-cut.
She liked to think like a vacationer and she imagined if she was going to the beach somewhere she would first look by color, so she started organizing all of the blues, in descending order darkest to lightest and according to sizes.
As she worked, her mind drifted back to Friday night and how carefree she had felt sitting down to watch the eleven o’clock news.
She had been tired but happy at the end of a workweek, cozy in their den, enjoying her popcorn and cranberry juice and expecting nothing but a normal TV-watching experience.
How was it that everything could be upended so suddenly?
Her favorite meteorologist murdered, her niece mixed up in it in a strange way? Names on a weird list?
Carol moved from blues to yellows and had started arranging those on the rack from dark to very light when her phone buzzed in her pocket.
Kohl’s employees were not allowed to have their phones when they were on the floor, but in back like this it was fine.
Thinking it might be Olivia needing something, Carol fished it out quickly and looked down.
It wasn’t a call at all. It was another breaking-news alert from Channel 9. Without hesitation, Carol clicked on it to see if this was anything related to Faith.
brEAKING: MEDICAL EXAMINER CONFIRMS FAITH RICHARDS WAS SIX WEEKS PREGNANT. CHANNEL 9 STARTING A SCHOLARSHIP IN HER NAME. CLICK HERE TO CONTRIBUTE.
“Oh my God, no,” said Carol, and the blues and yellows of the sundresses all started to swirl in front of her eyes.
Faith was pregnant, after all, just as that strange guy Steve had said.
The one who was on the list. Thoughts came stomping into her head all at once, knocking into each other like bumper cars.
Could he have killed her over some dispute and murdered his own child too?
But would Steve really have been Faith’s boyfriend in the first place?
He was just so odd. Or did someone else do it, maybe in a jealous rage or who knows what?
Reaching out to steady herself, she held the cool metal rack where the dresses were as tears started to pop into her eyes.
A baby gone too. Not just one life but two.
Faith would have been such a good mother.
Carol could only imagine how cute her son or daughter would have been, and Carol would have bet the house that Faith would have shared a lot about the baby on her videos, so this was a lost opportunity for the whole community to follow along on her mom journey.
Carol’s phone buzzed again, a different type of buzz indicating an alert but not from Channel 9. She looked down to see Facebook Messenger with a notification. She clicked on the app to open the message.
Carol, it’s Heather from the vigil yesterday.
I just got a breaking news alert about Faith being pregnant and I’m absolutely sick.
Chloe and I were already discussing a scholarship.
Now that Channel 9 is doing one we thought the FWFFC could try and be the biggest donor.
We’re getting a big group together after work tonight to discuss it. Would you be able to attend?
Carol knew her answer almost immediately.
Whereas before she thought Heather was level-jumping, now this was a different story.
Heather was working with Chloe, so this clearly wasn’t a “hey, let’s get together just the two of us” situation, and there was a baby to consider, for God’s sake.
It changed the dynamic of everything. Not to mention …
Steve. Maybe that weird guy would be there and Carol could keep an eye on him and look for clues.
When and where are you meeting?
Heather said 5:30 at a coffee shop that was just a little out of the way of Carol’s usual route home.
Carol confirmed she would be there. She knew she had to help out.
It was another way to honor Faith, and now the baby.
She would donate money, solicit others, do whatever was needed to bring justice for Faith.
And she wouldn’t tell a soul about what Olivia had found out.
That would stay secret. Between the two of them they had three suspects cased out.
Olivia could watch Matthew and Laura, and Carol could watch Steve.
If they could figure out who Kelly was, they’d be in really good shape.
It was a start. Carol had a laser eye on Steve now. She would be watching him very, very closely.