Chapter 39
As she waited for her shift to be done, Anna’s eyes burned.
She’d had too many nights with not enough sleep and now she ached all over.
It was only the adrenaline from her conversation with the sheriff that morning that was keeping her functioning.
Still, it had been an easy, short shift and Suzy would be in soon to take over and then she’d get home in plenty of time before Todd showed up.
“All I’m saying is that if the Carlson junkie is dead, then who put up these posters this weekend?”
Anna kept her head down and refilled the customer’s coffee as the man and his wife stared at the paper Anna had tacked up somewhere on Saturday, Lila’s and Bonnie’s faces still smiling, endlessly smiling.
“Well, it wasn’t a ghost, honey.”
“So who was it? And what if they’re right?” The man added a liberal pour of cream to his cup. “Maybe the guy who got shot wasn’t the one.”
“I don’t want to think about it. We should keep Mae at home nights for a while, I think.”
“Maybe the town should have a curfew,” Anna said, wiping down the next booth. “Maybe someone should suggest that to the sheriff.”
They both looked up, almost surprised to see her there, and she shrugged, embarrassed. “Sorry. Just a thought.”
The man, in his forties with as many lines on his face as years lived, nodded. “Not a bad one.”
She left them to their coffee and went back to the counter, her heart thudding. A curfew would be good. Everyone would be safe. She’d be safe.
She checked on where June Miller was, in a booth with her children, food and drink secondary to their excitement at the small city map spread across the table, already sticky with fingerprints, and then saw a cigarette pack had fallen onto a seat where a couple of truckers had been having breakfast. She’d half crushed it for the trash when she realized it was pretty full.
She smiled. American Spirit. Her brand. She flicked one upside down for luck and pocketed them.
The truckers were long gone anyway and their tip had been measly, so this made up for it.
She headed back to the counter as Suzy breezed in to take over.
Jeannie, folding some clean serving cloths, still had her eyes on the Millers.
“Those kids should be in school.” She smoothed out some invisible creases.
“Though it’s nice to see them happy. But then I’d be happy too if I’d won five days in the city, all expenses paid.
” She saw Anna’s frown. “The charity raffle? Don’t you listen in church?
The Millers won it.” She sniffed. “I wouldn’t be surprised if it was rigged, because Lord knows that family needs something good in their lives at the moment. ”
“Lovely for them.” Anna took off her apron, not waiting for Jeannie’s dismissal. The clock had ticked around to one o’clock and she was officially done.
“And they’ll be out of town for the Farmhand weekend.
” Suzy breezed behind the counter, blond hair perfectly styled, lipstick pink and glossy and freshly applied, making Anna look like a faded photocopy of a girl beside her.
“No wonder they’re so pleased. I swear to god, I can’t wait for that to be out of the way.
My imagination is going wild. Especially after dark.
My little cousin says it’s all they talk about at school. ”
“My sister says the same.” Anna hung her apron on the peg by the kitchen door.
“Hey, is that Jamie’s scooter outside?” Suzy asked, her eyes on Anna.
“Sheriff Adams said I could have it for a donation.” Anna’s skin burned. “To get around.”
“And you okay about all that? The finding-Jamie’s-body thing? Because I would have puked my guts out and never slept again.”
Anna’s skin crawled under the attention as eyes flicked her way around the diner.
In her defense, Suzy’s straightforwardness was not a bad trait, but her voice was loud and she had no sense of tact or discretion.
Jeannie had said, If you want to talk about it but hadn’t pushed, which had been a surprise, given how much she loved having firsthand gossip, but Suzy, who Anna hadn’t seen since then, other than in The Shamrock, wasn’t holding back.
“I’m good.”
“If you say so, but the way you went at Alan Atwater Friday night tells me different.” One hand was on the curve of her hip. “And as for Melissa Laverne and that broken beer bottle … well, I’m surprised if you’re still talking to her.”
“Like I said, I’m good. But thanks for your concern.
” She didn’t linger, just headed for the door, aware that everyone was watching her and equally aware that as soon as she was gone, they’d all be talking about her, with Suzy recounting and embellishing what happened in the bar.
And how long before they figured out she was the one who put up Jamie’s posters?
Screw them, she thought, kicking away on the scooter and standing tall, her breath coming fast. She didn’t care what they thought of her. She only cared about being safe.