A Flicker of Doubt - Tim Myers [31]
“Sorry, I hope I didn’t cause that,” I said.
She scraped the clay off the wheel. “It happens.”
After Sanora washed her hands, she dried them with a towel. I offered her the lease, but she wouldn’t touch it.
“Is there any chance you’ll sign this without a fuss?”
“Now what do you think,” she said as she brushed past me.
“I think you’re both making this harder than it has to be.”
Sanora said, “I can’t help you there. If Heather signs, let me know so I can start looking for another place.”
“Blast it, woman, she won’t even tell me what’s wrong. I suppose you’re mute on the subject as well.”
“Harrison, I’ll tell you anything you want to know. The problem’s with her, not me.”
I said, “Go ahead then, enlighten me.”
At that moment, a young woman came into the shop. “Excuse me. I’m looking for a dozen wedding gifts for my bridal party. Can you help me?”
Sanora said, “Absolutely, ma’am.” She turned to me and added, “We’ll finish this later.”
The bride-to-be said, “I’m not interrupting anything, am I? I can always come back. There are so many neat places in this complex. I can’t believe I never heard of it before.”
“Please, don’t go on my account,” I said quickly. “I was just leaving.”
Sanora mouthed a thank-you toward me, but she needn’t have. No matter how badly I wanted to know the source of the latest conflict between my tenants, the customer had to always come first. If Sanora had the opportunity to sell a dozen different pieces in one shot, I couldn’t interfere with that. I’d just have to be patient and wait until she could enlighten me. There was nothing left for me to do but to go back to the candleshop and see if I could make a sale like Sanora’s.
No such luck. Eve and I sold enough supplies over the course of the rest of the day to pay our wages, but just barely. As to the lighting bill, well, we were going to have to rely on another day’s sales to do that I kept watching the door throughout the afternoon, expecting to see Sanora every time it opened, but by the end of the day I’d just about given up on her. When the door chime announced a visitor ten minutes before closing, I just knew it had to be her.
“Oh, it’s you,” I said as Markum walked into At Wick’s End.
“Well, I have to say, I’ve had warmer welcomes in my life.”
“Sorry, I was hoping Sanora would come by today.” ‘
He said, “I hope it wasn’t important I just saw her drive off.”
I drummed my fingers on the counter. “The thing is, it was important”
“Does this have anything to do with what we’ve been working on?’
“No, it’s about something else, but I still need to speak with her. Don’t worry about it. It can probably wait until tomorrow. So what’s up with you?”
He looked sideways at Eve, then said, “I was hoping you were free. We need to talk.”
I suddenly remembered Markum’s unsigned lease upstairs still sitting on my end table. “Yeah, I need to talk to you, too. Can you give me half an hour? I’ve got to finish up here.”
“That’s fine,” Markum said. “I’ll be at Millie’s. Come by when you’re finished.”
“I will,” I promised, and the big man left
After he was gone, Eve said, “You two are as thick as thieves these days, aren’t you?”
“We’re friends, if that’s what you mean.” Ordinarily I went out of my way to avoid angering Eve about anything, but I didn’t care for her tone whenever she spoke about Markum.
“I’m not at all certain Belle would be pleased with your friendship. I daresay she wouldn’t have approved at all.”
“My great-aunt rented him office space,” I said. “That’s all the blessing I need.”
“It’s your business,” she said curtly.
“Yes, it is,” I replied, with just as much frost in my voice as she’d had in hers.
Eve took my tone in, then looked at the clock. “If you’ll excuse me, I believe I’ll be leaving early today.”
I knew I’d done it, but there was no backing down now. After all, At Wick’s End belonged to me; me and the bank, at any rate. I knew from past experience how
Eve behaved when I offended her, but at that moment,