Dead by Midnight - Beverly Barton [152]
“Okay, against my better judgment, I’ll take you to Treasures. And I’ll have Buddy keep an eye on the shop. He’s got guard duty today.”
She had thrown her arms around Mike and kissed him. That kiss of gratitude had quickly led to other things, and those other things had required removing a few clothes.
An hour later, Mike had escorted her into Treasures through the back entrance and given her strict instructions on what she could and could not do. He had also told Cathy that he expected her to see to it that Lorie followed orders and had made Cathy practically sign a blood oath that she would look after Lorie.
Everything had gone smoothly until midafternoon, when UPS made a delivery. As usual, Kerry Vaughn, the UPS guy, brought the stack of boxes in on a dolly and wheeled it straight to the storeroom.
When Lorie heard the door open, she looked up from where she sat on the floor going through the merchandise on the bottom shelves in the storeroom. She had been marking the sale prices on the winter, Valentine, and hadn’t-sold-in-six-months items. Kerry’s unexpected appearance startled her. She had promised Mike that no one other than Cathy would see her while she was at Treasures.
“Afternoon, Lorie,” Kerry said as he pushed the dolly into the room. “Sure is good to see you back at work.”
“Uh…hi, Kerry. It’s good to be back, but I’m keeping a low profile for the time being.” She glanced at the open door. “So don’t mention to anyone that I’m here, okay?”
“Sure thing. I understand.” Kerry shoved the door partly closed and then he unloaded the boxes and stacked them in the corner. “It’s a shame the way some people around here have been acting. I just want you to know that I think the world of you and so do my mom and my wife. We’re hoping the FBI catches that crazy Midnight Killer real soon.”
Looking up at Kerry, she smiled. “I appreciate that. Right now, I need all the friends I can get.”
When Lorie started to get up, Kerry held out his hand to assist her. Once on her feet, she signed for the delivery and they chatted for a couple of minutes before Kerry grabbed hold of the empty dolly and turned to leave.
Suddenly, they heard a woman’s voice calling from outside in the shop. “Is that you back there, Lorie?”
With her heartbeat rapidly accelerating, Lorie glanced past Kerry and saw Cathy trying to block Tracie McLees’s charge toward the storeroom. Tracie was one of their best customers, a real sweetheart of a person, but Lordy, Lordy, did that woman love to gossip.
“My goodness, why didn’t you tell us that Lorie was back?” Mrs. Webber followed Tracie. Mrs. Webber, another valued customer and Nell Birkett’s first cousin once removed, had befriended Lorie the moment she returned to Dunmore nine years ago.
“Please, ladies.” Cathy blocked the storeroom entrance. “Lorie’s doing inventory. She’s not back at work full-time and we’d appreciate y’all keeping her presence here hush-hush.”
“You can trust us not to say a word,” Paul Babcock said from where he stood in the middle of the shop. As usual, he was going through the display of antique postcards. “We don’t want anybody causing trouble for you, Lorie.”
Kerry shrugged. “Sorry. I guess I was talking too loud or something. I didn’t mean to give you away like that.”
“It’s all right. It couldn’t be helped, I guess.”
After Kerry left, Cathy came into the storeroom. “Should I call Mike?”
“Heavens, no. He’ll blow this all out of proportion and come rushing over here for no good reason.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t stop Kerry, but Mrs. Webber had me so distracted that I didn’t realize—”
“It’s not your fault. No harm done. Thank goodness the customers here in the store are people who genuinely like me and won’t rush out of here to tell the whole town that I’m at Treasures.”
“I hope you’re right. And it should be okay, if Tracie can keep her mouth shut. You know how she is.”
An hour later, a small group representing the WCM—Women for Christian