Chapter 20
1767 Words
The stream of customers continued all day, to the point where Rosie and Charlotte ate lunch in shifts behind the counter. One after another, people commented on seeing the f*******: page, until Rosie insisted Charlotte show her. She brought it up on the computer and left Rosie to look as Charlotte helped a small group of teens.
“Such a thoughtful gift.” Charlotte gave them change after wrapping a book. “Your grandfather will love reliving those cricketing days. How wonderful he played for the state, you must be proud!”
She waved as they left then turned to Rosie, who was unusually quiet. The older woman discreetly pulled a tissue from the box on the counter and blew her nose. Charlotte watched her. Were those tears on her cheeks?
“Rosie?”
“Well, I don’t believe I’ve ever seen my shop in this light before.” She pointed at the screen, to a panorama of the store from just inside the front door.
“You don’t like it?” Charlotte was afraid to ask. Had she overstepped?
But Rosie reached for her hand and squeezed it, still staring at the screen. “I love it. This will change things. Christmas is always busy, and January because the children need their schoolbooks not to mention the long holiday, so parents buy more to occupy their families. February is always quiet and last year the sales slowed so much across winter.”
“I think we can change it.”
At last Rosie looked up. Those were tears and Charlotte’s own eyes got prickly and she blinked a few times.
were“Charlotte, if anyone can change things it will be you. When Trev came to visit and you went off and sold Glenys those books, I had a feeling.”
Before they both turned into puddles on the floor, Charlotte needed to find some balance. “Yep, Glenys will do that. And if you really want feelings, Octavia and Marguerite bring their own special brand.”
“I know what you’re doing.” Rosie reached for her bottle of water. “I’ll stop being all mushy now. What do you make of Glenys’s visit?”
Relieved, Charlotte went back to tidying shelves, talking over her shoulder. “She likes to gossip?”
Rosie chortled. “Apart from that. Because she’s always been a chatterbox, but never been nasty, and I thought her comments today were bordering on insulting about the Forest family.”
Charlotte stopped what she was doing and wandered back to Rosie. “Obviously I know almost nothing about them, or her, or this town yet, but anytime a patient would tell me someone had brought it on themselves, I knew there was fear behind it.”
“Interesting. So, Glenys starting off by wishing that the Christmas Tree Farm was in better state, and then that she was sad for little Lachie having to work at such a young age—”
“Having to! Ha, he’s building an empire.”
“He’s a smart little boy. But what started off sounding like she cared changed when she said it really was their own fault. Did you notice her tone of voice even sounded nasty?”
“Or triumphant. Almost as though their misery takes away her fear. But what could she be afraid of from them?” Charlotte pondered. “You mentioned a bad history between the Forest and Morris families but how does Glenys fit into it?”
“They’ve been neighbours for a while. Glenys and her poor husband—God rest his poor soul—moved in up the road from the farm a few years back. But both properties are large, so they’d not even see each other under normal circumstances. I couldn’t imagine what would make her like this.”
Charlotte returned to the shelves, mentally adding Glenys to her list of Christmas tree thief suspects. Except her name wasn’t Darro and she wasn’t male.
Just on closing time, the blare of sirens filled the shop. Rosie and Charlotte hurried to the window as Sid’s patrol car hurtled past, lights flashing, in the direction of the reserve.
“That can’t be good.” Rosie said. “I hope nobody fell down the steps to the falls again.”
“Again?”
“There’s been a few instances where people slipped and fell. The path is fine, but those steps haven’t been maintained in years. I can never go further than the lookout because the ramp that runs alongside the steps has deteriorated so badly.”
“Do you go to the lookout often?”
“A few times a year. It is such a restful spot. You should go there. It is nice in the early evening when all the birds are out and sometimes, if you are very lucky, a Kingfisher appears.”
“A real one?”
Rosie smiled. “Yes. A real Azure Kingfisher, also known as Alcedo azurea. They’re endangered in the region, even here in the town named after the species.”
Alcedo azurea.“Well, I shall have to spend some more time visiting the falls and watching quietly.”
“More time?”
“I haven’t been all the way down.” Her stomach tensed.
Stop giving things away.
Stop giving things away.“Well, you should. Take a camera and a blanket to sit on.”
“Sounds good.” Charlotte busied herself in the window, replenishing some books they’d sold out of before the latest delivery had arrived. The friendliness and genuine warmth that was Rosie made her do and say things she didn’t plan on. Too much sharing was the best way to damage a relationship.
“Oh! Do you hear that, Charlie? Sounds like a car chase.” Rosie left the window to push herself outside and Charlotte sprinted after her.
“Rosie! Stay back from the kerb!” The roar of a car engine grew louder, and gears crashed. A siren was behind it. Charlotte stepped between Rosie and the road. “Seriously, what if it crashes!”
With a quick manoeuvre, Rosie backed into the doorway and Charlotte joined her, just as a dark blue ute careened around the closest corner, almost hitting another car as it skidded onto the main road. It righted itself and tore past.
Charlotte tried to see the driver but could only glimpse a male wearing a peaked cap. The tint was so dark it was impossible to identify anyone inside. Bouncing around the tray was a Christmas tree.
The police car was next, taking the corner only slightly less dangerously and pursuing the ute. Sid had a cigarette hanging from his lips.
Rosie and Charlotte raced to the kerb to peer down the street. Pedestrians stopped, and other shopkeepers ran out.
The ute barrelled through the roundabout, wheels up on the inside kerb and dirt spraying everywhere. Sid screeched to a stop as a car came through and shook his fist at the driver. By the time he got going again, the ute was out of sight, at least from the bookshop.
“My, oh my!” Rosie’s hands waved around. “In our little town! Someone could have been killed with those two driving like maniacs!”
Charlotte had no words. Something didn’t add up and she couldn’t pinpoint it yet. There’d been no plates on the ute, and she’d had time to look, it was the same vehicle she’d seen twice before. No, three times before. It looked exactly like the one that chipped her windscreen.
Sid had said he didn’t see anything, despite the new chip in the glass and the cloud of dust settling on them from the speed of the ute only seconds earlier.
“Rosie, did the ute look familiar?”
“I’m too mad to think about it!” Rosie wheeled back inside with short, jerky movements of the chair.
Charlotte wanted to reach out and help but didn’t know how to without offending the very capable woman in it. She trailed behind and went straight to the kitchen. “I’m getting us some water.” she called over her shoulder.
She filled two glasses with ice from the freezer and then water and added a slice of lemon in each. When she carried them out, Rosie was on the phone.
“Nobody should be racing along the streets of a shopping precinct, officer, not even in the pursuit of a murderer! And for all we know, this was simply chasing someone who’d stolen a Christmas tree.” She listened, her face red. “Yes, you heard me correctly. Some person has stolen a number of Christmas trees from Kingfisher Falls over the past few days and it would appear our designated police officer requires assistance.”
After setting Rosie’s glass down near her, Charlotte perched on the edge of the counter. She’d never seen Rosie upset this way.
“You may laugh but had one of those vehicles hit a person you’d be investigating a different crime. Exactly. Very well, I shall. And thank you.” Rosie hung up with more force than was required. “She laughed at me.”
“Is she local? I got the impression Sid ran things here on his own.”
“He does. This was a complaint line and I probably should have let it go.”
“No. You were right. I’m pretty sure there are guidelines about pursuits in built-up areas, so Sid was in the wrong.”
Rosie picked up her glass with both hands and sipped.
“You’re shaking.” Charlotte pulled up her stool and lowered it, so she was on eye level with Rosie. “That was pretty scary seeing the cars at that speed.”
“You were right about me not being out there. I couldn’t have moved fast enough if one had…” Rosie gulped.
Charlotte took the glass and put it down, then wrapped Rosie’s hands in hers. “Nobody could. You are right to be angry about the risk Sid took in chasing the ute, but its normal to fear what might have happened.”
Rosie licked her lips, then bit the bottom one.
“My heartrate went through the roof as well.” Charlotte offered.
With a sigh, Rosie retrieved her hands. “I wish I had use of my legs again. That’s all. I’m just feeling sorry for myself.”
“Well, hopefully Sid will be questioned about his poor driving and he’ll be the one feeling sorry!”
- Writer
