Free August Moon by Jess Lourey Page B

depressing, you know? She was so young, and now someone killed her. Aren’t you sad?”
    “Well, you know what they say—live hard, die young, and leave a hot corpse. Anyhow, Lydia’s the one you want to ask about Lucy. They were both on the cheerleading squad.”
    Annika returned to her rearranging of the recently departed fauna and gold-plated jewelry, and I considered this piece of information. I was here to help Tina, but would it hurt if I could pick up some information about Lucy’s last night on earth? As her friend and employer, I owed her that much. I moved to the rear of the store, hoping to catch Lydia when she emerged from the “employees only” door. Two couples entered the front and browsed the racks. I inched closer to the rear door and knelt to sift through a basket of bangles. That’s where I picked up on some tense whispering coming from the rear room, and as I stopped making noise with the jewelry, I could make out words.
    “…to steal from us!” It was a woman’s voice.
    “If you thought someone was stealing, you should have gone to the police like I told you. But you know no one’s stealing. Maybe you should lay off the blonde juice a little and learn to count the till better.” This, a man’s voice, condescending and dismissive.
    “I’m not stupid, Tom.” As I inched closer to the door and pretended to study the elastic toe rings on a shelf next to it, I recognized Tina’s voice. “I know how to count a till. Will you please listen to me?”
    He mimicked her in a sing-song voice. “‘Will you please listen to me? Will you please listen to me?’ God! You sound like a spoiled brat. You’re just as bad as those idiot girls you hire.”
    “I’m sorry, Tom. I didn’t mean to make you mad.”
    “‘I didn’t mean to make you mad.’ Maybe you should try sparking that brain before you open your piehole, then.”
    I clenched. I didn’t know Tom Mathison well. He spent most of his time in the back room or working in his shop at home, but when I bumped into him in town, he was always friendly, a broad grin on his ruddy face. He was short and meaty, with hands like baseball gloves, and a habit of slapping you on the back when you talked. I wondered if he also enjoyed slapping his wife as she talked.
    Tina sighed, and it was heartbreaking for its timidity. “I’m sorry.”
    “Yeah, you are. Are we done with this?”
    “I won’t bring it up again.”
    When Tina appeared in front of me seconds later, it was so abrupt that I didn’t have time to pretend I hadn’t been eavesdropping. “Hi.”
    She flushed and studied her shoes. “Sorry if you had to hear that. Things are a little tense around here since the, well, lately.”
    I wanted to make her comfortable. “Must be the weather. It has everyone on edge. Is Lydia here?”
    “She called in sick. She was one of the cheerleaders at camp with poor Lucy Lebowski, you know, and she’s too distraught to come to work today. Anyhow, I guess I don’t need you to help any more. It maybe wasn’t a problem like I thought.”
    I looked toward the front window and was momentarily blinded by the sun reflecting off Annika’s pendant. I wanted to help Tina win back some of her confidence. She was a nice woman in a bad marriage, a terribly common situation I had witnessed firsthand growing up. “I don’t mind.” I lowered my voice. “It’s just between you and me. So when do you think Lydia will be back?”
    Tina considered my words, cast a furtive glance at the rear room, and whispered. “She said she’d be back tomorrow, working with Kaitlyn. You better go.”
    “Okay.” I raised my voice to normal pitch. “That would be great if you could order me that Celtic puzzle ring. Fantastic! I’ll be by tomorrow to see if it’s in.” Before she could answer, I was out the door and into the dragon’s mouth. I stretched my arms over my head, shaking off the dirty feeling of hearing Tom abuse Tina. His wife had been giving him good