Beachside Bullet by Jasmine Webb

Author:Jasmine Webb [Webb, Jasmine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Blueberry Books Press

Chapter 14

For the next few hours, it was all hands on deck trying to dry out the front of the store. Luckily, as Steven had said, it was a pretty quiet evening, which meant that most of the staff were free to help clean up as much as possible. And, given as this was a hardware store, we had everything we needed on hand.

Gary set up a number of de-humidifiers, while I joined Carly and Liz with some heavy-duty squeegee brooms to sweep the water out the front door. The men grabbed old rags and set about drying the items that had been soaked.

In the end, there was very little actual damage caused by the sprinkler. Most of the items on display near the front of the store had been wrapped in plastic, and given as one of the largest displays that weren’t wrapped were all plastic tubs, they weren’t damaged either. Some boxes of chocolate bars near the checkout counters were soaked through enough that they couldn’t be sold, but that was it.

“Well, that could have gone worse,” Gary said when we finally finished, wiping his brow. “Thank you to all of you. I know it’s not what you expected to face tonight. If you’d like to take a box of chocolates home, please do. I can’t sell these, but they’re probably still good to eat for a few days, and I’d rather they go to my employees than right into the trash.”

“Thanks,” I said, grabbing a box of M&M’s and one of Reese’s cups, leaving plenty for everyone else. The latter were Zoe’s favorites, and I was sure she’d appreciate them. “I hope there’s not too much damage here.”

“We got lucky,” Gary replied. “I think the candy got the brunt of it. I’ll have to reorder, but that’s fine. The rest is mostly salvageable. I’ve had bad deliveries that have cost me more than this.”

“Good,” I said, relieved that Gary wasn’t too upset about it. Of course, if Rosie’s little stunt meant we were going to be able to find the thief, well, I was sure that would more than make up for it. But still, it was nice to know Gary wasn’t going to go bankrupt after tonight’s antics.

“Can you come in tomorrow, same shift? I’ll get you on the official schedule starting next week,” he said as I was leaving.

“Sure thing,” I replied. “See you then.”

I headed out into the night, the two wet boxes of chocolates tucked under my arm, and I put them on the floor of the passenger side of my Jeep before peeling out of the parking lot and back down toward Kihei.

Instead of going home, I went straight to Dot’s. I knocked on the door, and Rosie opened it a moment later, a towel draped over her shoulder, her hair still slightly damp. She had changed clothes and was now dressed in her more regular attire: a pair of slacks and a light blouse. Her eyebrows rose slightly when they landed on the box of M&M’s I’d brought up with me.

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