Christmas Presents by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Epub3
Publisher: Penzler Publishers

14

Three days until Christmas and the shop is pure mayhem. There’s a line of people waiting outside the door when I open at ten, and a steady flow all day. I never stop moving. Van and Brett don’t get here until after school. Before his stroke, I used to be able to call my dad to come work in the shop when he was off. He was always happy to do it, and people treated him like a celebrity. Word would spread that he was in the store and people would come for books and to complain to him about this or that. But today I’m alone.

The whirlwind of it is good for me, pushing away thoughts of the music box, my visit to Harley Granger, the pending candlelight vigil, the fact that I heard Mrs. Wallace was back in town and staying at The Little Valley Inn. The rumor is that she sold the house to Harley Granger because she’s basically destitute now, having slowly burned through her savings keeping the investigation open, caring for her elderly parents, unable to work since Ainsley and Sam went missing. Was it an act of charity on Harley Granger’s part? Or was it predatory? I looked it up on Zillow. He paid fair market value for the property, even though it’s in shambles. So it’s not like he took advantage of a widow still searching for her missing daughters, her own health—rumor has it—failing.

After Brett and Van get in, I sneak into the back office to eat for the first time that day and take a few minutes off. Wolfing down the leftovers from Miranda’s dinner last night, I use the time to search the web for news of Lolly Morris. I watch a press conference given by the new Sheriff, Barney Offal. He graduated a couple years before I did, went to John Jay College in Manhattan, and then returned to Little Valley, worked with my dad, and ran for Sheriff when my dad retired. My dad thought highly of him—said he was competent, smart, and compassionate. Maybe he still thinks that but who knows what my dad thinks now. At breakfast this morning, he was groaning.

“Come on now, Sheriff, eat your oatmeal,” Miranda was saying as I walked out the door.

When I looked back, he was staring at me hard, tilted in his seat, a dribble of oatmeal on his chin.

“Dad, be good for Miranda,” I said, pushing back the uncomfortable feeling that he was trying to tell me something but couldn’t.

On the video, Sheriff Offal clears his throat. “Lolly Morris was last seen leaving her place of work, Headlights, on Rural Route 94. Security cameras caught her walking to her car at one A.M. She appeared to stop and talk to someone. Then she got in her car and drove away. Whoever she spoke with remained off camera.”

Someone shouts a question I can’t make out but the Sheriff lifts a palm. “I’ll get to your questions after my statement.

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