Dead as a Donut by Kathryn Lin

Author:Kathryn Lin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Road Less Unraveled Press

9

Carly and I took turns working the early morning shift at the café and today, she was in charge of the early shift.

Just as well, as it gave me a chance to stop by the hardware store on my way to the café. I took one of the signs I collected from the picketers at the mall from the pile that sat in the passenger seat.

Keep Grand Arbor Local. Shop Local.

The slogan was inoffensive, but the message was clear. I was sure that Austin would want to display it in his shop window.

The hardware store was quiet inside. I glanced around and found that I was the only customer there. I didn’t see Austin at the front counter so I assumed he was in the back of the store. Looking up, I saw two security cameras mounted near the ceiling. One camera was pointed at the door while the other one was pointed toward the cash register and had a view of the entire store. Too bad they were useless as they would have provided proof of Austin’s alibi.

Parma Hardware was a small old-fashioned shop with less than a dozen aisles. It didn’t carry twenty different brands of cordless drills like the big box stores, but you could find everything you would ever need to fix your house and garden.

I wandered through the store and looked for the aisle with gardening supplies and sprinklers. I passed by a bunch of camping supplies and something in the display caught my eye. I walked closer and realized that it was the exact make and model of the ice pick that was sticking out of Edward Banks’s chest. I recognized it by the wooden handle and the engraved brand name in the wood. Tucking the sign in my hand under my arm, I picked up the ice pick and pressed a finger to the pointed metal tip.

In my mind I pictured myself holding the ice pick in my fist and stabbing it into someone’s chest.

I shuddered. Shivers ran down my spine and my hands shook as I placed the tool back onto the shelf.

“Can I help you find something?”

A girlish scream escaped from my throat and I jumped at the voice behind me. I spun around and saw that Austin was standing less than two feet behind me. He looked down at me and then glanced at the tool I just had in my hand. An odd expression flitted across his face for a moment before it vanished.

“Oh, Austin. I just wanted to give you this,” I said before I shoved the sign at him, “and I-I was looking for something for my garden.” I cursed the stutter in my voice and silently scolded myself for being scared.

He glanced over the sign and though he didn’t say anything positive about it, I noticed that he didn’t toss it aside, so there was a good chance he was going to put it up.

“Gardening supplies are over there,” he pointed over my head to the other side of the store before he continued, “in aisle eight.

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