Series: Paige Michaels
Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 44898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 224(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 224(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
She headed to the back to move a load of boxes to the shelves to restock. Everything seemed slightly moved around. Not drastically. Just somehow—off. What was going on here?
Locating the items she wished to find, Nora loaded them onto a cart to move them easily. As she wheeled the cart through the doors, she caught sight of Samuel walking through the front door. Puzzled, she greeted him. “Hey, you. Aren’t you supposed to be in school this morning?”
“I forgot a project so I ran home to grab it during homeroom. I stopped to leave some dates off I needed for football stuff. Is it okay if I put it on your desk in the back?”
“I’d tell you to leave it with me, but I’ve got such a jumble on my cart today, I’d probably lose it. On my desk is the safest place,” she answered him with a smile.
“Thanks for letting me work around my schedule.”
“Of course, Samuel. I appreciate you letting me know in advance when you need time off. Hey, you didn’t move some colored pencils over to the adult coloring books section, did you?”
“No, but that’s a good idea. There seemed to be a bunch in front of checkout two,” Samuel answered.
“Oh, that helps. I bet they came from there. I was trying to figure out where they’d been moved from,” Nora said with a laugh.
“Maybe we have a resident crafting ghost? That could come in handy,” Samuel joked.
“That might be a bit creepy,” Nora said with a shiver before shooing him off. “Go set that on my desk and head back to school. I don’t want to be the reason you get in trouble.”
“I can’t see you getting in trouble,” Samuel said with a grin.
“Maybe I have a wild side,” Nora teased, trying to keep herself from blushing at her immediate thought of getting a spanking from her handsome Daddy.
When he called goodbye a minute later, she continued stocking items on the sales floor. There always was something to tidy or to unpack. Nora didn’t mind the day-to-day chores that came with owning a store. She was working for herself.
At nine on the dot, she opened the door for a few customers who’d arrived early. “Good morning. Come on in.” She waved to the familiar faces and offered, “Can I help you find something?” to the few she didn’t know.
“Where are the scrapbooking supplies?” one young mother asked, holding onto her son’s hand.
“Look in aisle twenty-one. Let me know if you don’t find what you’re looking for. I’m always trying to fine-tune the items I stock so you can find what you want,” Nora encouraged.
“Thanks. I’ll go check things out.”
When everyone had moved deeper into the store, a severe-looking man in a suit approached her. “I’m following up on the threat that was made here earlier.”
“Could I ask who you are?” Nora said politely as she wondered why he hadn’t started out introducing himself.
“I’m the detective investigating the case,” the man answered brusquely.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name,” Nora said, feeling something was off.
“Probably because I didn’t give it to you. Look, it’s your choice to be hostile to the police. That’s not going to help you in the future. I’ll just wait for a patrol car to be free to come bring you in for questioning.” The man turned on his heels and exited.
Shell-shocked, Nora could feel her blood pressure rising as she replayed the encounter in her mind. “That was weird.”
Trying to pull herself together, Nora turned around to see the young woman behind her.
“Sorry. I just came to ask if you have any of those adhesive corners to add photos. I like the retro look,” her customer explained before adding, “That was weird. My husband works at the local police station. That guy virtually refused to tell you who he was and then threatened you. That’s not how things are done.”
“That was a threat, wasn’t it?” Nora asked, shaking her head.
“If you know someone in the department, I’d reach out to them. I could call my husband for you,” the kind customer offered.
“Would you mind? I don’t really know anyone personally. I think I remember one of the officers’ names was Avery something. I just remember her first name because I thought it was pretty.”
“Avery Reynolds. My husband knows her well. Let me call him.” She pulled her phone from her purse and selected a number.
“Hey, honey. I’m sorry to bother you. I’m at the craft store, and some guy just came in here. He said he was a detective investigating a case but wouldn’t tell his name and stomped out, threatening to have a patrol car come pick up the lady that works here to bring her down for questioning when she insisted on knowing his name.”
The woman listened to her husband’s answer and then told him, “The lady here at Craftastic says Avery was here earlier investigating. Think she’d be free?”