“You didn’t have to do this,” I chided her. “I could have picked it up if you couldn’t spare someone.”
“Nonsense.” She hugged me the second my hands were empty. “We all saw your poor shop.”
“Yeah.” I picked at a fingernail. “Miss Dotha sent her son and grandsons to help. Most of the food is for them.”
“I figured.” She glanced around the store. “Do you need help in here?”
“No.” I gestured to my teammates. “The guys are helping me.”
Asa had been sweeping and changing trash bags for me while Clay stood guard near the door.
The sight of Asa holding a broom and dustpan must have set Ms. Hampshire at ease.
In her world, the scary guys must not be domesticated.
“Oh good.” She smiled at Clay and Asa. “Thank you both for helping our Rue.”
“We’re happy to, ma’am.” Clay ducked his head. “Thank you for going out of your way for us.”
“It’s no problem.” She waved him off. “Fresh air does a body good.”
“How much do we owe you?” Clay pulled out his wallet. “Pass me that ticket, Rue.”
“I won’t take your money or hers.” Ms. Hampshire lifted a hand. “Consider it a gift from me and Frank.”
Outright refusal would hurt her feelings, and I had become a person who cared about others’ feelings.
But that didn’t mean I couldn’t fuss. “You won’t stay in business if you don’t start charging people.”
“Eh.” She flipped that same hand. “I’m about to retire. Let the person who buys us out worry about it.”
“Let me help you.” Clay offered her his arm. “The floor is still slick in here.”
“And they say chivalry is dead,” she tittered. “Thank you, young man.”
Clay was old as literal dirt, since he was made from the stuff, but he did look around forty.
Clive ducked his head into the store. “Are you ready for us to seal it up?”
“Yes.” I passed him his bags of food. “Thank you all for your help today.”
He grumbled to accept even that much payment, but the teens had their stomachs in their eyes.
Once Clay returned, Clive set the final sheet of plywood in place and began nailing it over the door.
“The Kellies replied.” Clay shook his head. “The phones are both off. He can’t track either of them.”
The girls never turned their phones off, which meant the copycat had done it for them. “Last location?”
A slight hesitation told me how much he didn’t want to say what came next. “Main Street.”
The immediate powering down of the phones reaffirmed the killer was tech savvy, which truly sucked.
On the upside, the privacy allowed Colby to stretch her wings for the first time in hours, but she kept her perch on my head. Pretty sure she had been asleep and had gone right back to napping to pass the time.
The wood blocked us from view off Main Street, and I deflated a bit, as if this version of me, this Rue, had been punctured with a sharp needle. Past and present, the two halves of my life had collided right out of the gate. I had been a fool to think I could keep this part untainted by the darkness of the other.
Black Hat was a cancer in its agents, and I was proof there was no cure.