“Yo, Echo.” Franco drops his keys on the front counter.
The woman behind the counter has hot-pink hair cut short in the front with a sort of curly mullet in back. Her eyes are heavily made-up with dramatic black liner and sharp, glittery pink shadow.
“What’s up?” Echo smiles.
“This is Chloe,” Franco says, pointing to me.
I take in the chipped black nail polish and torn fishnet top over a ribbed black tank. “So nice to meet you,” I say.
“Is Gracie around?” Franco asks.
Echo hooks a thumb toward the back of the shop. “Yeah, your sister’s done for the day. She’s cleaning up her station. Want me to get her?”
“Please.”
Echo heads back through a small door with a peekaboo window. I can already see they have more security than I do.
While Echo leaves, I notice a mount that would hold a tablet or other small device, which is probably what they use in place of a huge, antique cash register.
“Hey, asshole.” Gracie comes bursting through the door, her head cocked and her black locks flying. “What are you doing here on a school night?”
She looks from her brother to me and cocks her head in the other direction, doing a sharp double take. “And hey…Chloe,” she says, sounding confused. She comes up to me and kisses my cheek, then crosses her arms over her chest.
“You look beautiful,” I tell her sincerely, letting myself point to her arms. “I haven’t seen all these yet.”
She grins, and I swear there’s a blush competing with the rest of the colors on her skin. “Thanks, babe,” she says, using the endearment like I’m her oldest friend. “So, what the hell are you two doing here and not at work?” She leaves off the word “together,” but I am sure, given the look of amused confusion on her face, she’s thinking it.
“So, not great news,” Franco says. “Chloe was held up at Latterature last night. Asshole with a knife.”
“Oh my God. What? Stop. Are you serious?” Gracie looks at me, but the gravity in her voice and the slight shake I hear there have me nodding soberly.
“Yeah,” I say. “It was terrifying. Franco happened to come by to drop off the leftovers I’d forgotten in his truck and nearly stopped the guy. Ran into him leaving my shop.”
Gracie shocks me, clasping me in a quick, hard hug, and breathes against my hair. “Are you okay?” she asks. “My God, you weren’t hurt, I hope?”
I hug her back and shake my head. “I’m fine, thanks to Franco. He’s been taking care of me all day.”
She releases me, but only so she can hold my shoulders with both hands and stare into my face. “What the hell? People suck.” Gracie finally releases me and throws herself against her brother’s chest. “Good on you for being there,” she says. “Are you okay?”
He nods and rests his chin on top of her head. “Yeah,” he assures her. “Totally fine, just fucking pissed off the guy slipped through my fingers.”
She strokes her chin thoughtfully as if putting the pieces together. “That’s what the sign on the door means?” she asks. “I went over earlier for coffee and to hang out, but the sign says closed temporarily.”
I nod. “I didn’t want to give a reason or a timeline,” I explain. “I have a lot to figure out before I open the store again.”
“That’s why we stopped by.” Franco is looking at Echo. “Wanted you all to know. This happened yesterday when you were closed here, but whoever did this probably has been casing Main Street. The way I figure it, he noticed a new owner, a young woman by herself. Probably had been inside and saw she had no security and no technology, which means a cash business.”
Echo points to a tiny sign on the counter that reads,We love green but don’t accept cash.“We stopped taking cash like two years ago when Gracie raised the shop minimum.”
“Brought in a much more serious clientele,” Gracie explains, rolling her eyes. “I can’t tell you how many weekends I had to turn away drunk kids with a wad of sweaty twenties wanting to get the cheapest tattoo we could do.”
“Not much to steal here,” I muse, looking around the shop. I notice a tiny green light up in the corner by the ceiling.
“And we have security,” Gracie says. “But not all the stores do. It’s too goddamn dark on Main Street around closing.” She paces the lobby, a scowl on her face. “You know, just because we have cameras…doesn’t mean shit. If there’s somebody casing Main Street, we need to amp up security. More lights outside, motion sensors, maybe a security guard. The holidays are coming up, and that means more people, more shoppers, and more opportunities for criminals.”
I have a hard time believing the building owner will do anything to improve security, but Gracie has a great point.
I make a note to check my aunt’s lease and find out about the building owner and any help they might be willing to provide on the security end of things.
