But the bike messenger cut her off. ‘I have no idea, ma’am. That’s all I’ve got written down here. Sorry.’ And with that, he took his leave.
Beth considered the message, all the while staring at the cup, which felt warm and fresh in her hand.Best enjoyed with a box of Cracker Jack?What on earth was that all about? She didn’t even particularly like Cracker Jack. Especially not with coffee.
‘Um, hello?’ Beth’s confused train of thought was interrupted by Marley Dempsey, who had until now been waiting, albeit impatiently, on the shoe sofa. ‘I don’t have all day here.’
‘Oh, I’m so sorry, Marley! I’ll be right with you.’ Beth tried to figure out what to do with the cup of hot coffee, and decided for the moment to put it behind the cash wrap, out of view of the shopping public. She would deal with it later. It certainly wasn’t the time or the place to drink it. She looked at her watch: just after ten thirty, a good hour before she was even due to take a coffee break.
Feeling intrigued and more than a little excited, though unsure exactly why, Beth knew that before she could ponder it further she had to deal with a demanding socialite, who apparently needed more new shoes.
Half an hour later, Beth waited as Marley tried on her fifteenth pair of boots – seemingly unimpressed as the teenager had the Prada on her feet for less than two seconds before she was scowling and shaking her head. ‘No, these put like thirty years on my feet. It’s like I’m your age or something,’ she complained, scowling.
Well, thanks. Beth pressed her lips together as she did the sums. Apparently Marley thought she was pushing fifty. ‘If it helps, I personally like the Jimmy Choos best on you,’ she offered as she watched the girl kick off the fifteen-hundred-dollar boots with little grace or delicacy.
‘Whatevs,’ Marley said. ‘I guess I will take the Choos and those Louboutins. I want the brown, black, and taupe.’ The girl paused for a moment and furrowed her brow, apparently thinking hard. ‘And throw in those purple shoes too.’
Beth smiled at the girl’s ability to be so flippant over shoes that averaged a couple of thousand dollars a pop, and began gathering up the boxes that Marley had scattered all over the floor of the department within the past half-hour. Lucky for Beth, the girl’s lavish purchase would mean another decent bonus next month.
‘So, it doesn’t look like you were in Europe for very long then?’ she chatted to Marley as she went. ‘Didn’t you just go to London with your father?’ Beth tried recalling what the girl had said last time she was in the store. She hadn’t listened very closely to the details at the time, but she knew that Marley would have no problem talking – especially about her favourite subject – herself.
The younger girl nodded as she popped a fresh piece of gum in her mouth. ‘Yeah, I was only there for a couple of days. It was grey and rainy and I was totally bored. My dad said that I should hop on over to Monaco for a while – my mom was there. But like, she’s a total downer, just had a ton of plastic surgery and is recovering, so like, what’s the point of being with her?’
Possibly to keep her company? Beth thought, a little uncharitably. She’d love the opportunity to spend a little time with her own parents. It had been almost two years since she’d managed a trip home to Galway, and as it was expensive for her mum and dad to come and see her, opportunities for time together were few and far between.
‘She’s on this big detox too – completely ugh.’ Marley complained. ‘So I just decided, better to come back to New York, especially with both my folks safely an ocean away.’
And Beth had no doubt that the lack of supervision was the last thing this girl needed. Based on history alone, it was clear that whatever trouble Marley got herself into here would ultimately make it onto Page Six, and wouldn’t take long to reach her parents on the other side of the Atlantic.
‘Well,’ Beth began, feeling at a loss for what to say to this overindulged, but she guessed ultimately very lonely teenager, ‘I hope you behave yourself.’ Marley rolled her eyes and Beth instantly regretted what she had said. She did indeed sound matronly.
Beth picked up the boxes that Marley was about to take home and headed over to the cash wrap, her thoughts immediately returning to the coffee cup and the strange message. She set down the boxes and carefully moved the now cold cup of coffee aside, so as not to spill it. Then she set about scanning the SKU code on each box and added each one to a large Carlisle’s bag – and then two – so as to not make it too heavy for Marley as she left the store. Though no doubt there’d be a driver waiting two steps or so away from the entrance so she wouldn’t have to struggle on the pavement.
Just as she finished this task, Marley approached and very ungracefully plopped her large Miu Miu handbag on the counter with so much oomph that the bag toppled over, spewing its entire contents directly onto Beth’s work area and knocking over the cup of coffee. Whitish-brown liquid spilled everywhere.
Thinking and reacting quickly, Beth pulled the Carlisle bags containing the boots back just in time, as cold coffee cascaded down the workspace.
‘Oh my God, I’m like, so sorry!’ Marley said earnestly as she quickly went to collect the contents of her handbag.
Beth held up her hand, thankful that none of the actual merchandise was damaged. ‘It’s OK, sweetheart, it’s no problem. Let me just run and get something to mop this up with.’ She hurried to the back room and returned a moment later with a roll of paper towels to clean up the spilled coffee. She handed some to Marley, who went about drying off her belongings and placing everything again in her bag.
‘I’m really sorry about that,’ the girl apologised again, now sounding much more like her young age.
Beth shook her head as she finished mopping up the mess; she wasn’t mad at all. ‘Really, it’s no problem. It’s my fault, that coffee cup shouldn’t have been there in the first place.’
She pulled a rubbish bin from below the cash wrap and started throwing the soiled paper towels in it, feeling grateful that the mess was contained. Then she reached towards Marley, who also had wet paper towels to dispose of, and took them from her. The socialite reached down, grasped the now-empty coffee cup and was handing it to Beth when she stopped and frowned.
‘Hey, that’s weird, there’s writing inside this cup. Did you know that?’
Beth felt a little tingle travel up from the base of her spine.Writing in the cup?
‘Really? I had no idea. What does it say?’ she enquired, moving to the other side of the cash wrap where Marley was inspecting the inside of the cup.
The younger girl squinted and turned the container around in her hands as she read. ‘I think it says, “Meet me there. We could have this engraved, couldn’t we?”’ She frowned again and looked at Beth. ‘Huh? What does that mean? You must have gotten a bad cup,’ she added quickly, dismissing the cup and handing it to Beth for disposal. ‘Take it back to wherever you got it and give ’em hell. That’s what I’d do.’
But given the circumstances of its delivery, Beth was pretty sure it wasn’t a ‘bad cup’. She peered into the container herself, at once making out the handwriting. The message must have been written with a Sharpie before the cup was filled because it wasn’t at all smeared by the hot liquid. It had definitely been written deliberately and Beth felt sure it had something to do with the bike delivery guy’s accompanying verbal message.
A shiver ran down her spine. ‘I don’t know. This is really strange. I wonder—’
‘Wonder what?’ Marley asked.
