“I’ll take it over for them.It’s too good for business for us not to deliver.”When the ticket was finished, Mabel got in her car and took it over.When she returned, she put the tips in the jar.“I make well over what you make, so I’ll put the tip in the jar for you making it.It all works out in the end.”
She was glad for the extra money, too.Last night, she’d spent her last few bucks on a dinner dress for when she and Gleason went out to dinner.He suggested that she might need one for when he had to go out, and she ordered one online.It was to arrive today sometime, and she couldn’t wait.Even the shoes that she ordered were pretty enough for her to be seen in public in.
Gleason told her that he needed a date when he went to one of the board meetings that he was required to attend.He’d been put on the board of several groups that he didn’t want to go to, but he said that with someone that he knew at his side, it might not be so bad.This Friday, they were going to a dinner where he was to hand out trophies for the best flower arrangements at the women’s club.Lucky for him, he didn’t have to pick the best one; that was done by the women at the dinner.He also warned her that she should eat a meal before going, as there was usually not enough food at one of these things to fill anyone up.She was going to take his advice on that and have herself something to eat well before they left.
Answering the phone when it rang, she was happy to hear Gleason on the other end.“I need to place an order for lunch for my brothers and me.”She told him to go ahead; she was ready.“After I’m finished, I wanted to know if you’d like to go to dinner with me tomorrow night.It’s not a big deal, just some kids drew some pictures, and I’m handing out the awards.Kinsey was going to go, but his little girl is sick, so he didn’t want to bring anything more home to her.So I said that I’d go for him.”
“That’s great.”After getting off the phone with him, she made the orders for them.She could almost tell who ordered what as she was getting to know his family well.The hot ones would go to Gleason and his brother, Ara.The meatball would be for Kinsey and Wylie, and Raphael would have the chicken parmesan.Bodi, the biggest eater of all of them, would have the double meat Italian, and he’d be scarfing up what the others didn’t eat of their own.She was glad that Gleason came to pick them up.“What sort of dress-up is this?”
“Casual.Which means I wear nice jeans and a tie.You can wear that pretty sundress that you had on yesterday.That would be fine.I’m sure that no one is going to care so long as I’m there with my checkbook out.I never do, and I’m hoping that they get the hint that I’m not funding the school for the kids.”She laughed with him as she took his money for lunch.“I’ll be late coming home tonight.I have to get with David on a couple of things that are going on, and then I’m going to drive out to see Kinsey about some investments that we’ve made together.”
“All right.You do what you have to do.”After she handed him his change, he smiled at her.“I should dump this all in the tip jar.”He did at that, and she smiled at him.“I’ll see you when I see you.Be careful going home later.”
After telling him that she was picking up another shift from Rosie, he left her.She could tell that he wanted to say something, but he didn’t look like he knew how to say it.She’d been like that over the last few days.Telling him that she was in love with him was becoming harder to hide from him.The man was everything that she wanted in a person to love, and she couldn’t believe her luck in living with him.
“Have you told him yet?”She asked Mabel what she meant.“You two look at each other like you’ve been denied something great and are waiting for someone else to say something to you.”That didn’t make sense, but she’d noticed that about Mabel.
Mabel only worked during the daytime, and she was fun to work with.When she took her medications.Here lately, she could tell that she’d not been taking them when she was supposed to because she could see the little vials of medication marked for lunchtime still full.She would remind her sometimes, but when she was in a bad mood, there was no telling her anything.So she just kept her mouth shut during those days.She’d tell the owner if he asked when he came in, but that’s as far as she would go.Hailey didn’t want to lose her job just because the elderly woman didn’t want to bother with her medications.
The rest of the afternoon was spent making mostly subs.Pizzas were for families, she noticed, to take home and to have together.While subs were her favorite thing to make, they were mostly for the lunch crowd or a bunch of people getting together for a good time.She loved working for the Pizza Parlor and was glad that she’d been able to work there about thirty hours a week.It was good money, and she liked the people who came in to pick up what they ordered.
When the dinner rush started, she was ready to go home.While she would help out if they needed her to, she mostly went home right at four o’clock.But she’d make sure that everything was stocked up for the dinner rush and that the floors were cleaned up.It was just as she was carrying out the trash that she was asked to stay over for another hour.
“I can do that, but I need to get home before six.I have some things that I’ve been working on, and they need to be finished by then.”Mabel said that would be all right, and she worked the sub line.“Good, I can do that.And run orders to the front when they’re done.”
There were others working tonight, more than she had during the day, but deliveries were busier at night, and she knew that most of the crew would be out making those when the shop was busy too.They had seating in the place, and she loved that people could come in and have their meal,and go home.Clean up was never that bad, but on occasion it would be, so she’d have to make sure that the tables were cleaned up as well as the soda area.A lot of high school kids would buy themselves a small pizza just to have access to the pop machine.
Sharon looked at her with a desperate look on her face.“I have to pee, and Mabel said she’d take over, but I think she went home.”She told her to go that she had it.“Thanks.She told me that you were closing tonight, but I heard you tell her that you could only work until six.I’ve got you covered if anyone says anything.”When Sharon came back, they worked well together.
As soon as she rang one person out, another order would be ready, and she got stuck at the cash register.Pulling someone from delivery, Sharon made sure that the items were stocked up when they got a breather, and the floor was swept.She was good at making sure that the restaurant was cleaned when there was time, and she was sure that the patrons appreciated it as well.When she was ready to leave at six, she simply clocked out after telling them that she had to go and left.She could easily get caught up in things, but really did have some things that she had to get done by six.
Agent Freemont was at the house when she got there.She wasn’t late, but he said he was early.After inviting him in, she handed him all the papers that she’d been writing things down on since she was asked to do that.
In her words, she was to tell the agent what had happened the morning that theGoldenSheephad been shot up and people were killed.It took her ten pages of notes to get things all down on paper for them.She hoped that she’d not missed anything and that she was out of trouble.Not that she’d ever been in trouble, but she also didn’t want anything to come back and bite her in the ass either.
“I’m going to read this over, all right?”She told him that it was fine, she could play on her phone.It had been a gift from Gleason so that he and the feds could get in touch with her.Just as soon as she opened the shopping app to look into getting herself more clothing, he asked her about pictures.
“Pictures?I’m not sure what you mean.I didn’t take any pictures that morning.I didn’t have my cell phone out at all that morning.”He said that one of the officers had taken pictures and that she was in them.“I didn’t know anything about that.He must have taken them before I left.”
“They’re of you sitting on the floor with the dead man, Mr.Sheppard.”She didn’t know anything about that, so she said nothing.He’s also acknowledged the fact that the bodies were moved after you left.He said that the Sheppard man had been moved because the lighting wasn’t good in the dishwashing area.”
“I didn’t know that he’d not been killed where he laid.I mean, I guess had I thought about it, I might have figured it out, but I was wigged out enough just having to sit next to him.Jamie was my friend, and he might have been a little odd, but he was a good man to work with.He also kept me from being arrested by McGee after things went down.”He said that he was going to need a copy of her fake ID.“I’ve already turned that into the other agent.He said that he didn’t want it getting around that I had one and how easy it had been to get it.It had been very easy to get.”
“Good.Let me mark that off my list.”While he was going over his list of things to ask her, she asked him if he wanted anything to drink.She was also hungry and glad that she’d been able to get herself some dinner before leaving the Parlor.She ate while he asked her questions.She was glad to be getting this over with so that she could move on with her life.“Daniel said that you moved the bodies.We know that you didn’t, but can you tell me why you think he’d say that about you?”
“He shouldn’t have moved them and was looking for someone to blame?I don’t know the workings of his mind.He seemed to have this power-trip-like thing going on.I did mark down that he kept pointing his gun at my head when he talked to me.Or around me.There was no one else there who seemed to be doing anything but following his orders.And he’d bark them out like he was some kind of master and everyone was his peons or something.”She knew that what she was saying was in her paperwork, but wanted to make sure that she wasn’t going to be missing anything when they read it over.“None of his men seemed to want to be there.I would have hated to work for him, too; he was so mean to everyone.”
“When did you leave?Did you get the time?”She said it was just after noon, and she’d beenthere since just before nine when her shift started.“That’s what I have too.IN those few hours, did you see them move the bodies?”
“I saw that they had been moved.I didn’t actually see them moving anyone.And the two waitstaff in the back room, I could see too that they’d been moved, but I don’t know what happened to their bodies.They were out of sight when they finished with them.”She thought of something else that she’d written down.“The back door had been opened by then, too.We were told never to use the back door.I did see a couple of cops back there smoking and eating, but I have no idea where they got the food from.I don’t remember them having any when they rushed into the place.”
The agent tsked, but he didn’t actually say anything.When she’d answered all his questions, he read over the paperwork that she’d given him.Twice, he asked her about something that she’d written down, but other than that, he just read it over.When he was finished, he had her sign each page that she’d used and number them.She was more than glad to do what it took to get things finished with him, and he stood up to leave a few minutes later.Hailey didn’t know what was going to happen now, but she did feel better about having things going her way with the Agents.Each time she had to speak to another one, they had different questions, so that was nice.But she was getting tired of answering them, period.She wanted her life back to normal.Or as normal as it could be after seeing what she’d seen in theSheep.
~*~
Glad to have Hailey at his side, he was able to enjoy the dinner more than he had at any other dinner that he’d been to.Most of the people at the dinner were older than he was, and he was glad for that.At the last meeting, he’d been the only single male around, and the women of all ages had hit on him.He had been embarrassed by the time he’d gotten home and decided that he was never going to go to them alone from now on.Being with Hailey meant that no one would hit on him, and he had someone to talk to as well.She was so brilliant that he could talk to her about anything, and she’d be able to talk to him about it.
“I’m glad you told me to eat.”He looked around at the waitstaff that was passing out small plates of food.Mostly, it was different kinds of cheese on crackers, but there were other things as well.Like one of them had some fancy bread with a shrimp on it.He couldn’t get past the eyes sticking out of the thing before he could eat it.And what was he supposed to do with the shell?He asked Hailey.“I don’t think that I’d trust the shrimp.It’s supposed to be cold all the time, and this room is sort of warm.”
