Page 56 of Real Fake Hauntings

I thanked them and left them to continue their conversation, wondering if I should tell Ian about Alex’s plan. Ultimately, though, this was Alex’s time to shine, and I shouldn’t undermine him, no matter how suspicious I was about Preston. Ian wasn’t dumb, he’d know to watch out for his stray.

Giving up on my quest to find the hoodie-wearing person, I decided to return to the shop. The sight I found there left me thunderstruck, and not because Brimstone and Destruction was anywhere near.

There was a line of people outside my shop.

My shop. Not the closed art gallery to-be nor the closed seasonal restaurant.

No, these people were waiting to get inside the Tea Cauldron.

Unable to stop gaping, I lifted my phone and recorded the moment for posterity.

A line outside my shop.

A little dazed, I went around the block and came in through the back in time to see a woman leave the bathroom, send me a shy smile, then go back inside the shop.

I followed, still unbelieving that this was my new reality.

But it was! The two tables were full, all the stools at the counter occupied, a couple simply stood at the counter, chatting animatedly over their teas and muffins, and three people waited at the counter for their orders.

“Oh, look, someone killed you before I got to you, and you still managed to stick around,” Dru commented sarcastically the moment she spotted me.

Some of the customers studied me with curiosity, but I could only nod numbly, still coming to terms with what was happening.

“Hello there, boss,” Mark the berserker said as he went behind the counter with a couple of mugs and an empty plate in his hands.

That snapped me back to reality.

I squeezed myself past Mark and whispered, “What’s he doing here?” Again.

“Helping out, boss,” Mark said gleefully.

“Since someone wasn’t here to help,” Dru added with a fake smile. Without taking her gaze off me, she plopped a muffin and a steaming paper cup in front of the first person waiting at the counter.

“I was busy with the thing,” I whispered, willing her to understand and not quit again.

“Busy.” She encompassed my face with a circle of her finger. “Sure.”

Heat crept up my cheeks. “It was necessary.”

“Uh-huh.”

“I think it looks good on you,” Mark said. “Green and all that.”

“Thank you, Mark,” I said politely.

He grinned and started pouring coffee into another paper cup as Dru took another order. Had she told him about Crane? I hoped not. Didn’t the murderers like to return to the scene of the crime? Mark had been here yesterday. What better way to case the shop than to pretend to help out?

“What are you supposed to be?” a customer at the counter asked.

“A zombie mummy.”

“Cool.” She didn’t sound impressed, which made me slip into the back and bring out my witch hat headband and secure it on top of my head.

The young woman nodded somberly when I reappeared. “Much better.”

“Did you learn anything?” Dru whispered as she traded spots with Mark in front of the water urn.

It was definitely too crowded to talk about Crane, so I told her I’d been showing the photo of the possible graffiti troublemaker, but nobody had recognized them.

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