Page 46 of Shattered Sanctuary

“I feel like I’m trapped in some kind of Dolly Parton nightmare,” Erin mumbled as they walked a little farther down the street.

“Just ignore it. We found some cute shirts in the last place. Let’s just be thankful for that.”

“Sure.”

“I’d like to run over to the post office,” Kaely said. “I need some stamps.”

“Seriously? Ever hear of email? Texting?”

Kaely laughed. “I want to mail the postcards to Noah.” She shrugged. “Don’t judge me. We haven’t had a vacation in years. I’m sending him photos of Sanctuary and the area around it. I intend to writewish you were hereon them.”

“Man, you really are sad,” Erin said with a smile.

The post office was only two blocks away, so it didn’t take them long to get there. It was housed in a small building with only two clerks. You could fit at least five of Sanctuary’s post offices into the one she frequented in St. Louis. Although it wasn’t as high tech, it was obvious that the two clerks took their jobs seriously.

“Can I help you?” the man behind the counter said. He looked to be in his thirties, tall, thin, with black glasses that sat on the edge of his nose. His badge readAllen Dunne.The woman working beside him was a wisp of a thing withdelicate features and large blue eyes. Probably early thirties. Erin glanced at her badge as well.Olivia Gregson.A bad habit from her days on the force. When showing up at a crime scene, they would need the names of the people working in any stores or businesses. She checked them out now automatically, without thinking.

“I need some stamps,” Kaely said. “A book of twenty?”

“Do you need anything?” Olivia asked Erin.

Erin smiled at her. “No, thank you.” Since there wasn’t anyone else standing in line, she felt as if she needed to say something else. “So, how long have you worked here?” she asked.

Olivia blinked quickly and for a moment, Erin wasn’t certain she was going to answer her.

“I’ve been here for three years,” she replied. Her voice was light and soft. “Allen hired me. He runs things and does all the deliveries. I help him, and I take care of the desk when he’s gone.”

That was a little more information than she’d expected, but Erin smiled at her.

Olivia reached under the counter and brought out a large spiral notebook with pages that contained pictures of different kinds of stamps.

“Just pick out what you want,” she said to Kaely.

“Wow. Lots of great choices,” Kaely said. She finally settled on some cute stamps with snow globes.

“Good choice,” Olivia said. “They’re my favorite.”

As she got a page of stamps out and Kaely paid for them, a man came in the front door and headed over to a bulletin board on the far wall. Before he could tack it up, Allen called out to him.

“There’s a certain uniformity,” he said. He came out from behind the counter and headed toward the board. The man stopped and waited for him to take the piece of paper from his hand.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know,” he said.

Allen moved the notices around and then put up the man’s flyer. “There. That will work.” Then he turned toward the man. “Always check with me first before putting things on this board,” he said in a stern tone. “Otherwise, everything will be out of order.”

“Again, I apologize.” He looked toward Kaely and Erin and rolled his eyes. Erin turned away, trying to hide her smile from Allen.

“A lot of tourists stay here,” Erin said to Olivia. Getting mail to them must be a challenge.”

“It can be,” Allen said brusquely, cutting off Olivia’s response. “Most people only stay for a week or two, but some stay all summer. Then they don’t tell us when they leave.” He returned to his place behind the counter. “We take all the mail to the hotels and resorts. They separate it and give it to their guests. That helps. Of course, the rentals can be confusing. When people like you stay in a rental for a short time and give their address to friends and family, unless the owner notifies us, it can make our jobs harder.”

The way he said it was as if she and Kaely were purposely out to get him. She couldn’t help but glance at Kaely who raised her eyebrows.

“We’ll be staying at Steve’s cabin for five more days,” Erin said. “But I doubt we’ll get any mail.”

“No, we shouldn’t,” Kaely said, frowning. “But I just realized something. With the storm coming, maybe I’d betterfill out a couple of the cards I bought and mail them now.” She looked at Allen. “Is that okay?”

He nodded. “Of course. You can sit there and prepare them if you’d like.”

---