Unfortunately, there was only one cashier working, and three people already in line. Lizzy scanned the tabloid headlines to pass the time, played peekaboo with the sticky-faced toddler in the cart in front of her, browsed the display of gum and mints. Finally, the mother of the toddler paid for her groceries and told her son to wave goodbye to the pretty lady.
Lizzy fumbled in her purse for her debit card while the cashier scanned her items. About halfway through, the woman looked up. Her hand stilled, her pasted-on smile slipping as she locked eyes with Lizzy. Her hair was different, pulled back in a lank ponytail, and she was wearing a heavy layer of foundation, but there was no mistaking the woman who, a few weeks back, had given her a chilly once-over from the customer service desk. Lizzy glanced at her name badge—Helen.
Helen dropped her gaze and resumed her work, avoiding eye contact until it was time to collect her money. “Thirty-seven twenty-six is your total.”
Lizzy slid her debit card into the reader, tapped in her PIN, then waited for Helen to bag her order. Getting the cold shoulder wasn’t new, but her nerves were still raw after the events of the last twenty-four hours, and it irked more than usual.
“Have a nice day,” Lizzy huffed as she lifted the pair of paper bags into her arms. She didn’t realize Helen had stepped from behind the checkout until they collided, dislodging a pair of peaches from one of the bags and sending them skittering across the floor.
Before Lizzy could bend down to retrieve them, Helen beat her to the punch. She met Lizzy’s gaze squarely as she dropped the peaches back into her bag, her brown eyes flat and unblinking. elen has beat her to the pinch. Helen“You should be more careful, Ms. Moon. I’d feel awful if you ended up getting hurt.”
Lizzy gaped at her, preparing to point out that it was she who had caused the collision, and not the other way around, but something in Helen’s gaze brought her up short. The seconds stretched, awkward and bristling, until Lizzy finally stepped around her and headed for the door.
In the car, she replayed the incident as she pulled out into traffic, wondering if she’d misread the look on Helen’s face, and overreacted in the wake of her recent run-in with Fred Gilman. There’d been nothing inherently threatening about Helen’s words. Quite the opposite, in fact. She’d merely warned her to be more careful.
Warned.
The word sent a chill through her. Was it possible Helen had smashed into her on purpose, manufacturing an opportunity to speak to her? Or was she simply being paranoid because a man with a knife had crept into her kitchen last night?
At the next traffic signal, Lizzy made a U-turn and headed back to the market. She parked near the entrance and left her purse on the seat. She was probably about to make a complete fool of herself, but she didn’t care. It wouldn’t be the first time a Moon had made a public spectacle of herself.
She was nearly to the door when Helen came out, almost causing a repeat of their earlier collision. Lizzy froze, her hastily rehearsed words suddenly caught in her throat. Helen stared at her, wide-eyed and mute as the seconds ticked by, her hands clamped so tight around her purse strap that her knuckles blanched white. After a moment she seemed to collect herself and stepped to her left. Lizzy checked her, then checked her again when she tried to change direction.
“A little while ago, when you bumped into me, you said I should be careful, and that you’d feel terrible if I ended up getting hurt. What did you mean?”
“Nothing,” Helen shot back, eyes lowered. “I didn’t mean anything.”
“Was it a threat? Were you threatening me?”
“Please. Leave me alone. Leave all of it alone.”
“All what?”
Helen shook her head, as if trying to shut Lizzy out. “You shouldn’t be here.”
“I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what you meant when you said I should be careful.”
“Please,” Helen murmured hoarsely. Her eyes skittered over Lizzy’s shoulder, her face suddenly chalky beneath her too-dark foundation. “I don’t need any trouble. I only wanted . . .”
Lizzy saw it then, the purple-green shadow along Helen’s jawline, not quite hidden beneath the heavy makeup. “Your face—”
Helen cut her off with an almost imperceptible shake of the head. Seconds later, Lizzy heard footsteps and turned.
Dennis Hanley stood glowering behind her, holding a little girl with hair the color of corn silk in his arms. Her face was a mirror of her mother’s, pale and heart shaped, but her yellow-blonde hair was all Hanley. Helen. Of course. Andrew had mentioned her name once, when Hollis came up in conversation.
“Mommy!” The child held out both arms, trying to launch herself out of her uncle’s grasp. “Want Mommy!”
Helen managed a smile as she reached for her daughter, but Dennis stepped away, keeping the child just out of reach. He turned to Lizzy, an eye cocked against the afternoon sun. “Something you need?”
Lizzy felt her spine stiffen, an instinctive and visceral recoiling. He was wearing a long white coat smeared with what looked like dried blood, and there was another smear on the side of his neck. The stench of blood came off him in waves, so thick she could nearly taste it. Salty. Coppery. Sharp. He was glaring at her over the top of the child’s head, still waiting for a response.
Helen rushed in to fill the gap. “I was just apologizing. I wasn’t watching where I was going when I came out just now, and we sort of collided.”
Dennis’s eyes never left Lizzy’s face.
