Eggs and Kisses

Chapter 2-3

“Here,” said Kiko, handing the signs over to Dom as he searched behind the counter for the tape. Normally he kept it next to the computer with other handy supplies, but Chad must have moved it.

“Black and white? Don’t you have a color ink cartridge in that thing?”

“It’s fine, Dom. It’s only announcing the Eggs and Kisses event.” He frowned, still empty-handed when it came to the tape and now wondering whether he should check the garbage. “Customers are only going to glance at it.”

“Tape?” asked Katie, walking up without unzipping her coat. Katie, Kiko’s full-time employee, was in her forties, and generally kept her brown hair tied back in a ponytail, but since she wasn’t here to work, it fell out of her hat around her face.

“Yeah. I’m wondering if Chad did something to it…”

“Did you try the box of markers?” she asked. “I caught him tossing it in there last week.”

Kiko pulled open the drawer and grabbed the box of markers. The tape stared back at him; he passed it to Dom and replaced the box.

“That kid,” said Dom, shaking his head, but he didn’t move to go hang the signs. Katie was here and Kiko suspected Dom wanted in on whatever gossip she might be sharing, but if that was the case, he was bound to be disappointed; she was only here to bring Kiko a costume for Mother.

“Here it is,” said Katie, pulling a small pink-and-red scarf from her purse. “It’s no shirt covered in hearts or a bow and arrow, but it should do.”

“Thanks, Katie,” said Kiko as he took the scarf from her. Last year he’d retired the old heart-covered shirt he’d dressed Mother in, intending to buy a different costume for the goose this year, but now that he was dead, Kiko had lost heart. Katie had a child’s scarf that worked, though, and it wasn’t too outrageous considering it was still very much winter in Mount Angus.

“That’s all?” asked Dom, clearly disappointed.

Katie laughed. “What were you expecting? Town gossip?”

As Dom shrugged, Kiko’s phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out, unsurprised to see Chad come up as the caller. He’d been expecting something from him for over an hour now and had just reached the point where he’d begun to hope the teen had everything all handled. It was a rare day when Chad could handle multiple tasks, but Kiko tended to keep positive about his future potential.

“Yes, Chad?” he asked, wishing he had just texted. Kiko moved off toward the basement door, the better to keep his conversation private, and his store professional. “What is it? Directions?”

“No, boss,” said Chad. There was a little static on his end as though he was standing outside.

“Is Sarah not home? Just knock on the door if there’s no bell.”

“Well, like, that’s just it. She’s not home. But the door is open and all and everything’s messed up…”

Kiko froze, hand on the door handle. When he turned back around, he noticed Katie and Dom break off whatever conversation they were having to stare at him. Dom made a motion as if to walk over and Kiko shook himself, yanked the door open after all.

“What do you mean, Chad?” he asked as he entered and flicked on the light. Chad didn’t sound spooked, but then he wasn’t the most observant person.

“So I got here and there was some s**t in the driveway, broken stuff. I thought she dropped a box, right? So I’m like parking and looking around and there’s no one here, but the back door’s open? I thought that was sketch AF so I got out and knocked on the door and shouted but no one answered.”

Kiko put his free hand to his forehead. This did not sound good.

“No other cars in the driveway?” he asked, wondering whether he should tell Chad to come back and report it to the police.

“No, boss. But the place is trashed for real.”

“You went inside?”

“I just want to get those boxes and get back,” said Chad. “My mom’s been on my case about spending time with her and I kinda ditched her early last week so me and Roy could catch a movie. I don’t want to piss her off this week, too.”

“Okay,” said Kiko, trying to picture the situation in his mind. “You went into the house but didn’t see Sarah.”

“Yeah. But it looks like she needs, like, professional help if this is how she packs boxes. All the s**t in the living room is broken and turned over and looks just like one of those CSI shows.”

“No Sarah and no boxes,” said Kiko again, very firmly, wanting to confirm that Chad didn’t just pop his head in briefly.

“I said all that already,” said Chad, practically whining. “There’s like a barn outside, maybe she put them in there? I’m going to look.”

“Chad, forget the boxes. We’ll deal with that later. Get back in the car and come back here, and I’ll call the police and report this.”

“Probably she’s out at whatever people do when they’re old, and forgot the door. Plus it looks like someone went to the barn, it’s all shoveled.”

“Look,” said Kiko, wishing Chad had the sense to listen to him. “It sounds like someone broke into her house while she was out. You don’t want to get mixed up with that.”

“Really, boss? Like, who would want literally anything an old lady has?”

Kiko resisted the urge to smack his head against the wall. He should have sent Dom. No, now that he thought of it, Dom would likely do exactly what Chad was doing right now, only he wouldn’t call up Kiko and give him the opportunity to try to talk him out of it. Kiko should have gone himself.

“Oh, sweet,” said Chad, and Kiko could hear him scuffing through the barn. “There’s all this junk in here, it’s like an antique place. That’s totally a handgun from, like, the Civil War.”

“Chad,” said Kiko, as though the teen was paying attention.

“Don’t worry, I found the boxes, they have YOY on them. See, I’m fine. Roy was giving me s**t for not reading and all, but I read some of his books while he was on shift and now I’m a nerd like you, boss.”

Kiko leaned back against the wall, eyes shut, resigned to listen to Chad acting foolishly and then having to report a break-in to the Mount Angus police. He figured he could talk them into going easy on Chad for taking boxes he was sent to pick up. He was planning what to say in his head when Chad swore loudly.

“Body,” said Chad. “Bodybodybody—f**k, boss, that Sarah lady, she’s like, dead.”