Midnight Whispers (The Midnight Duology #1)

Chapter 5

5

I get to the coffee shop during the lunch time rush. Sophi, one of my employees, usually does a wonderful job at handling everything herself, but even she became quickly overwhelmed by the business in the shop today. Immediately, I get behind the counter and begin taking orders while she makes everyone’s drinks and hands out pastries. There were at least a dozen separate people in line when I got here. Even though we lack the convenience of a drive through, people prefer our coffee over that of our competitor and days like this are proof.

It is over an hour of customers coming in steadily, but eventually the rush dies down and we can finally breathe again. My body decompresses after the last customer is given their iced vanilla latte and banana nut muffin.

“I will not be disappointed if I don’t have to serve another latte the rest of the day,” I laugh, resting my lower back against the counter.

“Seriously. Why were we so busy today?” Sophi laughs. “Thanks for coming in, boss. I know it was your day off. You really saved my ass.” She begins to clean the coffee spills off the front counter.

“I really should hire at least one more person to come in on the weekend afternoons. Why don't you go ahead and take a breather, Soph? Make yourself a coffee and have a snack. I know rushes can be so mentally draining. I’ll handle everything for a bit.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice!” She laughs and heads to the back room.

I restock the pastries and any syrups we are low on to avoid running out in the event we get another rush. As I tidy up, a chill creeps up my spine, settling at the base of my skull. An eerie feeling of being watched washes over me; every nerve in my body goes into high alert almost as if to warn me of some kind of unseen danger.

Shaking my head, I try to brush off this irrational feeling and begin to clean off tables and pick up trash within the dining area. There are currently only three people in the shop; a couple making googly eyes at one another and a man I’ve never seen before sitting in the further corner of the room. His back is facing the register, and I can’t see his face, but I find myself being pulled in his direction.

I go and grab the pot of freshly brewed coffee from behind the counter to refill his mug, hoping to introduce myself. Quickly, I look at myself in the reflection of one of the glass cabinet doors, fixing my hair with no explanation as to why there's suddenly the urge to do so. The bell to the front door dings and breaks my concentration.

“Hey loser,” my best friend says as she comes up to the counter.

“One second, Flo. Let me go and refill this guy's mug,” I reply with wide eyes.

She follows my gaze in his direction and turns back to me with an exaggeratingly large open mouth. “The back of that man's head is hot. ”

I cover my mouth to hide my incoming giggle, but she’s right. His hair is dark, almost black, disheveled and incredibly sexy . How could I be so attracted to someone based on the back of their head?

“I’ll be so quick though,” Flora continues. “There’s a Halloween party tonight.” She looks at me with pleading eyes.

“Okay… and?” My response was quick and slightly irritated.

“Let’s go, bitch! It's at the historical society and adults only! We can drink and get our freak on.” She begins to dance, wiggling her chest in the most dramatic way possible.

“If I say yes, will you get out of the way?” I look over her shoulder.

“Yes.” A devilish smile forms on her face, and she taps the tips of her fingers together in a mischievous manner.

“Fine. We can go.”

As if he was waiting for confirmation about my attendance at the party, as soon as I said I would go, he got up and left. Disappointment fills my chest, followed by confusion as to why I was feeling disappointed.

“Dang,” I sigh, not trying to hide my disappointment.

“Damn. I suck. I’m sorry, Lil. I was just so excited about this party.”

“It’s fine. I just really would've liked to see his face.”

For the life of me, I can’t figure out what's pulling my attention toward him, but every fiber of my being is screaming with desire to find out who he is.

I grab the spray bottle of cleaner and a clean rag before walking over to the now empty table. There’s a paper that’s been crumpled up laying down in front of where he would have just been sitting. I flip over the discarded paper before spraying the table with spray.

Air immediately leaves my lungs when I see a portrait of me on the other side of the paper. I study the drawing, each delicate line revealing more details of my face. How could he possibly have gotten all the details in my face, even down to my freckles, so accurate?

“What are you staring at over here?” Flora asks as she comes up behind me. Looking down at the paper, she gasps. “Holy shit. Who was that guy?”

I shrug, still mesmerized by the drawing. I slip it into the pocket of my apron before spraying down the table and wiping it clean. The presence of the portrait feels heavy in my pocket. I’m wrestling with my desire to pull it out and look at it again and again.

“So, when's this party?” I ask Flora, desperately trying to distract myself.

“Thursday. I have the perfect idea for costumes!”

I stifle the urge to roll my eyes because I can only imagine what she has come up with. “Oh, and what would that be?”

“We should go as vampires! It’s totally perfect since Dracula has been your favorite novel since you were like ten or some shit.” The excitement radiates off her and it’s impossible to say no to Flora when she feels this passionate about something.

“Fine. I’ll go with you as vampires, but I don’t want to show too much skin.”

She gives me a smirk, mischief gleams in her eyes. “But then we won’t be sexy vampires,” she pouts.

“No, Flo.” I toss my head back.

“I promise it’ll be great!”

“You said that about the nurse costumes, the witch costumes, and let’s not forget the nun costume two years ago. I’m not even religious, but I still have trouble looking Father Strong in the eyes.”

“You’re going to look so hot, babe! Leave everything to me.”

My eyes roll. “That’s what I’m afraid of.”

“Bye! Love you!” she sings as she leaves the shop.

Damnit, Flora.

Sophi comes back from her break shortly after Flora leaves. I go into the office to sort through applications and adjust the schedule. I’m at Alcott’s most days, but there are some holes that I need to fill in the schedule and it would be nice to actually give myself a break.

After about thirty minutes of looking at applications, confirming they can work the availability I need and setting up interviews, I pull out my phone for a social media break. I scroll mindlessly for a few minutes, until something that reads Urgent News for The Following Counties catches my attention. I click on the link and read through the counties. Just as I near the bottom of the list and relief fills my stomach, it leaves when I find my county at the very bottom of the list.

According to the article, there is an increasing number of bodies that have been found decapitated. The coroner has ruled out the possibility of it being an animal, but they’re unsure what else it could be. Our town sheriff is recommending that nobody go too deep into the forest or stay out alone late at night until they find out who, or what, is to blame.

I chew on my fingernails and continue to read through the article. Dread fills the air around me at the thought of a serial killer, or even the potential of one, being near Emolyn Cove. It’s been quiet for as long as I’ve lived here, so this is unexpected. Whoever it is must be really twisted because… decapitation ?!

There’s no other rush the remainder of the day. Sophi and I clean, restock, and go over potential interviews together. Even though I’m the owner, her input is important to me.

It’s because of this that I smile at her at the end of our chat. “Soph, I want you to know how important you are to me and Alcott’s. All your hard work isn’t going unnoticed, so I’d like to offer you a promotion.”

“What?! Me? Lil.” She chokes back a sob.

“Would you be open to being a manager? You basically do everything a manager does already anyways. It would just be a raise and title. I mean, you already have keys to the place,” I laugh.

“Thank you so much!” She wraps her arms around me. “I’m so honored.”

“I’ll put the official paperwork and everything together tonight and tomorrow. Next time we work together, you can go over it all and make sure you agree to everything before you sign it. That includes the pay raise, okay? If you don’t think it’s fair, let me know.”

“I’m sure it will be more than fair, Lil. You’re seriously the best boss ever! ”

I smile, unsure of what to say. I’ve never been good at accepting compliments.

We close the shop and say our goodbyes, going our separate ways. With the new safety measure in place, I decided to shut our doors a little bit early, that way Sophi and I both get home before dark.

Once I get back to the cottage, I get into more comfortable clothes and go into the reading room. I look through my collection of books, unsure of what to read, before finally settling on a fantasy romance that caught my eye. Wrapping my blanket around my shoulders and settling onto my oversized reading chair, I get lost in the world within the book. Each page is a continuous adventure of love, friendship, family, and I can’t forget about the dragons.

I must have dozed off at some point because I’m jolted awake by a noise from the front of the house. My initial reaction is to hide under the blanket, but if it’s the serial killer coming to kill me next, that’s not the best place for me to hide.

“Flo… Please say that’s you?” I call out, but there’s no response.

Well, just great. Now the killer knows where you are.

My stomach sinks, causing the bile to rise in my throat. I feel like I’m going to be sick with how fast my heart is racing. I tiptoe my way through the cottage, begging the floorboards to not creak, while looking around the house. There’s nothing I can see out of the ordinary, everything is in its completely unorganized, but still organized, place.

At least from what I can see.

Maybe it was an animal.

The toilet flushes and I breathe out a sigh of relief. I place my hand on my chest and lean against the hallway wall.

“What are you doing, you fucking weirdo?” Flora laughs as she comes out of the bathroom.

I glare at her. “I fell asleep reading and then I heard a sound. You scared me.”

“Oh gosh. I didn’t realize you heard that. I accidentally dropped the soap bottle when I was refilling the container.”

“Well, I called out for you.”

“Sorry babe. I didn’t hear you.” She places her hand on my shoulder .

My heart still racing, I nod and walk into my bedroom. I never check the time on the clock or plug my phone in. As my adrenaline begins to go down, exhaustion fills my entire body.