CLOSING TIME WHEN JAKE STROLLED INTO the bookstore, folder in hand. “Good news, kid,” she announced. “Your boy Robert is clean. Hire away.”
“Fantastic! I’ll give him a call and make him a formal offer.”
Darla took back her folder plus a second neatly bound sheaf of papers—the background check—from Jake, glancing as she did so at an invoice clipped to its front. She frowned as she saw the total.
“Jake, that’s way too cheap,” she declared, pointing to the dollar figure. “It would have cost me more for one of those online services, and I trust you a heck of a lot more.”
“Eh, just call it the introductory friend rate. I haven’t done backgrounds in a while, so this was good practice for me.”
Still, Darla felt a bit guilty as she unlocked the company checkbook from a drawer beneath the counter and paid the bill. As the owner of her own small business, she knew how hard it was to earn every penny. Which reminded her . . .
“How did it go with Hilda? No, no, don’t worry,” she hurried to add as Jake gave her a look that would have made Hamlet proud. “I’m not going to try to make you break your confidentiality vows, or whatever they’re called. I just want to know if everything is all right with her.”
“Strictly routine,” Jake assured her, grinning a little as she got a look at the check Darla had handed her.
Tired of the boring banker’s green that Great-Aunt Dee had always used, Darla had splurged when it came time to order new checks. Now, in addition to the store name and address, a faint trail of black paw prints ran across every check in homage to Hamlet.
Jake tucked the check into her shirt pocket and gave a satisfied nod.
“Feels good to be earning an honest living again, kid,” she declared, and Darla realized just how frustrating the past couple of years of forced inaction must have been for the other woman. “So, you want to stop by my place for a little celebratory toast after you close up? I’m going to ask Reese and Mary Ann and James to stop in, too.”
“I’d love to. Give me about thirty minutes.”
Though, actually, it was closer to an hour by the time she had closed up the place and, having first sent James on his way to the impromptu party, made her call to Robert. Even though she was the one doing the hiring, she found her fingers shaking a bit as she dialed the number. What if he didn’t want the job, after all? Would she ever find anyone else qualified who could win over Hamlet the way Robert seemingly had?
To her relief, the youth seemed just as eager to accept her offer as she was to hire him. “Sure, I can, you know, be there as soon as you open tomorrow . . . or earlier, if you want.”
Smiling a little at his enthusiasm, she suggested that he hold off until ten a.m. when she unlocked the doors. Then, recalling his affinity for the goth lifestyle, she added, “And the all-black wardrobe is fine for work, but don’t put on any facial jewelry or eyeliner, okay? Our clientele is a bit on the conservative side.”
She heard what might have been a snicker through the receiver before he replied. “No problem, boss. That’s, like, why I cut my lock. I figured I’d get stuck working for the man, so I wanted to be, you know, mainstream.”
Mainstream is something I doubt Robert will ever be, Darla thought with a smile as she hung up a few moments later and then headed upstairs for a final check of the upper level. Still, it would probably do both her and James good to be shaken up a little. Things had been pretty quiet of late, with the only excitement being Hamlet’s recent midnight escape. With that in mind, she paused for a glance through the wavy glass of the uncurtained window, which overlooked Crawford Avenue below. Though the busy daytime traffic slowed considerably in the evenings, enough vehicles prowled the streets in the wee hours to pose a real hazard to any bookshop cat who decided to take in the nightlife. Maybe Robert could help her look for whatever cat escape hatch Hamlet had apparently uncovered.
Darla turned to head back downstairs again, only to almost stumble over the feline in question. Hamlet was sitting silently at attention, his green eyes narrowed in seeming disapproval as he stared