Page 6 of The Hampton Beach Café 3
"Stay here," Alex said, moving to investigate.
Frances and Lucinda looked at one another, amused.
"Yeah, right," Frances said.
"Dream on, Shining Armor Boy," Lucinda said.
As they approached the front door to the café, they could see through the glass that it was a woman in her fifties or sixties banging on it hard with a closed fist.
"You let me in. I need to talk to you! You don't know what you're doing!" she yelled.
Alex stepped forward.
"Ma'am, please stop pounding on the door," he said calmly. "Who are you looking for."
The woman looked confused and pressed her hands against the door to help her peer into the darkened room.
"I want to talk to that floozy-looking woman who thinks she's special," the woman shouted. "She's not! She's an idiot to think she is, and I've got proof!"
The three friends looked at each other in confusion and then back to the woman pressing her face up against the glass.
"I think you've got the wrong shop," Alex offered. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"That Frances Crawford woman! She's in there. I know she is!"
What!?
"Excuse me? What did you just say?" Frances exclaimed. "How dare you!"
"Hah! I knew it. Let me in. We need to talk."
A disappointed expression from Alex made Frances curl up her toes––she shouldn't have said anything.
"Go away!" she called, but she didn't even sound sure to herself.
"It's important, you stupid woman. Let me in!"
The lady smacked her hand on the door again, harder this time. The whole thing shook, and the bells at the top of the door frame jangled jarringly.
"I won't go away until you talk to me! I can't just talk about this anywhere. I need to speak with you. You're in over your head and he's going to eat you alive. You think you're smart enough for him? Here, look, look at what he's done."
Lucinda whispered. "Who's 'him,' do we think?"
"No idea," Alex said quietly.
The strange woman kneeled and they lost sight of her. Before they could get closer to try and see what she was doing, the letter slot in the door began to jiggle. They had secured it closed. The letterbox was their preferred method of mail delivery, but that wasn't going to stop her. She stood, cussing under her breath and aimed a hard kick at the letter box.
The letter slot had burst open on one side and she was rapidly shoving paper through it.
"Ma'am…" Lucinda said, "…if you don't leave in the next five seconds, I'm calling the police."
That might not have been a great idea. She banged loudly on the door before picking something off the ground. It was a briefcase.
Of all the random things she could have brought,Frances thought,why a briefcase?
She swung the briefcase hard against the door, and a small scratch appeared in the glass where the corner collided.
"Hey!" Frances yelled. "Stop that!"
