Page 31 of The Vanishing Bookstore
‘He said his name was George Corwin.’
Sephy looked at Lenny. It was her turn to look horrified.
‘He came to my shop for some funeral flowers, his girlfriend had just died.’
Sephy took both of Dora’s hands in hers.
‘Did he seem familiar; did you recognise him perhaps, his voice, his manner?’
‘I thought I knew his eyes; they were so dark, and I remember thinking that I’d looked into them before, but I didn’t recognise his face.’
Sephy turned to Lenny. ‘Did he know who she was or was he just guessing?’
‘I think he would have moved fast if he’d been sure it was her. He can’t have been convinced.’
‘Erm, could you please not talk about me like that, it’s very weird and unsettling.’
Sephy stood up and patted her arm. ‘Of course not, Dora. It’s difficult there’s so much to talk about and do, but we need to put it in order of priority. Did you tell this man you were coming to Salem?’
‘No, I did not. There’s only my friend Katie who knows. Oh God, she’s running the shop. Is she safe? Would he hurt her to find out where I am?’
Panic filled Dora’s voice and she pulled her phone out of her pocket to text Katie. She checked her messages and felt a wave of sickness rush over her. Katie hadn’t read the message she’d sent earlier, and Katie always replied to messages even in the middle of the night. She never put her phone on silent, always telling Dora she was too nosy to miss any gossip.
‘I have to go back to London and check on her.’
Her aunts screeched at the same time. ‘You can’t, you simply can’t.’
‘Until today I had no idea any of this existed. And I don’t understand half of what you’ve told me. But one thing is certain, Katie has been my best friend since I went to college, and I can’t leave her in danger.’
‘Honey, it’s almost one in the morning in London, she might be out or exhausted after working the shop. Can you phone someone else to check on her, what about Mabel?’
Dora nodded. ‘I can ask Mabel to check the shop, she has a spare key; will I be putting her in any danger though?’
Lenny nodded. ‘Possibly. Why don’t you ask her to check the shop when it should be open in the morning? You could phone Katie’s parents or the police and ask them to check on her for you.’
‘I can’t drag her parents into this, they’re elderly and live too far away. Seriously, what are the police going to say when I tell them my friend is in danger from a witch hunter?’
‘Not a lot, I should imagine they may tell you to stop wasting their time.’
Sephy looked down and Lenny nodded. ‘Good, that’s good. Maybe ask Mabel to check her in the morning but for now I need you to turn your phone off, just in case.’
‘Just in case what?’
‘Please, it’s been a long day. Katie is fine. There’s a lot going on and we don’t want to worry about anyone tracking your phone. Turn it off and we’ll get you a new one tomorrow. Let’s go and say hi to Lucine, she’s been waiting a long time to see you again.’
‘Okay.’
Dora felt all her anxieties draining away at the thought of meeting her mum. Just then, the shop door tinkled again.
Sephy smiled at them both. ‘Perfect timing, my customer is here. I’ll catch you both at home – try not to tire Lucine out too much and have fun.’
She walked through the velvet curtain, leaving Dora staring at Lenny, who shrugged.
‘Come on, we’ll go out of the back door and take the long way home to avoid all those people outside the Witch House.’
They left, Lenny softly closing the door behind them. It was dark, the alley a lot more peaceful than the mayhem they’d walked through on the way here. Dora realised that after all these years of wishing she’d known her mother that she was finally about to meet her, and she wasn’t sure how she felt about that.
18
