Page 40 of The Vanishing Bookstore
‘You’re from the UK, smashed your cell?’
‘Something like that.’ As nice as the guy seemed she didn’t want to go into any details with him as to why she wasn’t supposed to be using her own phone.
‘Don’t look so sad, it’s only a broken cell. I can fix you up with something that will put you on until you get home. Arnie’s my name and phones are my game.’ He was grinning at her, revealing a set of the whitest teeth she’d ever seen, and she realised that she liked Arnie, he seemed like a fun kind of guy.
‘Thank you, anything will do.’
He leaned down and picked out a phone from behind the glass counter, passing it to her.
‘It’s not pretty but it will do the job, you know what I mean.’
Dora turned the gold Motorola flip phone over. ‘I didn’t think they still made these?’
‘They don’t, she’s special. I’ve been saving her for the perfect woman.’
‘Really?’
He laughed. ‘Boy, that sounded awful. Sorry, not trying to pick you up but you kind of look like the kind of gal who’d look cool with an old flip phone. It sort of meets your needs and matches your look, which is vintage and pretty cool, am I right?’
She smiled. ‘I have no idea, but I need a phone so as long as this works, I’ll take it.’
‘Oh, it works okay. Let me set you up with a prepaid SIM card and you’ll be on your way.’
Five minutes later she was the owner of the antique flip phone. As she thanked Arnie he grinned.
‘Be sure to tell your friends where to come if they need any help getting connected, won’t you?’
‘I certainly will.’
‘Cool, ’cause Arnie loves helping those accused witch gals out, it’s the least he can do, you get me. We owe you something for the way they treated you back in the day. There was just no need for it.’
Dora paused. Did everyone think she was a witch because she was wearing all black or did they know much more about her history than she knew about herself? Too flustered to even ask him what he meant, she smiled at him and left.
Once outside, she typed in Katie’s number and waited for her to answer but it went straight to her voicemail. Next, she tried the shop but the phone didn’t even connect, there was just a series of high-pitched beeps. Dora began to get a bad feeling about all of this. Why wasn’t Katie answering and why was the shop phone cut off? Her last resort was Mabel and she hated to bother her but what choice did she have? She’d already texted her earlier and hadn’t heard back from her either. She felt a terrible sinking in her stomach. Why had Katie not contacted her as she said she would?
Panic filled Dora’s lungs, making it hard to breathe. She needed an internet café, maybe she could get hold of Katie online – this phone could make calls and take basic photos but that was about it. Hurrying towards her Aunt Sephy’s house, she wondered if she had a laptop she could use. She hadn’t noticed any computers, but it didn’t mean she didn’t own one. She dialled Mabel’s number – hers, Katie’s, the shop and Lenny’s were the only four numbers she knew by heart. It took a few moments to connect to the phone and then she heard the familiar sound of Mabel’s voice.
‘Hello.’
‘It’s Dora, is everything okay?’
‘Hang on, Dora. Somebody needs to speak to you.’
There was a slight pause before a male voice spoke. ‘Dora English?’
‘Yes, speaking. Who is this and why isn’t Mabel talking to me, is she okay?’
‘Yes, she’s okay, just had a bit of a shock. There’s been an incident in your shop, we can’t locate the woman who Mabel said was running it while you’re away.’
‘What kind of incident?’ A little further up the street there was a small wooden bench in front of a shop, The Coven’s Cottage, and she sat down, her heart beating in double time at what she was about to be told.
‘Mabel said you asked her to check the shop, which she did. Inside she found some damage and quite a large amount of blood. We have officers out looking for Ms Ryan and checking the hospitals. Do you know of anywhere she could be?’
Dora couldn’t find her voice; her mind was spinning, and she felt as if she might pass out it was so hard to breathe.
‘Ms English, are you there?’
‘Yes, sorry, it’s a bit of a shock, that’s all.’Was it though, Dora?a voice inside her head asked.
