Deception Cove

Chapter 25

THE LUNCH RUSH HIT EARLY.

“More like the morning rush took a coffee break and then turned into the lunch rush,” Burt Caster grumbled. He angled his head toward the tables where a number of people were still drinking coffee and chatting with neighbors. “Some of these folks never left after breakfast.”

“People are bored,” Alice said. She stacked the last of the newly washed plates on a shelf. “I think that may be one of the problems with being under siege. There’s not much to do.”

“Except eat.” Burt opened a cupboard and eyed a row of industrial-sized can goods. “Good thing the Foundation is picking up the tab for all the food costs here and down the street at Madge’s place until they get this business in the Preserve settled. Lot of the folks we’re feeding couldn’t afford to dine out three times a day, I can tell you that.”

“Seems to me it’s the least the Foundation can do under the circumstances,” Alice said. “Besides, any way you look at it, a few days’ worth of free meals is just pocket change to the Sebastians.”

“That may be true,” Burt said. He closed the cupboard door. “But at the rate things are going, we may have to start rationing canned soup. Which reminds me, the power has been off for almost a week now. I managed to keep the freezer going for a while with my old amber-based generator, but it gave up the ghost two days ago. We need to start using up the frozen food and fast. Figure it won’t last more than another day at best.”

“I’ll go downstairs and assess the situation,” Alice said. She wiped her hands on her apron and headed toward the steps that led to the basement. “The kids will be thrilled when we tell them they have to eat ice cream for dinner tonight.”

“Whatever you do, don’t leave the locker door open any longer than necessary.”

“I won’t,” she promised.

“And Alice?”

She paused in the doorway. “Yes?”

“Thanks for volunteering to help out here in the tavern. I don’t mind telling you, it’s been a tough few days. Betty, my waitress, and Carl, my bartender, both made it off the island in the first wave of evacuations. I’ve been holding down the fort alone since they left. Feels like all I do is work eighteen hours a day, get a few hours’ sleep, get up, and repeat the process.”

“I’m just happy to have something to do,” Alice said. “Nothing worse than doing nothing in circumstances like this. Besides, I’ve done a fair amount of food-and-beverage work in the past.”

Burt nodded approvingly. “Yeah, I can tell you’ve had some experience.” He reached up to a shelf and took down a large can of tomato sauce. “Sure hope Sebastian and Attridge get back here soon. That fog was worse than ever last night.”

“Drake has a plan to put a stop to what’s happening inside the Preserve,” Alice said.

Burt glanced over his shoulder, his brows elevated. “Is that right?”

“It has to do with some information he found in the old North records,” Alice explained.

Burt’s expression lightened. “Yeah?”

“You’ll be hearing more about it soon,” she assured him in her best breezy accent.

She grabbed a small amber lantern and started down the steps. An eager chortle behind her made her pause and look back over her shoulder. Houdini was in the doorway. He fluttered down to where she stood and then zipped past her to the bottom of the stairs. He disappeared into the shadows of the basement. She followed him on down.

Burt had cause for concern about supplies. Many of the shelves holding canned goods, boxes of cereal, and crackers were less than a third full. Some were already empty. She did not want to think about what might happen if Drake’s plan did not work. She also did not want to think about what would happen if it did work. She was quite certain that Drake could take care of himself, but the knowledge that he was deliberately making a target of himself unnerved her.

She crossed the concrete floor to the frozen food locker and used both hands to haul open the heavy door. Cold air rushed out. She could tell that the temperature was well above the freezing point.

She carried the lantern into the locker and set it on an empty shelf. The yellow glare cast odd shadows among the packages of frozen goods.

Houdini chortled and raced in after her.

“Suit yourself,” she said. “But it’s still pretty cold in here.”

She pulled the door shut, wrapped her arms around her midsection to ward off some of the chill, and looked around, taking stock. The packages of frozen meats, pizza dough, and other items were all starting to show signs of thawing. She moved closer to one shelf and poked at a carton of ice cream. It gave slightly.

“The ice cream won’t last another day,” she informed Houdini. “Definitely ice cream for dinner tonight.” She went to the shelves that held the hamburger meat. “Some of this will last another twenty-four hours or so if we keep the door closed, but no longer.”

Houdini scrambled up onto her shoulder and muttered.

“I warned you it was cold in here,” she said. She took down a large package of hamburger meat. “We’ll need this for dinner.”

Reasoning that the remaining items might stay colder longer if she positioned them closer to one another, she started rearranging the shelves. Although the temperature was no longer freezing, it was the equivalent of working in a refrigerator. The chill was starting to get to her.

“Should have brought gloves,” she told Houdini. She reached for a large carton of partially thawed sausages, struggling to push it up against the remaining packages of meat. When she got it moved, she saw that there was another bulky, oddly shaped object behind the sausages.

Houdini rumbled a warning. She knew that growl. Hurriedly, she stepped back, her breath tightening and her senses spiking.

“What is it?” she asked, scanning the interior of the frozen food locker for threats.

Houdini growled again. Then she saw what had focused his attention. A man’s shoe extended out from behind one of the cartons of sausages. A terrible dread descended on her.

She made herself push the next carton aside. The eyes of a very dead, partially frozen man stared back at her. The face was horribly familiar.