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‘She’s here at random times. Sometimes when I’m opening, sometimes when I’m closing. I thought she was looking across the road to avoid making eye contact with me.’
‘Hang on, why were you so sure she was here for you?’ Melanie asked.
Paulo looked bashful for a moment and ran his hand through his hair. ‘She looked familiar, and I wasn’t sure if she was someone I’d inked or someone I had, you know . . .’ His voice trailed off but they all knew to what he was referring.
‘You don’t sound worried about it.’
‘No, because now that you think she was scoping out your place, Melanie, it makes more sense,’ Paulo reasoned.
‘You got any CCTV we could look through?’ Paige asked.
‘It doesn’t cover outside. I’ve only got the insides done and the front door.’
‘Can you tell us what she looked like at all?’ Melanie asked, and Paige could hear her spirit starting to deflate when just moments before it seemed as though they may have had a lead.
‘White woman with pink hair, sometimes purple, sometimes blue. Usually tied up in a bun, skinny jeans type. Nothing really remarkable; she looks like she’s in her mid to late twenties if I had to guess. But I don’t know.’
Melanie sighed, and Paige knew how she was feeling. They were back to needle hunting again.
‘Listen, I’m locking up, but I’ll give you guys the key if you want to hang out here for a bit to see if she rocks up? I haven’t seen her yet today so you never know?’
Paige looked at Melanie, and they silently communicated. Paige raised her eyebrows: why not, we’ve got nothing to lose. Melanie’s lip bent slightly at one side: fine but I’m not convinced.
‘That would be great, Paulo, if you’re sure you don’t mind?’
‘It’s fine, just throw us a beer next time at yours. Right, follow me and I’ll show you where the alarm box is.’
Paige followed Paulo as he went through the process of locking up, arranging for Melanie to keep the key so he could get it from her on his next day in. Lights off, they pulled the sofa from further inside the shop to the window overlooking the street. Across the street to the right they could see Lulu. It was still shining brightly as people ate bar snacks, drank prosecco and took selfies.
Paige turned to look at Melanie as she stared out the window, the lights of the street reflecting on her glasses. She was stunning, and Paige knew she was falling hard. She wasn’t sure how much more she could help, how much more she could give that would make Melanie realise she was a serious contender, that she was worth it.
‘I guess we’re on a stakeout,’ Paige whispered.
‘Why are you whispering?’ Melanie said.
‘Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do on a stakeout?’
Melanie smiled. ‘You done many of these before?’
‘That would be telling.’ Paige smirked.
‘I actually don’t think you’re as mysterious as you let on,’ Melanie said.
‘Oh?’ Melanie leaned a little closer and Paige wondered if maybe Melanie did know, maybe Paige’s feelings were freaking obvious for everyone to see? Her friends already knew. Connie knew. Her staff knew for the most part if the daily ribbing from Belle and India was anything to go on. Even Jenny had started. Paige’s heart warmed as she realised how much Jenny was coming into her own.
‘Yeah, I think that underneath the leather, the jeans and the piercings, you’re a Disney-loving cat parent.’
Paige quietly laughed. ‘You got me. But tell me something about you that I don’t know about.’
‘Are we taking this in turns?’ Melanie asked and then paused. ‘Shouldn’t we be doing something else? I feel like I should be working, or something. Waiting around here, I don’t know, it just feels . . . ?’
‘We were just gonna hang out anyway. It’ll be worth it if we can figure out what’s going on, right? Come on, tell me something, and we can absolutely take it in turns.’ Paige was desperate for any crumb of Melanie’s life.
‘I used to have a drawer full of Post-its.’ Melanie let out a sigh of relief, as if she’d been holding on to that secret for years.
Paige on the other hand, was underwhelmed. ‘That’s not surprising. But I would bet good money it wasn’t just a drawer.’
Paige stared at Melanie, who immediately looked down with a blush. ‘Oh my days, that Glare of Death really is powerful. Yes, all right it was a storage box full.’
