Page 27 of M for Murder

‘Come on,’ she said, climbing inside and reaching across to open the passenger door for him. ‘My refrigerator was looking pretty empty when I left this morning. You can help me fill it up.’

Kylan stared at the red sticky mess as more and more of it oozed out on to the floor.

Boy, talk about a splatter.

Glancing down at her feet she noticed that some of the goo had splashed onto the toe of her shoe. Screwing up her nose she took a step back. The guy in front of her, the one who had dropped the bottle of sauce, reddened slightly. He gave her an apologetic grin.

‘Don’t you just hate glass bottles?’

Kylan smiled politely and side-stepped around the mess.

Trust you to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

She turned her mind back to the shopping list in front of her. Pasta, onions, tomatoes…

She hunted the shelf for the cans of tomatoes, certain they had been near the artichokes and black beans the last time she had come shopping, whilst absent-mindedly rubbing the toe of her shoe against the white linoleum floor. Manoeuvring her shopping cart into the next aisle, she found what she was looking for.

Typical, they always wait for me to come shopping on my own before they start moving stuff around.

Hurrying across, she collected a couple of cans of her preferred brand and deposited them in the cart. Scanning the list, she was certain that she had got everything.

Thank God!

She hated shopping. Usually she and Lawrie did it together. At the moment, though, Lawrie had double his normal classes and it didn’t seem fair to burden him with grocery shopping. Knowing that he had papers to mark, she had this evening come by herself, certain that he would return the favour in a couple of months when she had to study for exams. After all, it had been his idea that she go back to college; something she hadn’t been at all sure about doing. Lawrie had promised her that he would prove her doubts wrong, so for his sake she was trying to give it a go.

She would admit it helped living off campus. The student buildings gave her the creeps and she avoided going in them whenever possible. Having her own place was definitely better.

Lost in her thoughts, she absent-mindedly pushed the shopping cart to the end of the aisle and joined the line for the checkout. There were three people in front of her, a bald guy with a tattoo of a dragon on the back of his neck and two young women who appeared to know each other. She could see that both women had large loads of groceries, their carts piled. Kylan guessed she was probably going to have a long wait to pay.

Idly she began to browse the magazines tacked up in front of the cashier’s till. As she selected a copy of Cosmopolitan, her eyes brushed past the mirror positioned above the rack. There was a man in the queue behind her. He had short, pale blond hair and bad acne, and he was staring at her.

Impulsively, Kylan turned around to face him. It was the same guy who had dropped the catsup bottle. He smiled at her, seeming pleased that she recognised him.

‘Hello, again.’

‘Hi.’ Kylan gave him a tentative smile. There was something about this guy that she didn’t like. Something about his eyes.

Even as the thought passed through her mind, she noticed that his eyes were passing over her body, slowly, lingering, until eventually they stopped on her feet.

‘How is your shoe?’

‘What?’

His eyes came back up to meet her face. ‘Your shoe. I spilt catsup on it, remember?’

‘Yeah, I remember. It’s fine, thanks.’

He nodded and there was a brief uncomfortable silence.

Kylan seized the opportunity to turn away. One of the women had passed through the checkout, but there was still her friend and tattoo guy to go. She willed them to hurry up. Although the man hadn’t threatened her, hadn’t made any comment that could be taken the wrong way, she longed to be out of the store and away from him. Funny how she felt so unsafe when there were all these people around her. Her back was to him, but she could still feel his presence. How close was he standing to her? Close enough to touch her? Close enough for her to feel his breath on the back of her neck?

She tried to occupy her mind by flicking through the magazine. The words didn’t register though, and the pictures seemed no more than a collage of bland images. Slowly, her eyes lifted up to meet the mirror. He was still watching her. He saw that she was looking at him and smiled. Kylan felt colour rush to her cheeks. Quickly she looked away.

Possibilities flooded her mind. She could move to another checkout. She could dump her cart and leave the store, maybe come back later. She could turn around and tell him to get lost.

All of the possibilities seemed stupid, she knew that.

Christ, Kylan, pull yourself together.