"Y-you're leaving?" Eve's heart stilled as a dozen questions spun through her mind. "Already?"
"I was expecting ye a mite earlier." The woman's voice held a tone of mild reproof. "And now I have to hurry along and take my granddaughter to her orthodontist down in Killarney."
"But...but I don't know anything about this place."
"She said she left ye a good long list of what to do. Ye'll be fine."
"Do you work here every day? Will you be back?"
One hand on the doorknob, the old woman looked over her shoulder and chuckled. "Goodness no, dear. I'm just a neighbor. Shauna asked if I could step in until you arrived."
"But—" Now Eve felt seriously dizzy. "Wait—who are you?"
"Colleen. Colleen Moriarty. This is just a small shop, dear. Shauna said you're a librarian in some big, fancy library in Minneapolis. Sure and ye'll not have a bit of trouble, coming from a big place like that."
Eve glanced frantically around the shop, feeling the walls closing in on her. "I...I've never run a cash register like this one. And what about sales tax—do you have that here?"
"Give Shauna a call, dear—she'll set you straight soon enough. C'mon, Bonnie." The woman whistled to the Corgi and stepped outside, then hesitated and popped back in the open doorway. "I'm not sure what ye'll want to do about that man she's got in the back room, though. And don't forget about Walter, dear—or that beastly creature upstairs."
Eve stared at her. A man? What man? Maybe he was Shauna's significant other. But who on earth was Walter? And what began to worry her more with each passing second was the presence of a creature upstairs.
But before she could ask any more questions, Colleen disappeared into the intensifying snowfall outside.
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Also by Roxanne Rustand
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A London Christmas (Coming Soon)
A Montana Christmas Page 6