Calling All Customers (Calling All... Book 3)

by Tara Ford

  Jenny laughed. “Yes, I know – well that will be us next year… if I last that long.”

  Dayna stepped into the office. “Course you will, Jen. Why do you say that?”

  Shrugging her shoulders, Jenny huffed. “Ah, don’t worry. I’m just tired that’s all.”

  “Have a kip for a couple of hours,” said Dayna, quietly. “We’ll hold the fort and if anyone wants you, we’ll say you’re out.”

  Jenny smiled up at her friend. “Thanks, Day. I’m tempted, I have to admit. I was awake at stupid-o’clock this morning and couldn’t get back to sleep.”

  “It’s probably catching up with you.”

  “I think it definitely is.”

  “Make sure you have a nap… oh, and have you done those leaflets yet?”

  “No… why do you ask?”

  “When will they be ready?” Dayna shifted on her feet, looking decidedly cagey.

  “I’ve done the leaflet. I haven’t been out to get any ink for the printer yet though. Why?”

  “No reason… I… I just wondered if you’d done them yet. You know, we need to get those customers rolling in don’t we?”

  “Yes – absolutely. Not sure how we’ll get them all delivered though…”

  “Ah, well don’t worry yourself with that, Jen.” Dayna grinned cunningly. “I have a plan.”

  “Oh no, not another one of your plans…”

  “This is a good one – trust me… and I’ve got another idea too.”

  Jenny pulled herself up in her seat. “Go on then,” she said, wearily. “I’m all ears.”

  “Ok, hear me out,” said Dayna, closing the office door behind her. “Kids break up for Christmas about a week before Christmas day, right?”

  Jenny nodded her head, nonchalantly. “Yes, go on.”

  “So for a week they are bored stupid – yes?”

  “Yes, suppose so.”

  “They are, trust me, I should know.” Dayna rolled her eyes. “Xaylan is an absolute pain in the arse just before Christmas.”

  “Ok,” agreed Jenny. “Where’s this going?”

  “Jeffers-Bubble-Bon-Bon!”

  “Jeffers-bloody what?”

  “The balloon man – remember? We saw him down at the seafront last year.” Dayna hesitated for a moment. “You must remember Jeffers?”

  “I do vaguely remember a balloon man, yes,” said Jenny, thoughtfully. “What’s his name?”

  “Jeffers-Bubble-Bon-Bon.”

  “What sort of a ridiculous name is that?”

  Dayna lowered her head. “Yeah, I know. Stupid name… but he was good wasn’t he?”

  “Suppose so. But how can a balloon man with a stupid name help us here?”

  “Well, I texted him last night, Jen. We…err… well, I still had his number.” Dayna cringed and added, “We… no, I mean, I… err… ended up seeing him… last year. And err… I… well… I met up with him. And I… gave him a blow job, down on the common. So he owes me big time.” Dayna flushed red and held her hands up in the air. “Yes, I know – I never told you about it. I was so ashamed afterwards. Yes, it’s sickening.”

  Jenny stared at her friend in shocked horror. “No… you never told me… Oh God, Dayna. How could you? I can’t believe you’ve never told me.”

  “Well there wasn’t really anything to tell. It was all over in a few minutes. He blew his balloons and I blew him.”

  “Seriously? Oh no. Do you mean at the same time?”

  Dayna nodded her head ashamedly. “Yep. He was a bit perverted. I didn’t go back for seconds.”

  “I’m relieved to hear it,” said Jenny, astounded by her friend’s revelation. “So why have you contacted him again?”

  “Saw an advert in the paper. He’s doing Christmas themed balloon shows.”

  “Not sure we could have a balloon show in here.”

  “No, he would stand outside. Hopefully encourage kids to use the shop more. He’s willing to do a doorstep display for next to nothing.”

  “And what do you mean by next to nothing exactly?” Jenny cringed. “I hope he doesn’t think he’s getting a double-whammy balloon blowing session?”

  “No, of course not.” Dayna tutted and rolled her eyes. “He’ll do a big arched balloon display for our door, dress up as Santa and make Christmas themed balloons for the kids.”

  “And how much will all of that cost?”

  “Seventy-five quid. Cash in hand. He said he could book us in on the 23rd December, for the afternoon.”

  “Go on then,” replied Jenny. “I do hope that I’m not going to regret this.”

  “You won’t – I promise you, Jen. He also has a little balloon-craft book which can be given away free if customers spend a certain amount in the shop. You’ll have to work the percentage rates and costings out with him.”

  Jenny nodded her head, half-heartedly. “Ok, I suppose it won’t hurt to give it a go.”

  Fumbling through her bag, Dayna pulled out a roll of A4 posters. “I printed these off from his website – we could start advertising the fact that he will be coming here in December, now.”

  Jenny took a poster and scanned the details. It seemed reasonable enough. “Why the hell does he call himself that?” asked Jenny, pointing to the swirly, turquoise writing at the top of the page. “Where does the ‘bubble’ and the ‘bon-bon’ bit come into it?”

  “He blows bubbles,” said Dayna, defensively. “Don’t you remember?”

  Jenny burst into laughter. “I don’t want to hear gory details about his sex life, Day.”

  Dayna glared. “Very funny. Not those kind of bubbles, you dirty mare. Giant bubbles – you know, with giant wands.”

  “Oh, I see,” said Jenny, suppressing a giggle. “And the bon-bon?”

  Dayna tutted again. “Sweets – obviously.”

  “What does he do with those?”

  “Throws them into the crowd. Jenny, don’t you remember anything from when we saw him last year?”

  “Yes, of course I do, now that you mention it.”

  “It was you who got smacked in the knee when a pile of kids threw themselves at your feet, trying to grab the sweets from the floor.”

  “Yes, I do remember now. What I don’t recall is you disappearing off to give him a blow-job on the common. How did that happen?”

  “Oh, let’s just forget it…” said Dayna, screwing her face up. “Never doing that again.”

  “I should think not.” Jenny screwed her nose up in disgust. “I do need to know though. Did you sneak off when I or Xaylan weren’t looking?”

  “No,” Dayna scowled. “No I did not just sneak off. I’m not going to do that in broad daylight, am I?”

  “Well I don’t know, Day. Did you?”

  “No! I went back that night. On my own,” said Dayna, agitation rising in her voice. “Can we just forget it now?”

  Jenny nodded her head and grinned. “All forgotten. So what’s this other plan you have? Given anyone else a blow-job that I don’t know about, have you?”

  Dayna shook her head. “No, I haven’t. You’ll have to wait and see… just get those leaflets printed.” Dayna smirked and then left the office.

  Jenny couldn’t decide between sleep or printer ink and as she sat in her comfy chair, pondering over the decision she had to make, her mind was made up for her. Within minutes, she fell into a deep and peaceful sleep.

  Waking with a start, Jenny looked up at the clock on the wall. Five minutes to two. She’d been asleep for a good hour and a half. On the other side of the office door, she could hear the sound of the new till, bleeping away merrily. Dragging herself to her feet, she went through to the staffroom and flicked the kettle on, just as Tasha came in to collect her coat and bag.

  “You alright?”

  “Yes,” Jenny replied, rubbing her hands over her face. “Just woke up actually. Can’t believe I’ve slept so long.”

  “You must be tired, working here so long every day.”

  Jenny nodded her h
ead and reached for two mugs. “Yeah, I must be. Can’t believe I’ve slept so long.”

  “Is it ok if I go now?”

  “Yes, of course. Tell Dayna, I’ll be out in a minute.”

  “Ok. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  Carrying two coffees, cautiously along the aisle, Jenny paused midway and noticed that Dayna was stood behind the till mouthing something to her. With a contorted face, Dayna was desperately trying to say something but her words were totally indecipherable. Then she pointed to the other aisle and mouthed something again. Shaking her head, Jenny frowned and mouthed back, ‘what?’

  “I said ‘Marj’. She’s in here,” said Dayna, as Jenny reached the counter and placed the two mugs on a shelf.

  “Oh, is she? Didn’t look like you said that.”

  “M, A, R, J. That’s what I was saying.”

  Jenny laughed. “Do you think she can’t spell now?”

  Dayna gave a friendly slap to Jenny’s arm. “Don’t you want to speak to her?”

  “She came in last night, just as I was locking up. It’s hopeless. There’s just no talking to her. She twists everything.”

  “Leave her to me, Jen. I’ll deal with her.”

  “She’s all yours. I can’t get through to her.” Jenny picked her coffee up from the shelf and stood by the window, slurping the sweet drink. “I’ll stand here and watch.”

  “I’ll go and see if she wants any help… probably wants more toilet rolls. Should I let her buy any?”

  “Up to you. Her daughter did say that she’s got piles of them stacked up next to her toilet but what can we do? Marj says she uses them for her birds – and she is actually paying for them again.”

  Dayna left the counter and walked over to the first aisle. “Afternoon, Marj,” she said, before disappearing down the aisle.

  The front door opened and a familiar looking woman walked in and went over to the magazine shelves to browse. Jenny had seen her face before but couldn’t quite place her. Glancing up at the mirror, she could see Dayna and Marj, half way down the aisle, having a chat about something.

  The woman by the magazines, peered up to the ceiling once or twice and by the third time she had done it, Jenny realised where she’d seen her before. She was the woman who came in one evening and commented about the banging noises coming from the ceiling. In fact, up until that time, she had been the only other person to have heard it.

  Approaching the counter, with a gardening magazine and the evening news, the woman placed them on the counter top and drew her purse from her conservatively brown handbag. “Afternoon,” she mumbled.

  “Good afternoon,” said Jenny cheerily. “Anything else?” she asked, having scanned the items.

  “No, just those – thanks.”

  “That’ll be three pounds, seventy five please.” Taking the five pound note from the woman, Jenny grinned and wondered whether she should mention the ceiling noises again.

  “Do you still get the noises all day?” asked the woman, raising her eyes upward.

  “Well, it’s not all day,” Jenny replied. “Mainly first thing in the morning and last thing at night.”

  The woman nodded. “Bet it drives you up the wall.”

  “I have been to speak to him…”

  The woman looked up from her purse, which she had been putting her change into, with a startled expression. “You’ve been up there?”

  “Yes. I went yesterday. Had a few things to sort out.”

  “You’re brave…”

  “Why do you say that?” Jenny gave a puzzled stare. “Ok, I admit he’s a bit scary but why do you think I was brave?”

  “He’s crazy.” The woman’s face was deadly serious. “I know him,” she added, worriedly.

  “Oh ok,” Jenny replied, unsure of what to say, by the look of terror on the woman’s face. “How do you know him?”

  “My best friend… she… err… used to be his wife…”

  Out of the corner of her eye, Jenny could see Dayna and Marj at the bottom of the second aisle, looking in the direction of the freezers. Then Marj quickly scuttled over to the freezer and almost threw herself in, obviously trying to reach for another cheesecake. Dayna shot up behind her and pulled her back, waving a finger in Marj’s face and no doubt telling her off for overstretching. Dayna then reached over herself and pulled out a dessert.

  “Oh, I see,” said Jenny. “So… I’m assuming they’re divorced now, as you said, ‘used to be’.”

  “No…” The woman hesitated. “No… she’s err…” Lowering her head the woman continued in a low, sombre voice. “She’s dead now.”

  “Oh… I am so sorry to hear that.” Jenny was uncomfortable and struggled to find the right thing to say. “So… err… the man upstairs – he is your friend’s widow? I assume?”

  “Killer,” the woman snapped back.

  “Pardon?” Jenny gulped hard, not liking the way this conversation was going.

  “Killer,” the woman repeated. “He’s her killer.”

  “Oh my God… really? How do you know that?” Jenny shuffled from one foot to the other, feeling awkward and wishing that Marj would hurry up with her shopping so that Dayna could come to the counter.

  “He got done for it.”

  “Oh gosh. I’m so sorry to hear this. How terrible.”

  “He’s been up there…” said the woman, pointing to the ceiling, “…for the last three years – since he came out of prison.”

  Jenny cupped her hand over her mouth and stared wide-eyed as the realisation took hold.

  “Went in a mental hospital for about eleven years and then he was in prison for the last seven.”

  “I… I can’t believe it. So he got put away for 18 years?”

  The woman nodded. “Yes… so be careful. Don’t mess with him,” she warned.

  Shaking her head, Jenny mouthed a big, fat ‘Noooo’. “No, I won’t be messing with him, don’t you worry. Err… well, umm… how did he… I mean, do you know?”

  “How he killed her?” The woman finished the sentence for Jenny.

  “Yes, do you know?”

  The woman nodded slowly and then gazed down at her feet, sorrowfully. “Yes, I know… I was there…”

  Dayna and Marj had finished routing through the freezer and were edging ever nearer to the counter. Willing Marj to hurry up, Jenny also sent a psychic message to Dayna, not that either of them had any psychic powers, but she willed her to get over to the counter, as quickly as possible. Jenny hated awkward situations like this and it was going from bad to worse by the second.

  The woman continued. “I remember it like it was yesterday.”

  “That must be terrible.” Jenny shook her head sorrowfully.

  “Yes it is,” the woman agreed. “It’s like a living nightmare.” Shooting a glance behind her and then around the shop the woman’s twitchy eyes returned to meet Jenny’s.

  “I’m sure it must be a nightmare for you…”

  The woman nodded and sighed heavily. “Me and Jessie were at the train station – going to London – work, you know. He’d dropped us off in the morning, like he always used to...” The woman’s voice lowered, “…before he lost his license.” She turned and looked behind her again, then out of the window and along the road. Turning back the woman peered down the length of the shop and appeared to shudder. “Does he come in here?”

  “No, he has never been in here since we opened.”

  “Good,” the woman replied and looked more at ease.

  “So, you were saying – he lost his license, his driving license?” asked Jenny, curiously.

  The woman nodded her head and continued. “Yes, dangerous driving. He got done for driving along the wrong side of the motorway. Could have caused a big accident. He had insisted on driving us to the station that day though, in Jessie’s car. Said he wouldn’t get caught and it was a one-off. He promised he wouldn’t do it again. Said he wanted a go, one last time before his ban was made an order in the court.”
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  “That’s not good.” Jenny began to chew her fingernails and then stopped abruptly and wrapped her arms around herself and tucked her hands underneath her armpits. A self-cuddle was the only comfort she could get as she continued to listen, intently.

  “Station was only five minutes away so we thought it would be ok, just a quick trip, you know what I mean.”

  “Yes, of course… easily done, I know what you mean.” Jenny shot a swift glance down the aisle. Marj was rummaging through the crisps, knocking packets onto the floor and creating a mess. Dayna picked the crisps up and tidied up behind Marj, in what Jenny thought was a very angry way.

  “He had been acting strange though. You know, totally weird, since he’d gone up the motorway, three weeks before.”

  “Why did he do that?” asked Jenny, getting more and more intrigued but more and more worried that this man lived right above her head. And the really scary thing was that she had been alone inside his flat, only a short time ago.

  “Said he made a mistake. Six miles and two junction slip roads is no mistake.”

  “God, no. He could have left the motorway surely.”

  The woman shrugged her shoulders. “Jess couldn’t see it though…”

  “See it?”

  “Yea, see that he was getting weird.”

  “Oh, I see.”

  “Things she told me… I knew it wasn’t right.” The woman frowned and shook her head from side to side.

  “I’m so sorry, it must be very hard for you,” said Jenny, sympathetically. “You really don’t have to tell me, if it’s too difficult.”

  “No, it’s fine. I don’t ever talk about him anymore. It’s just that my mum… well, she lives over the road. Bit awkward. We didn’t know he lived here when my mum first moved in.”

  “Oh, ok. That is such a shame for you. And for your mum.”

  “Well, I suppose they had to put him somewhere… give him another chance. He can rot in hell as far as I’m concerned. We found out about a year ago, that he lived here.”

  The woman’s face broke into a smile and Jenny smiled back briefly. ”Sorry if I’m pestering you.”