The Farmer's Daughter: The Dragon Dream: Book One Read online

  Craig turned his gaze back to the street. Darkness had fallen, and he could see the first quarter moon rising beyond the trees. Contentment still filled him, and he was surprised a few minutes later when Princess stretched out on the floor next to his chair.

  She whined softly.

  When had Angela left? He wished she hadn’t. It was one of the clearest conversations they’d had, not counting work related ones. And it had been pleasant. He found himself looking forward to tomorrow. Maybe he could help her with the dog’s bath.

  It was crazy. He wanted to get to know her better. Just the simple fact she didn’t throw herself at him like her cousin had caught his attention. If anything, Angela often went out of her way to avoid him.

  What he really wanted could never be. It was a pleasant daydream, but nothing more. Veronica had killed that part of him long ago. But surely, he’d be able to be friends with Angela. So long as she never touched him, he should be able to handle that much.

  He should be getting up, but his thoughts were so preoccupied he didn’t move. Before he knew it, the store behind him was closing. David stepped out to let him know he’d be back in the office whenever the owner was ready to do the nightly tally.

  Craig nodded wordlessly, and the manager disappeared back into the store.

  In a few short minutes, he heard loud voices approaching the screen door. It wasn’t uncommon for his employees to slip out this door if they were parked on this side of the store. Except it sounded a lot like Susan and Cori, who usually parked on the other side.

  “Did you hear about Angela’s farm?” Susan was asking.

  “Yeah, tough break,” replied Cori as the two came through the screen door. “How’s she going to manage?”

  Susan shrugged as they walked past Craig and down the steps. “Beats me. I’m sure she’ll figure something out. She’s very resourceful.”

  “Don’t I know it!” Cori exclaimed. “I remember this one time back in high school. She ‘borrowed’ Andrea’s walkman…”

  Their voices faded away as they walked out of range. He watched them stand at their cars and talk for another minute before they drove away.

  “Oh God,” he muttered. They were trying to cause trouble. They had sounded sincere enough, but he was meant to overhear. It hadn’t taken long for him to figure out this trick of theirs. He was surprised they still tried using it.

  Craig stood and walked inside. He made sure there was no one else headed out the deli door and locked the inside door behind him. David was waiting on him. He passed Angela straightening some shelves and nodded to her. She gave him a small smile, and he couldn’t help but return it.

  Unfortunately, the cash trays didn’t add up. It wasn’t a small amount either. They counted everything twice, and then once more. All three trays were short.

  It was David who finally voiced it. “Well, either our math is off tonight, or we’ve been robbed.”

  Craig sighed, beyond frustrated. There had never been more than a five or a ten missing before, easily explained as a cashier’s mathematical error. Over three hundred dollars missing was another matter. “If Angela’s still here, she can double-check our math.”

  The manager checked his watch. “Maybe. She likes to make sure everything’s done before she leaves.”

  “Stay here,” said Craig, rising from his office chair. “I’ll go check.”

  David made no comment and made sure to wait until Craig’s back was to him before smiling knowingly.

  “Angela?” Craig called out as he entered the main store. “Are you still here?”

  “In the break room!” was the faint answer.

  He veered in that direction and met her in the doorway. “How’s your math?”

  “Uhm, okay I guess. Unless you want me to do quantum mechanics.”

  “Nothing complex as that,” he assured her. “You haven’t clocked out yet have you?”

  “Just.”

  “Ah, okay, I’ll fix it later. I’d like you to come back to the office and double-check our math.”

  “Me?” she asked, her surprise clear.

  “You are kind of the only one left to ask.” He attempted a smile. He’d have asked her anyway.

  “Right? Sure, okay.” As she followed him back to his office, she asked, “What’s the problem?”

  “We’re missing three hundred twenty-seven dollars. I’m hoping you can spot something we’re missing.”

  “Ouch!”

  “Exactly.” He sat her in his wheeled chair behind the desk and let David show her the numbers and count out the cash. He needed distance – now; her rose scented perfume was distracting him more than usual. He watched in grim silence as the two plodded through the same motions he and David had done before. Twice.

  “There’s no point in doing it a third time,” Angela decided. “It’s going to come up the same.”

  David’s smile had long since vanished. “There’s a little missing from each drawer. Even Larry’s. I checked the logs, no one did the sign-offs between shift changes.”

  “I guess we’ll have to start enforcing it.” Craig crossed his arms angrily. “Who all worked the registers today.”

  After naming off the regular Saturday cashiers off, the manager ended with, “I even filled in a few times today. For a few of them, on and off. I don’t know if Miranda did anything this morning. She didn’t log it, hell – neither did I.”

  “I don’t suspect either one of you,” said Craig with a half grin for his manager. His chest tightened suddenly, and he looked at Angela. She looked tired. “You didn’t fill in at a register today, did you?” The tightness released at her head shake. “Good. I never suspected you anyway.”

  “That’s good to know,” replied Angela with a half-smile.

  “Still doesn’t narrow it down much, does it?” asked David with mild sarcasm.

  “No.” He caught Angela smothering a yawn and checked his watch quickly. He didn’t know what time her church started, but it was getting later and later. “You can go on home, Angela. Thanks for your help.”

  “Sorry I couldn’t do more,” she said, vacating his office chair. “See you tomorrow guys.”

  “Goodnight,” Craig called as the door shut behind her. One of these days he was going to have to tell her to leave the door open. And to start calling him Craig; her constantly calling him Mr. Moore was making him feel old.

  The two men stood in silence, each looking at the mess on the desk.

  “This sucks, big time,” muttered David.

  “Agreed. From here on out, the cash trays are counted out start of shift, end of shift, and between each changeover. I know it’s going to be a pain in the ass until we’re used to it, but until I know for sure which one it is…”

  Oh God, he was an idiot. Between the theft and Angela’s scent he’d completely forgotten about the cameras.

  “You forgot about the cameras too, didn’t you?” Craig asked his manager, who grinned in chagrin.

  “I’m gonna blame it on shock and panic,” the other replied.

  A timid knock on the door stopped them in their tracks. They exchanged a glance.

  “Angela?” called Craig.

  The door opened slowly, and Angela stepped in hesitantly. Her face had paled, but anger blazed in her eyes. “I just found this in my purse.” She held out a long envelope. “It has exactly three hundred twenty-seven dollars in it.”

  Craig and David exchanged a look. Craig reached out for the envelope, eyeing her fingers as he did so…there was no way he could take it from her and accidentally touch her.

  Unfolding it, he felt the tightening in his chest return. “I hope this helps?” he read the block letters aloud and cast a questioning look at Angela even as his mind rewound to Susan and Cori’s conversation he was meant to overhear.

  “Whoever put it there was obviously expecting me to take it without questioning it.” She was quivering in anger, but then it was gone and the look she gave Craig was almost pleading. “I di
dn’t do it. Someone put it there. Please tell me you believe me?”

  “I believe you,” he answered without hesitation. “You weren’t on the registers today, so there’s no way you could have taken it. Even then, you’d have to fill in on all of them at some point.” He saw the relief in her eyes, but there was still a tight band around his chest. “Open the cabinet, Dave. We need to get started on checking the videos.”

  His manager crossed the office quickly and opened the doors to a large wooden hutch. Angela gasped at the sight of three computer screens and the accompanying equipment. Craig walked with her as she approached the display, her eyes taking in the multiple screens showing every angle of the store he’d been able to cover. There weren’t many places to hide in the store. Even the break room had two cameras.

  Angela turned to him, her face a mix of horror and humor. “I had no idea. Does anyone else know?”

  “No,” Craig answered her as David’s fingers flew across a keyboard. The older man had taken to computers better than Craig had anticipated.

  “Mr. Moore, you are either extremely cautious, or extremely paranoid.”

  David barked a short laugh. “He’s cautiously paranoid.”

  “It’s a habit my dad passed down to me,” remarked Craig dryly. Although it hadn’t happened in time to stop Veronica. Why had his father increased his security? It was something he’d never questioned, just thought it was a good idea even if it was too little too late. “Today we can thank him for it.”

  The main screen finally displayed the registers.

  “Skip the morning shift,” advised Craig. He considered sending Angela home again, but decided she deserved to see this. He rolled his office chair over. “Angela, take a seat.”

  She looked a little surprised but sat in the chair. She held her denim purse in her lap. “Thanks.”

  “I wish I had a better time frame than just the afternoon,” muttered David as he stopped the feed from fast-forwarding.

  Craig pulled the wooden chair over from the desk and straddled it next to Angela. He couldn’t help but notice his manager had fast-forwarded to when Susan had come on at one. Apparently, they were thinking along the same lines. “Angela, when was the last time you were in your purse?”

  “Around five-thirty, when I bought the food for Princess. It wasn’t there then.”

  “That gives us a timeframe for the break room,” said Craig with a sigh. “I have to ask this. Have you had any arguments with Susan or Cori?”

  “What? No, why…you aren’t seriously thinking it was one of them?” Angela alternated between looking at him and the screen the manager was working at.

  “Actually, I’m thinking it was both. They lose brain cells when they work together.” He looked up at the screens. “You were right. I should have fired them long ago.”

  Angela sat silently, her gaze bobbing back and forth.

  “There!” David pointed at the screen twenty minutes later.

  The three watched in silence as the two women took money from their cash registers. When Susan stepped across to the third register, Craig’s eyebrows lowered.

  “From now on the third register is shut down when it’s unoccupied,” he told his manager, who nodded in response. “Tray gets brought back to the office and locked in the safe until it needs to be occupied.”

  “There’s no sound,” said Angela softly.

  “No, no mics. I may end up fixing that for the future.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” commented David, looking over at them. “We have them on video taking the money out.”

  It matters to Angela. Craig refused to look at her right now. She sat so still, but he could feel the mixed emotions radiating from her. “Let’s check the break room. I want to see who planted it.”

  David nodded wordlessly, his fingers tapping furiously.

  The store owner looked over at Angela. Unshed tears pooled in her eyes, and he wished there was something he could say to make it all go away for her. “I’m sorry.”

  She nodded, biting her lips.

  “They didn’t waste any time,” David said five minutes later, watching as Susan rummaged in a denim purse while Cori stood guard.

  “I have no words,” Angela whispered. “Why?”

  Not having an answer for her, Craig stood. “David, we’re locking everything in the safe until morning. Angela…” His intended words trailed off when he saw the tears sliding down her cheeks. His heart broke a little. “Are you going to be okay?”

  She scrubbed at her cheeks with the sleeves of the sweater she was wearing. “I will be.”

  “Don’t come in tomorrow until you hear from me.”

  Angela looked up at him, the urge to protest clear. “Princess’ bath…”

  “We’ll do it another day.”

  She swallowed hard and nodded. “Okay. You have my number?”

  “I’ll get it off your application. Now go on home. You look beat.” Craig grabbed a tissue from the box on his desk.

  Taking the offered tissue, Angela wiped at her eyes and nose. “Exhausted. But I don’t know how well I’ll sleep. So much for blood being thicker than water.”

  “I’m sorry,” he said again. He gestured to the door in the corner. “Here, if you have everything, you can slip out this door.”

  “Yeah, I have everything.”

  He beat her to the door and opened it for her. She looked up at him, tears still flowing. It looked like she wanted to say something, but the only thing that crossed her lips was a quick, “Goodnight, Mr. Moore.” And then Angela fled down the steps.

  Even though she was running, already halfway to her little green car, Craig still whispered, “Goodnight.”

  9

  A ngela paced around her apartment, unable to sleep. She couldn’t wrap her head around the events. Too many emotions tumbled around in her. Anger, bewilderment, despair.

  Her cousin had framed her for robbery. Okay, technically Susan’s father was her cousin. But Albert was almost twice as old as Angela. She and Susan had been close enough in age to have played together. The older girl had liked to tease, but it had always been good-natured. Hadn’t it?

  And Cori had helped!

  What had Angela done to cause them to betray her like this? It was a never-ending cycle. She tried so hard to get along with people, to show them she had changed. And then this.

  Darkness enveloped her. Not even the thought of Craig’s kind brown eyes brought her any cheer. What if he ended up blaming her for this?

  She finally settled in her bedroom. Her box springs and mattress rested on the floor. She’d never gotten around to buying a frame. Sitting on the edge of the mattress, she opened the little drawer in the bedside table and pulled a medicine bottle out. It was still almost full.

  Dr. Evans had begun prescribing her sleeping pills years ago, even though he was unwilling to give her refills on it. He always made her ask for a new prescription when she ran out. She wasn’t entirely sure why he did it that way. It’s not like she took them every night, because all too often she wasn’t able to wake herself from the nightmares and then she was stuck there until the pill wore off.

  But sometimes, if she was tired enough then the dreams wouldn’t come. She wouldn’t be able to handle the nightmares tonight, and at this point she was beyond tired…she just couldn’t settle down long enough to fall asleep.

  Angela opened the pill bottle and spilled some pills out into her hand. One would cause her to miss church. She’d risk being late to work too, but Craig would probably overlook it this one time. How many would it take to never wake up?

  Her hand shook as she dumped all but one pill back into the bottle. She couldn’t chance being stuck in the nightmares forever.

  The shrill ringing of her telephone woke her hours later.

  Angela reached for the phone next to her bed and dropped it. She lay there, trying to figure out what was going on. Was someone talking, calling her name? Just what she needed, to be hearing voices.
/>   No, the telephone had rung hadn’t it?

  She reached over the side of the bed and found the cheap desk set. The receiver was laying askew. She picked it up and held it to her ear. “H’lo?”

  “Angela, it’s Craig.” He sounded relieved. “What happened?

  “Fell,” she managed to say. “Phone…fell…”

  “Are you alright?”

  Every time he asked her that, she wanted to cry. She didn’t know why. Wait, wait…her boss was on the phone with her. Come on Angela, wake up! Last night’s events rushed back to her, and she sat up in bed. “Yes,” she tried saying but only the ‘s’ came out. She slapped her face a few times. “Sorry, I took a sleeping pill last night. Not awake yet.”

  “I’m sorry I woke you,” he answered, sounding sincere. God, what must he think of her right now? She was an idiot! She slapped her face some more. Sounding amused, he asked, “Are you awake yet?”

  “Enough.” At least she’d stopped slurring her words. “What’s going on? And what time is it?”

  “Almost eight. I’ve called both women to have them here in about half an hour. The police want to know if you want to press your own charges.”

  His voice sounded so gentle. It had to be her imagination. Sleeping pill induced daydream probably. Wait, charges? “I can press charges?”

  “They did try to frame you,” he reasoned. “It’s a crime. They’re going to be charged with it anyway, among other things. But Trooper Stevens says you can press your own charges.”

  “Oh.” Her heart was pounding. What was going to come of all this? The upheaval in her family was going to happen, no matter what. But she couldn’t add to it. They’d never forgive her. “No, no I can’t. Besides, it will bother them more if they think I’ve forgiven them.”

  He coughed politely. “You’ve forgiven them already?”

  “No.” His disbelief bothered Angela, but she couldn’t let it concern her. She’d have to find forgiveness for both women somehow. Forgiveness was a mandate of her faith. “But I will. You haven’t seen them yet, so you don’t know why yet.”

  “No, I’m sorry. Look, why don’t you try to get some more sleep? Don’t worry about coming in at one, just come in whenever you can.”