~4.33~

Taking his leave of the police officer, John headed across the pedestrian mall in the direction the man had indicated, singing his merry gravedigger’s song as he went.

The Old Forest Sweet Shoppe was indeed hard to miss. It was the corner store on its block. Its outside was paneled with what looked like gingerbread. The bottom of the edifice was trimmed with gumdrops and the display windows were lined with candy canes.

The bell tinkled as he entered the store. Having never visited the mall, he’d never chanced to enter the shop, either, and thus had yet to make the acquaintance of its proprietress. However, one glance at the young lady behind the counter was enough to tell him that she was not the witch of the Old Forest.

For one thing her hair was the wrong color.

“Hello,” he said.

“Hey,” the young woman said. “You’re one of Ginger’s friends, aren’t you?”

“A friend of the family, as it were,” John said.

“Yeah, you’ve got the look,” she said.

“What look would that be?”

“Grubby.”

“You aren’t one of her children, then?” John asked her.

“Ginger’s?” the girl asked incredulously. “I didn’t think she had any yet… she never talked about any, before.”

“Have you worked here long?” John asked. He marked the words “yet” and “before”, but if Ginger’s employee were indeed outside the loop, he didn’t want to give anything away through careless questioning.

“A little while,” she said. “Since the start of the summer… I work weekends, but Ginger called and asked me to cover the store while she visits her mother.”

“Ginger’s mother,” John repeated.

“Yeah, she was talking to her mama on the phone when I came in, about going over the details of an adoption. I thought it was weird, since she’s never shown any interest in kids before, that I could remember.”

“You think she’s adopting one?”

“I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop, but it sounded that way. She was definitely talking about adopting kids.”