by Amy Cross
***
“What the hell is going on?” Cavaleri asked as she stormed into the shop, pushing the door open with such force that it banged against the wall and almost knocked the noticeboard down.
“You've noticed, huh?” Ephram replied mournfully, sitting in his usual position behind the counter. “Looks like there won't be any customers today. I should probably close up, but then what would I do? Go up and join the party?”
“Have they lost their mind?” Cavaleri continued, slamming some coins onto the counter as Ephram passed her a packet of her usual cigarettes. She immediately tore open the box and lit up. “All the things the Le Compte family have done to the people of this island, all the misery and pain stretching back for decades, and all the things that have happened over the past few months, and it can all be set right with a garden party? Are the people of this island really so stupid?” She slammed her lighter down against the counter. “Seriously? A goddamn garden party?!?”
“Free food,” Ephram replied. “Free wine. Free music. Plus the chance to snoop around his house. I wouldn't be surprised if you and I and my mother are the only ones who don't go. I even saw Doctor Burns heading up there earlier.”
“Alice Marco has only just been buried,” Cavaleri pointed out. “It's sacrilegious to hold an event such as this when there's a dead girl still on everyone's minds! Especially when the man who brought the rats to Thaxos in the first place is the same man putting up the bunting!”
“I was at the funeral yesterday,” Ephram continued. “Only a few people attended. The coffin was open, and she looked so peaceful and beautiful. I know it's tradition that only close family members and friends attend the funeral, but still, it might have been better if more people had shown up.”
“And all the while,” Cavaleri pointed out, “Le Compte has been planning his party.”
Ephram held his hands up, as if to indicate that there was nothing he could do about the matter.
“I don't know why I bother,” Cavaleri continued, pacing over to the front of the store and staring out the window for a moment, just as another truck sped past the courtyard, delivering yet more townspeople up to the mansion. Unable to contain her frustration any longer, she took a deep drag on her cigarette. “These people don't know what's good for them.”
“Have you noticed that the rats are gone?” Ephram asked. “Not a rat for two days now. I saw Le Compte's boat was back in the harbor at first light this morning. Maybe all the rats climbed back onboard and sailed away, to be tipped into the Mediterranean. Maybe they were only ever here for a holiday.”
“That boat...” Cavaleri paused, as slowly an idea came to her mind. “Permits,” she muttered darkly.
“Permits?”
“I don't recall Edgar Le Compte applying for a multiple docking permit,” she continued, taking another drag on her cigarette, which in her fury she had already reduced to half its original length. “That's an offense, I can fine him.” Another drag. “I should go and serve papers on him, and tie him up in fines!”
“I'm sure he'll be quaking in his boots,” Ephram said with a sigh.
“The law's the law,” Cavaleri pointed out, almost shouting before she took another drag on her cigarette, which was by now little more than a stub. “Every instance of unauthorized docking carries a significant financial penalty. That goddamn boat could be bringing anything to the island, and the rules are in place for a reason.” She took yet another drag on her cigarette. “I'm going to go up there right now and serve him with the fine, plus a notice to cease all activities in the harbor until such time as the necessary paperwork has been completed. I should have done this when he first arrived, but as a good neighbor I gave him the benefit of the doubt.”
“So you're going to his party too, are you?”
“I'm not going to the party,” she replied, stubbing the remainder of her cigarette out on the counter before heading to the door. “I'm going up there in my official capacity as the only person on this island who hasn't lost her freaking mind!”
With that, she stormed out of the shop, slamming the door once again and leaving Ephram to sit in silence for a moment.
“Well,” he muttered to himself eventually, staring at the still-burning cigarette stub before him, “have fun.”
