Black Thursday by Linda Joffe Hull Read Free Book Online Page B

Barn.
    â€œIs there anything I can do to help?” I asked.
    â€œI don’t know that there’s anything anyone can do.” Alan’s shoulders sagged that much more. “Not sure how we can survive a hit like this.”
    Before I could think of anything else to say, Alan turned and seemed to be forcing his legs to move.
    A few seconds later, I was following Mrs. Piggledy’s stretcher down the central aisle. Making our way toward the awaiting ambulance, I couldn’t help but feel like we were on a maudlin parade route. But instead of ticker tape, there were gasps, tears, and comments filling the air.
    Oh God, is it her neck?
    How bloody is she?
    She doesn’t look nearly as bad as you might have expected …
    â€œEverything’s under control, folks,” Frank announced in his most dulcet newscaster voice. “If you’ll all just step back, we need to let the paramedics get this lady off to the hospital so she can be fixed up as quickly as possible.”
    Somehow he managed to maintain an air of gravitas and still seem living-room-familiar as conjecture about the accident and the nature of the injuries died down and the inevitable whispers about spotting local celebrity Frank Finance began to swirl around him.
    He’s better looking in person than I expected.
    Shorter though, huh?
    They usually are.
    Isn’t that the wife he … ?
    Mrs. Frugalicious!
    â€œThis is horrifying,”Joyce said.
    I couldn’t have agreed more. “What are people going to say when they wheel out—”
    â€œThey’re going to have to take her out a side entrance,” Barb said.
    â€œThat, or close down the store,” Griff said.
    Craig appeared at the juncture of the middle aisle and the main corridor.
    â€œHoney!” Joyce threw her arms around him. “Thank God, you’re safe!”
    â€œMom, I’m fine,” he said eyeballing L’Raine, who, with a healthy extra thirty pounds in a lot of the right places, struck me as definitely more his type than Griff’s.
    â€œDo you really think they’re going to close down Bargain Barn?” I finally asked, after Joyce decided she was satisfied by her visual scan of Craig.
    â€œHow can they not?” Eloise said. “There’s a dead body totally lying over there.”
    We watched together in a kind of morbid silent agreement as the EMTs navigated Mrs. Piggledy’s stretcher out the door and into an ambulance. Still, I couldn’t help but think about Alan and the seemingly fatal collateral damage to his beloved family business.
    â€œIsn’t the accident scene pretty much contained now?” I finally asked, once Mrs. Piggledy was well on her way to the hospital.
    â€œYes, or it will be soon,” Griff said.
    â€œI don’t mean to be indelicate or anything,” Craig said, “but if they do close, how am I going to get the TV or any of the other stuff I was hoping to buy tonight?”
    â€œMost people, at least in the Frugarmy line, didn’t get to make any of their purchases at all,” L’Raine added.
    Despite how close L’Raine stood to Griff—or, more accurately, to his holster—Craig flashed a smile that said concerned agreement but meant I like ’em blond and buxom.
    I watched as a group of women in telltale bargain shopping garb 13 rushed past us and disappeared into the crowd-free aisles on the west side of the store.
    â€œIt is the biggest shopping night of the year, and people have been gearing up for it for months.” I glanced over at the register lines, where the cashiers looked downright confused about what to do next. “Not to mention the stores.”
    It wasn’t even officially Black Friday yet and not only had a member of my Frugarmy died at an event I’d encouraged her to attend, in a line made up entirely of devotees to Mrs. Frugalicious, but my best sponsor might well have suffered a fatal blow in the