Murfey's Law by Bec Johnson Read Free Book Online Page A

out from underneath, and set the machine back down. On the front cover, in her father’s swirly handwriting, she recognised it immediately, was written ‘Murfey’s Beach Resident Accounts’.
    Oh!
    The sergeant flipped the cover open and thumbed silently through the sheets towards the back. On a page simply titled ‘Zeb’ he ran his finger down the rows of text stopping on the bottom line.
    Reading upside down was a skill Lori rarely found a use for, yet she had it, and it worked just fine.
    1 x Lemonade Ice Block: $2
    Oh… crap!
    He must have written it in this morning before heading to the front door, before Lori had walked in and abused him shortly followed up with subjecting him to the horrors of her ‘crying face’.
    ‘Oh god, I really am sorry.’ Lori stepped forward again and put her hands on the book. Her embarrassment had mollified the goose bumps.
    Zeb reached over the book and grabbed Lori’s hand. She wanted to pull it away but his grip was too strong. His fingers pressed hard into her skin as he unfurled her clenched fist and pushed his thumb into the palm of her hand. Shit, what was he doing? Lori froze with fear. Jenny and the younger Turner, she hadn't caught his name, were still outside somewhere, and nowhere to be heard. Should she scream?
    Pulling her forwards,  tight against the counter, he spoke firmly, close to her face, his breath brushing her cheeks. ‘Now you’re going to have to be much, much nicer to your customers if you’re to have any chance of ever getting out of this place. Believe you me.’ He let go of her hand and disappeared out the front door into the darkness.
    Lori peered at her palm and a two dollar coin that he’d pressed so firmly  into her skin that it had left a little ring. She tried furiously to rub the mark away. Jenny was right, it was no surprise that he was single. He was a complete bastard.
     
    It wasn’t even eight o’clock, yet so exhausted Lori locked up the shop, she just wanted to go to bed. There didn’t seem much point in staying open, she hadn’t investigated it in great detail, but it seemed from the stock on the shelves and the money, or lack of it, in the till, that the business was a dead loss.
    She hadn’t made it to the estate agents today, but she had found the washing machine, so she considered the day to have been successful.
    Who was she kidding, her first full day in Murfey’s Beach had been a disaster.
    Not bothering to clear her belongings from the bed Lori settled on top of the covers with her laptop and a cup of tea. Counting backwards she reckoned it to be about the right time to catch Sara.
    The FoxyNonna signal was a little weaker from the bedroom at the back of the house but still strong enough.
    She was right, Sara was online and she spotted Lori immediately. PING! Birdy, thank god. I was worried you’d had second thoughts. Can we video chat?
    Lori clicked the little video camera button and adjusted her screen so it pointed at her face and not at her chest.
    ‘Hey! Babe, oh god I’ve missed you. I’m so sorry Birdy, I really am.’ Sara looked close to tears as the camera flickered into life.
    ‘Don’t cry Sara, I’d really rather we just moved on from it. I don’t want to rake over that night again.’ Lori covered her mouth as she yawned.
    ‘Ok, if that’s really what you want.’
    ‘It is.’
    ‘Then fine,’ Sara pinched her cheeks and leant forward into the screen, ‘now you just have to tell me EVERYTHING!’
    Not sparing a single detail Lori told her all about the shop, and Jenny, about her first encounter with Zeb. And about her run in with the solicitor in Green Bay.
    Sara gasped and laughed as Lori regaled her with the story of how she’d almost accused the Police Sergeant of shop lifting, and how he’d reacted at their second meeting.
    ‘Mmm he sounds edible Birdy, you definitely could do with a bit of bad boy while you’re there,’ Sara suggested.
    ‘Ugh, no Sara! He may have the kind of face