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“Hi, Bernard!” I wave. “I’m just here for a short visit!”
“You be careful out here!” Bernard calls back to me. “There’s quite a storm coming!”
“I will!”
Bernard rolls up the window and continues down the street, throwing snow over the sidewalks. We cross the street cautiously, and I start to turn left to head back to the house.
“Hold up a minute,” Nate says as he stops short. “Have you ever been in there?”
He points to the Firefly Farms cheese shop down the street.
“Sure, lots of times. I don’t think there’s a shop in Accident I haven’t been in before.”
“Do you mind if we go check it out?”
“Why?”
“In the file Micha had—the one with your forged birth certificate—there was a receipt from that shop. He ordered cheese from there for the Big O. I wanted to take a look and see why he might have ordered something from that particular shop.”
“All right.”
Inside, Firefly Farms is warm and inviting. The varnished wooden counter is lined with cutout paper paw prints with information on pet adoptions, and a cozy collection of tables and shelves are lined with gift assortments of cheese, wine, and various products made from goat’s milk. On the far side of the shop, large windows allow patrons to gaze at the cheesemaking process.
I walk up to the glass and look over the white plastic racks of cheese wheels, all stacked closely together in different stages of aging. To my left, another window looks into a large room with giant metal vats. Inside, a man leans over one of them, apparently adjusting the contents. As I watch him work, someone comes out of the office.
“Well, hello there, Cherry! I haven’t seen you in a while!” An attractive, dark-haired man waves at me from behind the counter.
“Hi, Pablo! How’s business?”
“I’m not complaining!” He smiles brightly. “I could do without these spring storms, though. I heard you had moved away.”
“I did,” I reply. “I’m just here for a short visit.”
“Well, it’s good to see you. I sure do miss your Aunt Ginny. She was a loss to the whole community.”
“Thanks.” I give him a quick smile before I introduce Nate, and they shake hands.
Nate starts asking Pablo about the order receipt he has, and Pablo says he’ll have to check the records in the back. As we wait, another customer walks in. He’s dressed in a long, dark coat and keeps his sunglasses on. He glances at me briefly, then goes back to browsing one of the shelves full of goat milk soap. A minute later, another man of similar description joins him.
I tense all over. Pablo comes out from the office, and Nate continues to chat with him, but I can see the transformation in Nate’s posture. He doesn’t look at the men, but he has his body turned toward them slightly, as if he’s ready to turn and pounce.
I take a step and feel the cold glass of the window behind me. The men glance at each other, nod, and then spring toward Nate. I scream out a warning, but Nate has already anticipated their actions.
He grabs a cutting board from the table next to him, and swings it at the first man, slamming him across the jaw. As he stumbles backward, Nate grabs a bottle of wine from the same table and smashes it over the other man’s head. With both men stunned, Nate rushes over to me, grabs my hand, and pulls me back behind the counter.
In the meantime, Pablo is screaming at everyone.
“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?”
“Back door!” Nate grabs Pablo by the collar and screams at him. “Where’s the fucking back door?”
Pablo’s eyes grow wide as he points over his shoulder, and Nate pulls me through the office and into the cheesemaking part of the shop with both men following quickly. We have to detour around the equipment, and Nate grabs one of the plastic racks full of cheese and shoves it to block their way.
A deafening blast fills the room. The worker who had previously had his head in a vat screams and runs into the side room full of ripening cheeses.
“Cherry, get down!” Nate yells.
The tray in front of us topples over, and wheels of cheese roll in all directions. I drop to the floor, and Nate grabs two wheels of cheese that roll close to him. He flings them over the upturned cart, and I hear one of the men grunt. Nate grabs more cheese wheels, continuing to fling them at our attackers.
