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But it wasn’t those shops, that really caught her attention; it was the old bookshop, the one her father used to run, that she had expected would be long gone. Thea’s gaze settled on that shop, her eyes wide in surprise that it was still there. She started towards the bookshop.
‘The flower shop is this way.’ Katie let out an exasperated sigh. ‘Thea?’ Katie followed her up to the bookshop window. She followed her gaze. ‘I never liked this place. It gives me the creeps.’
Thea stood staring at the window display. ‘I don’t understand …’
‘What’s the matter?’
‘This isn’t right.’
‘I know. I told you it’s creepy. Look at those cobwebs. It looks like Hallowe’en, which would be okay if that window display had been done for Hallowe’en at the end of the month, but I know for a fact it hasn’t.’
Thea saw paperback books, dog-eared and yellowed with age. They must have been standing in the window for twenty-plus years. Even so, she asked her niece, ‘How can you be so sure this hasn’t been set up for Hallowe’en?’
‘My friend says it’s been like this for years. Nobody knows what happened to the owner, apparently.’
Thea looked at Katie. For some reason, her sister hadn’t told Katie who had once owned this bookshop – her grandfather. Thea had no idea why whoever had bought it had not cleared out all the old books. She guessed those books had been sitting in that window display since she used to help her mum mind the shop when he went on his business trips to book fairs across the country. It was all rather strange.
Thea stared at the bookshop. She’d just been a young child when he disappeared off the face of the earth. It was a mystery that had haunted her, her whole life.
Staring at the window display, Thea stepped to one side and grabbed the door handle.
‘What are you doing?’ hissed Katie. ‘You do not want to go in there. Besides, it must be locked.’
Thea tried the door. Of course it was locked. That was just what she had expected. What she had not expected to find was her father’s bookshop left exactly as it had been when he’d walked out and never come back twenty-five years earlier. If the window display was anything to go by, then inside was a time capsule; a shop that hadn’t changed since she’d last set foot inside when she was nine years old. A bookshop full of memories of a happy childhood.
It didn’t change the fact that she was desperate to get inside and have a look. Something occurred to her; if nothing had changed, then perhaps there might be a clue inside as to her father’s sudden disappearance.
Thea tried the door again.
‘Oh, my god!’ Katie threw her hands in the air. ‘Will you please stop that!’ She sounded exasperated, as though she was talking to a small child who wasn’t doing as they were told. ‘I said –leave it.’
Thea actually apologised as she stepped away from the door.
‘Someone might see you and wonder what you’re doing!’ Katie hissed, grabbing her hand and dragging her away from the shop. ‘Come on. I thought we were here to buy some flowers for Mum.’
Thea had forgotten about her sister. Perhaps she’d been to Cobblers Yard and spotted the bookshop that appeared not to have changed in decades.
Thea walked across Cobblers Yard, passing the charity shop. She spotted an old lady peering out of the charity shop window, and hoped she hadn’t spotted her trying to get into the bookshop.
Chapter 27
‘Marjorie, come over here – will you?’
‘Why? I’m busy.’
‘Quick. You’ve got to see this.’
‘Oh, for goodness’ sake, Mabel. Do you know how old I am? There is no such thing as quick at our age.’
‘Speak for yourself,’ grumbled Mabel, thinking that perhaps if her older sister watched her diet like she did, and wasn’t carrying around an extra stone or three, she might well move more quickly.
By the time she did join Mabel at the window, the young lady had disappeared into The Potting Shed next door.
‘Well, what is it? What have I had to get off my comfy perch and walk all the way over here for?’
‘All the way over here? You make it sound as though our little charity shop is cavernous.’
Marjorie ignored her sister. She folded her ample arms and said, ‘Well? What is it you want me to look at? Personally, I don’t see anything wrong with the window display.’
