Once we had cleaned ourselves, and the table up we locked up and headed back to the other shop.
Once we arrived Marie and Isabelle were full of questions, and I left Alice to tell them what it was like, and that she was giving up teaching to run it with me while I went into the office.
There was pile of post on the desk and as I went through them, sorting the bills from the junk mail, I came across an envelope that looked like neither. It was just a plain white envelope, with the shop address typed on the front and the postmark said it had been posted in my town.
"Probably some new company trying to get me to buy their stock or something, "I muttered to myself, before tearing it open.
Inside was a letter typed on a single sheet of paper.
ANDY
I HOPE YOU HAVE ENJOYED RECEIVING THE PICTURES I TOOK AS MUCH AS I ENJOYED WATCHING YOU AND TAKING THEM, I JUST WISH IT HAD BEEN ME IN THEM INSTEAD OF HER. HOPEFULLY I SHALL GET TO SEE YOU IN ACTION AGAIN REALLY SOON, AND WHEN YOU REALISE WHAT YOU ARE MISSING HOPEFULLY YOU SHALL GET RID OF HER AND THEN ANY MORE PICTURES WILL BE OF US.
LOVE???
I sat and read the letter over and over again, trying to figure out who wanted Alice out of the way so badly, but there wasn't anyone. Her friends had become my friends and vice versa and, as far as I knew, neither of us had upset anyone.
I had always been friendly and polite to all my customers and, apart from a few idiots, Alice had told me school wasn't really that bad.
I read the letter once more and then folded it up and put it in my pocket. Somehow I needed to find out who was sending these things to me, before they sent them to Alice instead, I just didn't have a clue where to begin.
I headed back into the shop and was amazed at how busy it was. There looked to be about thirty people upstairs alone, Marie had even had to rope Alice in to help her, and I quickly nipped downstairs to see almost as many people in there as well. Deciding that Marie and Alice had everything under control upstairs, I stayed to help Isabelle serve all her customers. Once they were all gone, except a couple, I surveyed the shelves and went out the back to get more stock.
"I didn't expect it to be like that this early," Isabelle said as I walked back in laden down with boxes of ornaments.
"I know it seems that everyone wants what we have got all of a sudden."
I filled all the shelves and went back upstairs, leaving Isabelle alone with the customers that were there, only to find upstairs just as chaotic. As the two girls continued to serve as fast as they could I restocked the clothes, jewellery and lingerie as fast as I could.
I had only just finished when another influx of customers poured into the shop, and Isabelle shouted for some more help. This time I sent Alice downstairs, she did need to become familiar with all aspects of the shop, and I stayed to help Marie.
"No I can't," I heard Marie say to a male customer and went over and asked what was wrong. "This per...son asked if I could model this for him."
She held up a chainmail bra and thong with leather trim, lace up leather gloves, thigh boots and a studded leather choker.
"I'm sorry sir I'm afraid modeling lingerie is out of the question," I told him.
"Worth a try," he said with a smile, winking at Marie. "I'll take them all anyway."
Once he had gone Marie turned to me.
"The cheeky bastard," she said. "Mind you he was quite fit."
"MARIE!"
"Well, bet you would have liked to see me in it before you got with Alice."
"I better not answer that Marie I am engaged after all."
She burst out laughing and walked to the far end of the shop where three women had gathered, looking at skirts and tops. I smiled at the cheek of her as I watched her ass wiggle as she went and thought about what she had just said. There was no doubting the fact that she would have looked good in the man's purchases, but it was too late now and I was with Alice and happy.
The rest of the day continued to be busy, but my mind wasn't really on the job. The thoughts of Marie in the lingerie the man had bought and the new letter that had arrived filled my head, and I started to have paranoid thoughts. I looked at Marie, busily serving yet another customer, and wondered if all her harmless flirting was hiding a dark secret, and it was her behind the letters and photos. Just as I managed to get those thoughts out of my mind, Annie came into the shop alone.
"Hiya Andy, sorry I didn't stay for long at the party," she said. "Something urgent came up."