Hero Stalker

Part Seventeen

By the middle of my counter shift the next day, the Cable Street Sushi Queen was confusingly full. Why do people eat this stuff? Pink linoleum covered the floor and curlicues cut from purple shag carpet dotted he walls. The only napkins in the store sat on top of the sushi case, based off Valerie's theory that people would come to grab napkins and see something they'd forgotten to buy. Plastic blue dolphins graced the center of every table, because Valerie . . . actually, I didn't know what she was thinking with that one.

 "You do realize shrimp isn't supposed to be purple, right?" the boy with the backwards Bayton Heroes cap told me as he gazed into the display case.

I hated it when Valerie got creative. "It's a promotion. For testicular cancer awareness." I mumbled the last few words, glad that Valerie couldn't hear me from up in her office. She hated when I didn't articulate.

"Yeah, don't want your balls to rot off, now do you?" Darryl sauntered up and leant on the counter, since my job serving customers was apparently less important than his need to rest his torso. He'd been growing a mustache. His upper lip looked like a caterpillar was sitting on it. "Gloria, remember that video I showed you last Friday? Our bro finally figured out how to promote himself better."

Sometime during the night, the media had connected Harpy's online manifesto and the murders. A blurry still of him and his helmet graced the front page of today's Clarion. "I don't want to talk about that. Are you going to order?"

"Sure, sweetheart. I'll take a twenty-four pack of the salmon tzatziki rolls and a platter of tofu almond. Meeting with a PR firm today. Want to impress."

With your ability to drop seventy dollars on novelty sushi? "Valerie's hiring a new PR firm?" I grabbed a pair of chopsticks and began whisking the sushi into cases. The elaborate knot of wasabi on top of the tofu almond rolls made the box near impossible to close. "I thought she liked Gilman."

"It's for my new business. Valerie just seeded it." He tugged on his sweatshirt. "The Hoodie King. We'll do custom silk-screening and printing while our customers chill out to live music and drink beer. I'm going to make a fortune." His fingertips rearranged themselves into fleshy pink dollar signs.

"Ew."

He grinned. His fingers reverted. "Jealous?"

Not anymore. "Good luck with your new business." Darryl had never worked a job Valerie hadn't given him. He'd need it.

"Hey, maybe when I get the company going . . ."

The front door opened and a warm breeze swirled in, blowing a stack of napkins off the front of the counter. I stepped out and bent down to pick them up. Darryl's fingers brushed the top of my ass.

"What the hell?" I straightened up and darted back behind the counter.

Darryl smiled at me. "What'd I do? Come on, I've know you for years."

The customer who'd just entered grabbed Darryl's shoulder and yanked him back. "This man giving you trouble, miss?" Dan Silver asked. He leant down over the counter, his open suit jacket revealing the badge hanging around his neck. His stubble was nice and even, a sunny, warm blond, and his rich voice hummed.

 "This is none of your business, pal," Darryl said.

"I'm not your pal." Dan looked at me. "You want to press charges?"

If only it wouldn't mean losing my job. "No. Really. It's no big deal."

Dan looked skeptical, but let Darryl go. Darryl smirked. "Just put it on my tab," he said, snatching his boxes of sushi off the counter and heading out the door.