The Cunning

1

The monotonous beeping at Madison's till was nearly enough to lull her to sleep. Her body moved mechanically, sliding items from left to right.

Milk. Bread. Butter. Squash.

"That's £7.05," she said, her eyes falling on the frail old lady pulling her purse from her handbag.

"Sorry dear, you'll have to help me. My eyes aren't what they used to be." In the palm of her paper hand were five pound coins, one fifty pence, and two twenties. Madison took the fifty and the pound coins, smiling. There were enough people that told her to 'keep the change' to make up for the difference, and she hated telling people they would have to put something back.

"That's all done for you. Have a nice day."

"You too." The lady took the plastic bag and shuffled towards the door held open by a group of disheveled school children with their shirts untucked and ties loose. Eager for a post-school sugar rush.

There wasn't another customer after the youngsters until the last fifteen minutes of her shift. The bell chimed above the door, breaking the silence of the small convenience store. Madison looked up from the stock list she was checking. She watched the curly hair above the aisles head over to the cold drinks, his black Nikes sticking to the freshly mopped floor and peeling off with every slow step, like velcro.

"Twenty Marlborough, please," he ordered when he circled back round to her at the counter. His attention didn't leave the old phone in his hand, the kind of phone that could be thrown at the wall and had more chance of chipping the plaster than cracking the screen. She placed the cigarettes next to the can of Coke.

"That's £13.95." The stranger looked at Madison through his lashes, giving her a once over with mossy green eyes. They settled for just a second on the name badge pinned to her red polo. It wasn't her own, rather a spare she had found, that read 'Tara', in the staff room to avoid getting in trouble for forgetting part of the uniform. After a brief silence, he handed her a twenty and pocketed the change, leaving without another word.

Madison clocked out, grateful for the late-afternoon finish before her day off. She was working nights next week and would need to adjust her sleeping schedule accordingly.

When she arrived home, the neighbour's cat jumped out of the hedge lining the path to her front door. He brushed up against her shins, waiting to be let in.

"You hungry?" she asked, scooping the black cat into her arms and kissing his sleek head. The gentle vibration of his purr rattled against the hand resting under his chin. The two of them had fallen into a routine of spending evenings together when her mum went on business trips, something she had been doing a lot more recently. Madison suspected there was a man involved but never bothered to ask on the rare occasion she saw her. Their relationship had withered since her dad had gone away. They were practically strangers living under the same roof. Not that she held it against her mum, she had her reasons. Madison understood them.

She let the cat go, watching him leave prints all over the white envelope on the welcome matt. She hung her keys and folded her jacket over the banister at the bottom of the stairs before shooing the cat off and picking the now dirty envelope up. She paused, staring down at the familiar delivery. For months now, they had received cryptic letters from an anonymous source. Someone who knew too much about their family history to be a stranger, someone without enough new information to leave any clues about their identity. Madison shuddered, shoving it straight into the bin without opening it.

Her phone buzzed as she placed a bowl of wet food on the floor for the fat cat. A text from her boss flashed up on the screen, asking her to work tomorrow's night shift because the new guy had come down with the flu. Deciding she could do with the extra money, she reluctantly agreed. Six hours, nine to three, nothing she hadn't done before. Besides, she was working a whole week of them afterwards, one more wouldn't kill her. Though the reason she disliked night shifts wasn't the hours, it was her creepy boss sitting in his office, watching her all night on CCTV.

She shivered at the thought of his eyes lingering on her chest in the grainy footage like they did in person.