Killer Queen

4.

When it got to lunch, the diner was basically empty and only one man in a suit had ordered a donut; meaning that Kate was able to bake whatever she wanted in the kitchen and was trying out one of the recipes that Grace had given to her. Agnes was fine with the kitchen being used for other things, she was more than happy when finding out that Kate was using it to try her own recipes out and encouraged her to bake whatever she wanted, whenever she felt inspired. But even though Agnes was acting like the kind older woman that she always was, her employee could see that there was something hidden behind her eyes and noticed the panic on her features whenever the bell above the door rang. It was as though she was waiting for the killer to come back, even though no one knew what the killer looked like. After the man in the suit had left, Kate stood behind the counter and watched as Agnes went around the room, scrubbing already clean tables just to give herself something to do as they waited for new customers to arrive. This was the time that she decided to talk to her boss and make sure that she really was okay, because it seemed like she was only pretending to be fine and there was something else going on in her mind.

"Agnes, are you sure that you're okay to be back in work?" Kate questioned, leaning on the counter and taking a deep breath when Agnes stopped what she was doing to turn to face her. She was half expecting to be yelled at for asking a personal question like that on shift but there was no one around and Agnes had never yelled at anyone before.

The older woman just smiled and tilted her head slightly. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, I heard about what happened the other night." She explained but when nothing registered with Agnes, she had to explain directly what she was talking about, even though she hated to bring it up. "The attack."

"Of course, you did, it was all over the news." Agnes shrugged before continuing to wipe down the same table that she had been working on for the last ten minutes, which she was sure was perfectly clean but didn't have the heart to tell her boss. Instead, Kate decided to keep talking about the attack and hoped that Agnes would realise that she could admit she was afraid, or admit that she may have rushed opening the shop. Anything that would make her feel better.

"My sister is the lead detective on the case, she got the call when I was at home. Look, I know how important this store is to you but if you need a few more days to come to terms with everything then I can hold down the fort?"

"Kate, dear Kate, you are my best worker." Agnes complimented her, walking over to the counter and putting down her cleaning rag; smiling at the younger girl who was only concerned about her. She reached over and placed her hand over Kate's, hoping to express more comfort to the youngster about the attacks that didn't seem to worry her that much. "You make donuts that could compete with my own and I've been making them since before you were born. But there's a lot of things that I've seen, this attack wasn't the first time that I'd seen evil and it won't be the last. Staying at home won't help me move on quicker, the best thing for me is to be here."

"As long as, you're sure." Kate sighed, knowing that this wasn't going to go anywhere else as Agnes was sure that she was perfectly fine and not effected by the attack; but it was hard not to be, she had been the only employee working that night and had hidden in the kitchen until the killer left.

"I'm fine. Now, how is that boyfriend of yours?"

"Diego? He's...Diego." She shrugged, not really knowing how else to describe her boyfriend and his behaviour without accidentally spilling too much information. But she knew that Agnes was someone to be trusted and decided to give her slightly more information than others. "His Father passed away this week, so he's not taking the news well."

"At least he has you."

"Doesn't seem like that makes much difference, just feels like I'm getting on his nerves."