Murder She Wrote

17. I, too, Am Lifeless

Veronica's POV:

I sat there calmly in front of the store. I could tell the cashier near the front door has been keeping his eyes on my car closely. Not for the interest of knowing who I was but the curiosity of why I've been sitting in my car for half an hour. Half an hour of plotting..I've rehearsed my facial expression and tone of voice repeatedly making sure I didn't come off as anything unusual to others. I wanted to blend in like any other customer in the store. The objective was to go in and out of the store under 10 minutes to the least. I didn't have much time and I couldn't wait any longer to get rid of that thing. I needed to do this slow and calmly without having too much attention on me as well. It's actually ridiculous of me to even second guess my plans since I'm not stepping into a place where I would even earn that many glances. My only luck would be if not many people were in the store today. It is Home Depot, how busy could it get around this hour.

I finally stepped out the car slowly. Once one of my foot was out the door, exposing my clear glossy heels, the cashier immediately looked out through the windows of the door. Calmly, I placed my purse over my shoulder and placed my dark shades on. I fixed the ends of my tight red leather mini skirt before adjusting my blonde wig as well. I placed on a warm inviting smile before turning my heel towards the door.

I strutted my way in, studying and observing the cashier slowly. He was young and very persistent. He sure knew how to stare down a person with only a quick glance, he's probably already making a hundred assumptions about me in his head. Although he stared hard, he didn't looked pleased with what was in front of him which was a first for me because most guys would've took the advantage of staring every inch of my body. It seemed like he wasn't new at the job either, I could tell by the way he slouched at the desk and kept his essential work items far away from him as if he didn't care for it. It was hard to tell if he was a talker or not, his facial expressions were very dull and lifeless. All I hoped was to leave out of here on time without being piled up with questions.

"Hi" I greeted him with a fair soft voice. "I have a few items on my list that I need help finding." I said.

He continued to stare at me from top to bottom swiftly and fixed his posture, "What are you looking for?" He said in a deep tone that I wasn't expecting at all.

"I'm building a huge garden in my backyard with loads of flowers and a little bird cage to go along with it. Do you happen to have these things in your store?"

I slid him the small list that was crumbled up in my hands. He took it and held it up to read it. I patiently looked at him while he scanned through the paper, hoping the lie was at least convincing in a slight way.

He furrowed his eyes midpoint of reading the paper and looked up at me, "Barbed wire, steel axe, shovel and a hatchet?" He said confusingly. "A little heavy duty for garden don't you suppose?" He said bringing the paper back to me with suspicion in his eyes.

I clenched my jaw already feeling impatient. "No one said it was going to be easy. Besides I'm not building it....my husband is."

"Your husband?" He huffed. "Then why didn't he come here with you and plus do you always leave the house without a ring?" He said looking directly at my empty ring finger. I cleansed my jaw, holding back the impatience and slight anger I was feeling. If I had known he'd asked this many questions I would've robbed the place to speed up the time and make things more easier for myself.

"I'm sorry I didn't know employees were obligated to stick their noses in customers business. Could you please just give me the items I'm in a hurry," I said with gritted teeth. I took my shades off and stared at him discreetly. "Please.." I added making sure he saw my stone cold face.