Suspicious Minds (Stranger Things Novels #1)(28)

She did.





4.


Terry drove along Seventh Street at a crawl, afraid she’d miss Flowers’ Flowers and Gifts. She shouldn’t have been.

The generous building had a long maroon awning with the name embroidered in ivory. A candy display was visible, alongside figurines and picture frames and furniture underneath the words AND GIFTS. On the other side, with an entrance of its own, was the florist’s, bright bouquets and sprawling ferns arranged in the windows. The address had been easy enough to find in the phone book at the dorm, not to mention accompanied by a quarter-page ad listing the dozens of things they sold.

She parked at the curb right across from the store and got out of her car. A few kids playing hopscotch chalked onto the sidewalk gave her a “what’s she doing here?” look as she crossed the street. She put her hand in her jacket pocket, confirming the small metal device Brenner had given her was there.

The door played a chime when she opened it, and the pleasant but strong aroma of fresh blooms hit her nose.

An older, just-as-polished version of Gloria rose from a stool behind the counter. “Welcome,” she said. “Can I help you with anything?”

Terry walked uncertainly up the center aisle, and breathed easier when she spotted Gloria sitting behind her mother on another stool. She was busy reading a comic book and hadn’t noticed Terry yet.

“I was hoping to talk to Gloria,” she said.

“Oh?” her mother said, turning.

Gloria looked up at Terry’s voice, and set the comic book down on her stool when she got up. “Terry? What’s up?”

Gloria came out from behind the counter to greet Terry. Over her shoulder, she said, “She’s a friend. Part of the laboratory experiment.”

“Nice to meet you,” her mother said, a fuller welcome this time. “Any friend of Gloria’s is a friend of all the Flowers’.”

“Thank you,” Terry said, feeling the weight of the item in her pocket increase. Then, to Gloria, “Can we talk in private?”

“Mama?” she asked. “You mind going to check on Papa so I can chat with Terry? I’ll watch the shop.”

“Nothing to watch until people get off work. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” Her mother glided off through a connecting hallway linking the two businesses.

“Now, what is it?” Gloria asked, eyebrows lifted to underscore the question.

Terry swallowed and removed the device from her pocket. She unfolded her fingers and held her palm up where Gloria could see it.

“What’s that?”

“It’s a bug,” Terry said. “I think, anyway. Brenner told me to put it in your phone here…He thought I was under hypnosis.”

Gloria shook her head, peering more closely at it. “What a beautiful little piece of evil,” she murmured. “He thought you were under hypnosis, but you weren’t?”

Terry nodded, relieved Gloria hadn’t kicked her out. She’d taken a gamble coming here, but even if she didn’t know Gloria well, she wasn’t about to betray her. Not when Brenner had just added even more questions to the ones she already had.

“I pretended. I’m supposed to do it before I come back to the lab. He said it was the next stage in my testing.”

“Their tests are garbage,” Gloria said. “This is just more proof. It’s the least scientific process I’ve ever heard of.” She held out her hand and waved her fingers. “Give it to me. You tell me what to do, and I’ll do it.”

“But then you’ll be bugged!”

“I’ll only leave it for a few days,” Gloria said with a small smile. “And besides, we’re a flower and gift shop. If anyone wants to listen to those phone calls, they’ll just be bored.” She hesitated. “I don’t think it was about the listening—it was about seeing if you’d do it.”

Terry had done the same math. That Gloria agreed made it seem more likely…and shook her more. “Have they asked you to do anything like this?”

“No, not yet,” Gloria said. “But they’re experimenting with our memories, our minds—it makes sense they’d want to control us. If they could use regular people to do their dirty work…You’re sure he didn’t suspect you were faking?”

Terry was, actually. “I don’t think he had a clue. And I’m supposed to forget he asked me to do it.”

“Good.” Gloria moved to the counter. “We’d better hurry. Mom will be back soon.”

Terry joined her behind the counter, and pointed to the receiver. “You screw off the bottom plate and touch it to the wires inside. That’s what makes it work.”

Gloria removed the cover, intent on the job.

Terry pictured Kali in her head. Kali, whom she’d not managed to slip away to try to find again. How would she manage to get through the door with its keypad? It’s not like she could just wait for someone to come out again. Or like she had any idea when Kali would even be present. She could chance telling Gloria about the child. Maybe Gloria would have a theory about what the girl was doing there…

Gloria didn’t even need further instruction, sliding the metal piece in cleanly and replacing the receiver cover.

“That’s it,” she said and grinned conspiratorially at Terry.