Mirror Man by Jacques Kat (ereader for textbooks txt) 📗

officer. Them locks need changing. No time like the present. I’m off to dig out some locks from the kitchen drawer, and you can go fetch my green toolbox from the garage. The green one, not the blue one.’

I rolled my eyes. ‘Yes, I heard you. The green one.’

‘Meet me at the car in five minutes,’ he said. ‘Oh, and bring any keys you’ve got. May as well retrieve the copy of the deeds and the will from the safe. The originals are filed with Mr Phillips’s solicitor.’

‘Why do you need them?’ I asked.

‘To make sure we fulfil his wishes.’ The words caught in his throat, and he quickly walked away.

I went upstairs to get my keys, then went to get the toolbox.

‘Where you off to?’ Mum shouted behind me as I made my way to the garage. I turned to see her putting rubbish in the bin.

‘To get Grandad’s toolbox. We’ve got to change the locks at the shop.’ I told her.

‘Right, I’m coming too. Don’t leave without me,’ she said before hurrying back inside.

I arrived at the car as Grandad and Mum exited the house. Mum’s arms were piled high with cleaning products. We loaded up the boot and set off.

Fifteen minutes later, we entered through the back door of Claude’s Antiques. Grandad said it would be better to park behind the shop, so as to not raise people’s suspicions. He went in first, advising it would be best not to look in where Mr Phillips died until we could clean up in there.

‘I can’t believe all this is yours,’ said Mum as she took it all in. She’d never been in the shop before.

‘I know, but it’s a shame it had to happen this way,’ I said.

She reached up and ruffled my hair. ‘I’m going to clean up where it happened. You two can stay here.’

‘Are you sure? Might be a bit… gruesome,’ said Grandad.

‘I’m sure,’ she said, rolling up her sleeves and pulling on a pair of marigolds. ‘Will be no good for your knees getting down on the floor, and I don’t want John-Michael to have to see it.’

‘Fair enough. You crack on, and we’ll get the paperwork from the safe and change the locks,’ he said, leading me to Mr Phillips’s office.

‘Hang on, Grandad, the key to the small safe is in the back of his pocket watch. I need my tools,’ I said, pointing to the room where Mr Phillips was killed.

‘Oh.’ Grandad scratched his chin. ‘Wait here. I’ll get the tools you need.’

‘But…’

‘But nothing. I know what tools you’ll be wanting. I’ve been repairing watches for longer than you’ve been alive, lad. Off you go. Wait for me in the office,’ he said, waving me off.

I skulked off to the office and sat at the desk, my desk, to wait for the tools. I checked the safes while I waited. Both appeared secure and untampered with, but with Grandad and Mum around, it wasn’t wise to check on the guns yet. It was a few minutes before Grandad returned, and I wondered was taking him so long. When he appeared in the doorway, he appeared upset.

‘Are you alright?’ I asked him.

He sat opposite me and placed the tools on the desk. ‘Yeah. It’s a bit hard to come to terms with, is all. I half expect him to walk through the door and ask us what the hell we’re doing back here. Do you know what I mean?’

I hummed. ‘I think so. I keep waiting for him to shout to put the kettle on.’

‘It’ll get easier with time, son. Now, while your mam is out of earshot, why don’t you tell me how you knew his key was in the pocket watch and how you came to be in possession of it?’

‘Did I tell you about the day I found Mr Phillips hiding in the corner behind an old tea chest?’

He shook his head. ‘No. When was this, and did you tell the police about it?’

‘It was the morning of Daniel’s accident, and yes, I told them. I’ve told them everything.’

Except I hadn’t told them everything. I’d kept the details about the guns to myself. I needed the guns. No one else could protect my family except me.

‘I came into work, and I couldn’t find Mr Phillips anywhere. Eventually, I found him hiding behind an old tea chest. He looked scared, things were out of place, and he told me if anything should ever happen to him, I’d find the key to his small safe in the back of his pocket watch.’

I watched as Grandad sat back in his chair, lowered his head, and rubbed his temples.

‘It’s looking like old Mr Phillips knew something was going to happen, it would seem,’ he finally said.

‘I asked what he thought was going to happen to him, but he wouldn’t tell me. You know how he was with questions.’

He laughed. ‘Aye, if he didn’t like a question, he’d ignore it. And the pocket watch, how come you had that?’

‘The day it happened…’ I paused and bit my lip. ‘I found it on the floor. He must have dropped it. I pretended to tie my laces, and I slipped it in my pocket.’

‘Do the police know you have it?’

I shook my head.

‘Right, best keep that part between us.’

I got to work on the watch to retrieve the key, then pulled out all the envelopes from the safe and handed them to Grandad. He said he and Pete would go over them, and if there was anything in them I needed to know, they would tell me.

After we finished in the office Grandad went to the back door and got to changing the locks. I watched him as he worked. He said I would need to learn to do these things now I was the owner of the shop and flat. Once he was done with the back door, he handed me the tools and we walked to the front of the shop.

I went out the door,