Notes: Many thanks to Kaze and Lisa for plot help! And I can't take credit for the design of the awesome store visited in this chapter; it's almost entirely based on a place that really exists.

Chapter Four

Thorton Books and Antiques was located on what had been the original Main Street. Filled with quaint shops and buildings, both old and new, it offered an element of nostalgia to those who passed. There seemed to be a bit of everything, from little cafés and restaurants to a craft store and a bakery. The business in question was in a building that looked very old. It appeared to be two or three floors, with old-style rectangular windows on the upper levels. As Sephiroth maneuvered into a parking space in front, Zack blinked in surprise at the front windows.

"Hey, look at that!" he exclaimed, tapping the glass of the car window. "There's a little table-top white Christmas tree in there."

Cloud raised an eyebrow. "Winter's almost over," he said.

"It looks like it has ornaments on it for some other Earth holiday," Zack surmised. He opened the door, leaping out onto the bricked pavement. "That's a pretty cool idea! Maybe . . ." The wheels were already turning in his head..

"Oh brother." Cloud looked to Sephiroth, who was just getting out of the car. "There'll be no stopping him now." Zack loved Christmas trees so much that he had hated to take down theirs after the December holidays. Now he would have an excuse to keep up the little artificial trees he had bought for the house.

Sephiroth shook his head, amused. Zack was in Heaven. He was already throwing open the door, wandering curiously to that part of the display. Sephiroth followed, opening the door at a more normal pace. Cloud and Angeal came in after him.

"This is a unique store," Angeal commented. From his tone of voice he seemed to be impressed. Every now and then amid the shelves of antiques and unusual gifts, there was a bookcase set up with volumes. Through an open doorway to the left, a room with red walls was visible with many shelves of books. To the right, in the main room, there seemed to be a bit of everything. Shelves on the right wall housed quilts and supplies for making them. Further on, a glass case at a counter featured various memorabilia from past eras, including what looked like an original Troll doll from the sixties.

Cloud blinked in disbelief as he walked past the nook where Zack was admiring the many-holiday tree. An old bathtub was sitting on the floor, filled with buttons. "Somebody wasn't being careful with their clothes," he said in sarcasm.

Zack came out from the niche, his eyes widening at the sight of the tub. "There's enough buttons in there to serve a small village!" he exclaimed.

Sephiroth preferred buckles, and in any case, he had very little interest in looking at different button designs. He walked ahead, looking towards the counter on the left. An odd, lanky, middle-aged man was leaning over it, carefully building a card house out of what looked like some kind of trading cards. To the man's side, on the path in the center of the room, another room beyond the main one was filled with odds and ends. And yet a third room at the very back seemed to be the same way. To the right side of the first of the extra rooms was a staircase going up, painted mint green.

Sephiroth turned, crossing to the left counter. "Excuse me," he began.

"Just a moment, young man," was the answer. "I just have one more card to put in place."

In irritation Sephiroth crossed his arms, watching as the clerk balanced a final card on top of his masterpiece. As it held, the man looked up in delight. "There!" he declared. "I've built a house out of Duel Monsters cards. Maybe I should put this on display in the front."

Sephiroth grunted. "This establishment was recommended to me by someone," he said. "She may be one of your customers. We're trying to find her now and we thought you might know where she is."

"Oh! Interested, are we?" the man smiled.

"No," Sephiroth retorted. "Her life may be in danger."

The man's eyes widened. "Well, my goodness!" he exclaimed. "I'm Wilbur Thorton, the owner and proprietor. Do tell me what she looks like and I'll see if I can remember. I should be able to; I have a photographic memory." This he said proudly, thumping himself on the chest.

By now the others were gathering behind Sephiroth. He was the only one who had seen her, and so they waited for him to speak.

"She has shoulder-length blondish hair," he reported, "in natural curls. Her eyes are hazel and she appeared to be around five feet four inches."

Thorton looked worried. "When did you see her?" he demanded.

"Last night," Sephiroth said.

"I live with my niece who works for Jenova Corp, one of those big companies in town," Thorton announced. "I haven't been able to get in touch with her since last night. She always comes here after work to help me close up before we go home, so I know something must be wrong!"

Zack stepped forward. "We run Jenova Corp," he said. "It must've been your niece who contacted Seph here last night." He clapped Seph on the shoulder.

Wilbur blinked. "She contacted you to tell you about my shop?!" he said in disbelief.

"No," Sephiroth said. "She knew information about a problem we're having at the company. She got in touch with me through email to let me know, and wanted to meet somewhere. Unfortunately, the criminals found her first. She was badly beaten, her identification stolen."

"And now she's disappeared from the hospital," Cloud said. "The only thing we found in her room was a business card for this place."

Now the poor man looked faint. "O-Oh . . . oh my," he gasped, passing a hand across his forehead as he slumped back. "Poor Jessie . . . !"

Zack felt horrible for him. He was an eccentric guy, but he obviously cared about his family very much. This would be horrible for anyone to have to hear. Zack hated that they could not tell him that she had been found and was recovering. What if that never even happened?

"Mr. Thorton, time is of the essence," Sephiroth said. "It may already be too late to save her, but we and the police are doing all we can to try. Now I need you to think. Do you know if anyone has been bothering your niece lately?"

Thorton looked confused. "Bothering?" he repeated.

Angeal came forward. "Has anyone been here wanting to talk to her?" he suggested. "Someone who didn't seem friendly?"

The man looked helpless. "I can't think of anyone," he said, running a hand through his thinning light hair. "Though . . ." He frowned. "Someone did call her a couple of times. I think once he came here, and she didn't want him to come in. At least it seemed that way. She went to meet him outside. I remember it looked like they were arguing."

"How long ago was this?" Sephiroth wanted to know.

A helpless shrug. "No more than a week ago . . . maybe sooner. Oh . . . yes, it was last Friday," Thorton deduced. "Today's Tuesday. I remember the man was here on Friday because I'd just got done talking to my brother Burt, who runs a toy store in the mall. Jessie is the daughter of a third brother, who has passed on now . . ."

"What did the man look like?" Sephiroth interrupted in irritation.

Thorton snapped back to the present. "He was very tall, with a blond crewcut," he mused. "His hair was really light . . . almost as if maybe he had bleached it. And he looked like he was one of those people who lifts weights." He glanced from Sephiroth to Angeal. "He was kind of built like the two of you, I suppose. Probably more like you." He nodded to Sephiroth.

"You don't know who he is at all?" Zack blinked.

Thorton paused. "I think Jessie may have called him Marcel when she was talking to him on the phone," he said. "I was wondering if he was a boyfriend, but she denied it. Actually, she wouldn't say how she knew him."

Cloud ran a hand through his hair. "Maybe she knew him from work?" he said.

"Maybe," Thorton agreed. "I really don't know."

Sephiroth made a mental note to perform a search in the company database for employees named Marcel. "Does anyone work here besides you?" he queried.

Thorton nodded. "There's my assistant Dave," he said. "And Carol and Linda. They're clerks. And the people who rent spaces for the antique mall sections come in now and then."

"Antique mall?" Zack repeated. Somehow it had never occurred to him to call such a place a "mall." He always imagined rows and rows of stores when he heard about malls. And here, there were all kinds of things together in one store.

Thorton looked enthusiastic. "Yes, people can rent small spaces to put up things they have for sale," he said. "Most of the dealers have their sections upstairs, but there are some down here, too."

Sephiroth really could not care less, especially considering the current situation. "Has there been anyone besides this Marcel who has been bothering your niece?" he asked.

"I . . . can't recall that there has been," Thorton said. "She and Dave don't get along that well, but that's more of a clash of personalities than anything else."

Sephiroth nodded but did not respond. If Jessie had indeed left the card on purpose, it had likely been in order to inform her uncle of what had happened, as well as to get her own identity revealed. They might need to come back again to question Thorton further. But for now Sephiroth was anxious to get to Jenova Corp and try once more to find Jessie in the database, as well as to look for Marcel.

"Do you know what it is that your niece does at Jenova Corp?" he asked.

Thorton blinked. "Not really," he confessed. "She tried to explain it to me, but all these technical explanations get so confusing. She may be a computer programmer."

That was not much to go on, though it did narrow the search somewhat.

"Thank you for your time," Sephiroth said. "The police will probably be by soon to talk to you as well."

"O-of course." Thorton looked from Sephiroth to the others. "You'll let me know what happens, won't you?" he said worriedly.

"Sure thing!" Zack said.

But then he frowned. It really felt like someone was watching them. With narrowed eyes he looked over at the rooms ahead of them. A shadow vanished out of sight in the second room.

"Hey!" Zack yelled. "Come back here!" He tore past the astonished Thorton, running into the second room. An ancient cash register was to his right, as well as other relics from that long ago period, but he barely paid attention. Footsteps were sounding in the third room just ahead, which seemed to consist of one long, narrow corridor with vendor spaces on each side. Zack ran through the doorway. A figure in a navy blue ski jacket and matching wool hat was running for the back door.

"Hold up!" Zack demanded. "Why were you eavesdropping on us?!"

At the last moment the person swerved, disappearing through a door to the right. Zack caught up in an instant, ignoring the Employees Only sign on the door. He pushed his way into a world of boxes stacked in every direction, the door swinging shut behind him. At the same moment, the lights went out.

Zack gritted his teeth. Was the person using this as a way to escape, or was he planning to do something to Zack? The others had run into the third room by now. Cloud was calling for Zack. The brunet frowned, remaining where he was. Should he open the door and go out to his friends, or should he linger, try to find the light switch, and see what was happening in here? If the door he had run through was the only way out, the person would have to be trapped. But there were no sounds at all. Maybe the eavesdropper was waiting to see what Zack would do.

He reached for the doorknob. At the same moment, a bizarre motor echoed through the storeroom. His mouth dropped open. It sounded like a vacuum cleaner! But the floor was hard. Maybe the weird person had turned on a vacuum cleaner to hide the sounds of escape.

He flung open the door, narrowly missing Cloud. "I chased the spy in here!" he announced, to everyone's surprise. "But now he turned off the lights and I can't find him!"

Cloud narrowed his eyes. "There's another door at the front of this room," he said, "but it's closed. Nobody could've sneaked past us." He hurried into the room, followed by Sephiroth and Angeal, the latter of whom made sure that the door stayed open to give light.

Zack had already gone ahead of them. "That's weird," he frowned, studying the rows of boxes.

"Which part?" Sephiroth retorted.

"I heard something like a vacuum cleaner right before I opened the door," Zack said. "Now it's stopped!" He hurried towards the direction from which the sound had seemed to come. But there were only more open and empty crates.

"There's an outside exit," Angeal noted, looking towards a glass door opening into an alley. "He probably left through there." He frowned. "But I don't see a vacuum cleaner anywhere."

"I know what I heard!" Zack exclaimed. He ran to the door, peering out into the alley. There was no sign of anyone.

Cloud folded his arms. "What happened to Thorton anyway?" he wondered. "Wasn't he interested in what was happening in his own place?"

"A customer came in right when we were starting to follow Zack," Sephiroth said. "It sounded like she stopped to talk to him." And was that just a coincidence, or deliberate? Maybe the spy had not come here alone, and an accomplice had distracted the owner on purpose to keep him away. But why? Would he have been able to identify the eavesdropper? And what about the odd sound Zack had heard?

Zack looked inside a half-full box as he walked away from the door. Books were stacked inside, ready to be put on the shelves. "This is weird, too," he said, reaching to lift out a volume. "I mean, why put a half-full box in here? I thought once a box was opened, everything was taken out." He flipped briefly through the pages, then placed the book back inside.

"The owner would sure have time to do it," Cloud frowned. "Instead he was building a card house."

Quickly they finished searching the storeroom, without success. The eavesdropper had indeed fled, and he or she had not left any clues. Frustrated and bewildered, the quartet left the room and began to walk back to the main room. A deep woman's voice met their ears before she came into view.

"Now, really, darling, I was so hoping you would have that volume in stock," she sighed.

Thorton sounded awkward as he tried to reply. "Well, I'm terribly sorry," he said. "We don't have it new. You could look downstairs again, if you'd like, or even go upstairs to the antique mall. Some of the dealers bring books. . . ."

"I really wanted a new copy," the woman answered. "Your store came so highly recommended for books that are hard to find in print anywhere else."

Now they could see that she was a coquettish redhead, leaning over the top of the glass counter. Thorton almost looked intimidated by her sweet smile and green eyes. Sephiroth was immediately disgusted.

"Hmm. . . . My, you have lovely customers," she declared as the men entered the room. "Won't you introduce me?" She glanced back at Thorton, who looked much too relieved for the interruption.

"Oh!" he exclaimed. "Yes. Why don't you introduce yourselves? This is Vivalene. She comes in here now and then."

"I'll be in a lot more these days," Vivalene smiled. "I'm staying in Domino for a while. Work and all. Aren't you boys the owners of Jenova Corp?" She looked from Sephiroth to Cloud.

Sephiroth was irritated by her flirting. And being called a "boy", when he was the same age as her or possibly older, did not help his temperament.

"Yes, we own the company," he said, his voice curt.

"So crabby," she pouted. "You must be Sephiroth. Your hair is even more marvelous than I ever imagined." She smiled again. "You must tell me the secret."

Sephiroth ignored her comment. She was certainly capable of keeping Thorton occupied. She might be trying to do the same thing to them now, or else to learn why they were here. It was apparent that she had become skilled in manipulating people to her wishes. It would be easy enough to imagine that she could be dangerous.

"Well, I hope not everyone there is so stone-faced," she purred, and turned to Zack. "You look like someone who knows how to show a woman a good time," she said.

"I hope so," Zack grinned. "Aerith seems satisfied, anyway."

"Oh, you're taken." She mock-sighed. "I should have realized, of course." She turned, moving to go past them to the stairs. "Well, maybe I'll look around up there. It's so fascinating. Have you seen it?"

"Not yet," Zack said.

"I'd be glad to play hostess," she said with a gesture.

"Maybe we'll be up after a while," Cloud said, mostly in the hopes of getting her to leave.

"Oh good." She smiled again. "Then I'll see you up there." She winked at him before crossing to the stairs and beginning the climb.

Zack's shoulders slumped. "Wow," he said.

Thorton let out a weary sigh. "She's a very strange woman," he said, once she was out of hearing range. "I guess I shouldn't say that, because she is a good customer, but she flirts with all the men who come in here. Sometimes she even tries flirting with Dave."

"I can believe it," Cloud muttered.

"It's so embarrassing," Thorton said.

"Where was it all of you ran off to?" he wondered, looking to each in turn.

"Somebody was spying on us!" Zack declared. "I chased 'im into the back room and then the lights went out." He frowned. "And then I heard something like a vacuum cleaner. It was crazy!"

"A vacuum cleaner?!" Thorton was bewildered. "I don't keep a vacuum cleaner in there. There's no carpet!"

"Is there anything else that could have made a similar sound?" Sephiroth asked.

"There shouldn't be," Thorton blinked. "But what happened with the person?"

"Got away through the alley, I guess," Zack said. "I wish I could've caught him!"

Sephiroth gave Thorton a hard look. "You said that woman is strange," he said. "Do you trust her in spite of that?"

"Trust?" Thorton repeated. "I don't think she'd steal from me, but 'trust' is still a pretty strong word. . . ."

"Then you don't trust her," Sephiroth said.

"I didn't say that," Thorton quickly said.

"What if she was working with the spy?" Sephiroth voiced his suspicions. "Maybe she deliberately came in when she did to distract us, but since we had already left, she decided to at least keep you away from the chase."

"I'm sure I wouldn't have been any help anyway," Thorton said in amazement.

"She might not want to take a chance." Sephiroth crossed his arms. "You should come see the storeroom anyway. If anything is out of place or missing, you should be able to take note of it."

Thorton came out from behind the desk. "Very well," he said. "I guess I really should. But I don't know why anything would be taken from here."

"It depends on what their motives are," Sephiroth said.

"Oh yeah," Zack spoke, "when are the other employees here?" It seemed odd to him, that Thorton would be the only person in the place right now. But save for the weirdo, and the customer Vivalene, no one else had been sighted.

"Linda's upstairs," Thorton said. "Carol's downstairs, where most of the used books are. You can only get down there from outside. And . . ." He looked confused. "I'm not sure where Dave is. He was picking up an order, so he should be back any time."

Sephiroth nodded. Though he still wanted to get to Jenova Corp, the eavesdropper incident had altered their plans. Now they should probably stay long enough to look over the rest of the store. Who knew what could be lurking in any given place.

Zack ran a hand through his hair, sensing some of Seph's thoughts. "So, after we take Mr. Thorton to see the storeroom . . . do we go upstairs and encounter Vivalene again?" he asked. Though he had put on a carefree act while she had spoken to him, the dread now was obvious in his eyes.

"Let's try the other sections first," Sephiroth said. He turned, intending to head to the back of the store.

Without warning something heavy crashed overhead. A blood-curdling scream rang out from upstairs.

"What the heck was that?!" Zack yelped.

Sephiroth was already changing course. He crossed to the mint staircase, beginning the ascent in determination. The others followed, including a horrified Thorton.

Green eyes narrowed at the sight at the top. Several empty white metal shelves had been overturned like dominoes. A woman with short black hair was staring first at the mess and then towards a corridor made from standing, filled shelves on both sides.

"What happened here?" Sephiroth demanded.

She shook her head. "Someone was looking over some of the antique glasses this vendor has," she said, indicating some shelves to the side with beautiful crystal goblets of varying colors. "When I asked if I could help him find anything, he turned and knocked all of these shelves down before running towards that corner!"

Sephiroth started to walk past her in that direction. "What did he look like?" he asked.

Overcoming her initial shock, she began to follow him. "I couldn't really see, because he was wearing a ski jacket and a hat, and he wouldn't turn to look at me," she said.

Zack stared. "Somebody like that was spying on us downstairs!" he cried. "But how'd he get up here without us seeing him?!"

Sephiroth arrived at the end of the corridor, where a railing closed off a small portion of the floor and the pathway turned to the right. No one was there. He frowned, turning to look back at the railing as he walked over to it. Instead of it completely sealing off the space, it was only on one side to keep people from falling. Beyond it was a staircase going down. The man must have gone that way.

Quickly Sephiroth walked around to the head of the stairs, beginning to descend. The others were still following right behind him.

"Where does this lead?" he called to Thorton.

"To a small clothing shop between the first and second floors," Thorton said. "Another vendor."

Sure enough, at the bottom were racks and rows of clothing against the walls. Most did not look recent.

"This looks more like a costume shop!" Zack declared, blinking at a leather jacket from the fifties.

"Yes, we get a lot of business at Halloween," Thorton told him, the distraction obvious in his voice.

Sephiroth barely paid attention. He turned to the left, going down the low-ceiling corridor until another staircase came into view. This one led back to the main floor, into the red room he had noticed from the front entrance. And at the top of the stairs he could see the entire span of the room. It was empty.

In the space of a few scant seconds, the mysterious person had completely vanished for the second time.