A/N: Thanks for your enthusiastic reviews. They really make this worthwhile. I'll try to keep my side of the bargain and update regularily. Don't know about tomorrow though, tomorrow I have to work late (at the organic food store ... being Annie ;) minus the nice shop assistant)
Eliot finished sweeping the floor and carried the brush and bucket back to the broom closet.
"What do you want me to do now?" he asked.
Annie shook her head.
"I want you to sit down and relax ... you are just pretending, remember? You don't have to work your ass off. Have a coffee or something."
"But we want it to look real", Eliot said. "I can't just lurk around." He had tied back his hair with a bandana and was wearing the same kind of apron as Annie.
"Believe me, if I had a shop assistant for real, I'd give him time off to have a coffee. I could do with one myself, by the way", she added. Eliot smiled.
"In that case ... coffee it is"
He went into the small office which also held a kitchenette and switched on the water kettle. Annie continued to put price tags on the new stocks which had arrived this morning. It had been a slow day so far. At least the glazier had been there to replace the shop window. Annie and Eliot had used the relative quiet to check all the shelves for more unpleasant surprises like the honey, but had not found anything.
"Maybe I'm paranoid and it is just a series of unfortunate happenstances", Annie mused as Eliot returned with two steaming mugs of café con lecce. The hitter grimaced.
"No such luck, I'm afraid. Hardison just told me that the lab did find a substantial amount of Difethialone in the honey. That's a second generation rodenticide. Pretty lethal", he explained.
"Rat poison? When did you talk to Hardi... oh, it's that earbud thing, yeah? How are they doing?"
"They are fine. They are just about to get into Farnham's office."
"Do I want to know the details?", Annie asked sceptically. Eliot shook his head.
"No, you probably don't."
A customer came in and cut their conversation short. Eliot took the coffee mugs back to the sink while Annie showed the young man where to find all the items on his shopping list.
"I normally don't do the grocery shopping", he explained, a little embarrassed. "It's just, my wife is expecting our second child any day now and is not very mobile anymore." He gestured to show the magnitude of her belly. Annie laughed.
"That's so nice. Do you already know if it will be a boy or a girl?", she asked.
"A girl. A little sister for our Joey. He is three."
Annie grabbed a paper bag and filled it with fresh fruits.
"Here, take some of those grapes and a few apples. Compliments from the house. At this time your wife surely can do with the extra vitamins and they won't hurt your little boy either."
"Oh, thank you, that's so nice"
Eliot joined them at the counter and started to pack the items into a paper bag after Annie typed the prices in the cash register, but the man stopped him.
"No no, my wife gave me this." He lifted a large tote. "She is very much into this reuse/recycle thing."
"Which we totally support, of course", Eliot said and felt a bit useless as the man packed away his shopping.
"28 Dollars and 63, please", Annie said.
The customer reached for the back pocket of his jeans.
"Oh, oh no ... I think I might have left my money at home." He took off his baseball cap and nervously ran a hand trough his hair. "Could I just leave this stuff here? I'll be write back with the money to pick it up."
Annie smiled.
"Yes, of course. You can also take it with you, if you want. I trust you to come back and pay later."
"No, I can't do that. You don't even know me. Please, I will be back as soon as possible."
"No hurry", Annie said. "I'll just put your bag behind the counter."
He passed it to her and she deposited it in the case that held her supply of paper bags.
After that a continuous stream of customers kept Annie and Eliot busy for almost half an hour. Many of them were regulars and Annie had to tell the story of her new shop assistant over and over again. Eliot smiled broadly, packed paper bags and tried to stay out of Annie's way while checking people and surroundings for signs of anything unusual. When they finally had the shop to themselves again, Annie leaned against the counter with a deep breath.
"Phew ... what a stampede ... seriously, sometimes it is like the hordes of Gengis Khan storm in."
Eliot gave no reaction but stared at the air in front of him, one hand lightly touching his ear.
"Eliot?", Annie asked. He shook his head and held out his hand in a 'hold-on' gesture.
"Parker? Hardison? What's going on there? Was that Parker screaming? Nate? Sophie? Can anyone tell me what's going on?"
When he looked at Annie again, she saw worry written on his face.
"I think Parker got caught. The others don't know anything yet. I ... I should have been there. I knew it was a bad idea to let her go in without backup."
He was tense and Annie saw his eyes move from her to his truck, which was parked outside.
"Go!", she said. "I'll be fine."
Eliot put a hand on her shoulder.
"Thank you", he said. "I'll be back as soon as I can."
"Take care!" Annie called after him, as he sprinted out of the door.