Dead and Buried by Anne Cassidy

somewhere to bring friends. Not that she had many friends.
    ‘You’re quiet,’ Joshua said.
    ‘Thinking of stuff I’ve got to do.’
    When they got to Wickby it was busy. They drove slowly through the small town and passed lines of stalls being set up and signage pointing in all directions for Art Deco , Victorian , Thirties , Vintage Clothes and, strangely, Bathrooms. They parked beyond the town centre and walked back among crowds heading for the stalls. Rose looked around and was reminded of Holt, the town in Norfolk where she had been a regular visitor when she was at boarding school.
    ‘Told you this was really popular.’
    They walked around the stalls for a while. Joshua stopped at some and Rose found herself looking at the items. Her eye was taken by a tiny chest of drawers. It was the size of shoebox and the drawers were only big enough to fill with jewellery. She opened and shut each one.
    She could buy it. It was sweet and she could put it on her desk. She didn’t have a lot of jewellery but there were other things it could hold: keys, bits of make-up, memory sticks, combs and hair ties.
    She hesitated then walked on. Joshua followed her. They headed for some benches at the top end of the market. They stopped and sat down. It was possible to watch people passing through the market from there.
    ‘Oh!’ he said, after a few moments. ‘After going to Brewster Road I remembered something about Daisy Lincoln.’
    ‘What?’
    ‘It was the conversation with Sandy that triggered it. You remember she said that there was talk that Daisy had run away with a man old enough to be her father?’
    Rose nodded.
    ‘I remembered this day when I went into the newsagent’s on the High Street just as Daisy was getting ready to leave work. While I was paying for my can of drink or whatever it was, she was looking into a mirror that was on the wall behind the counter and she was doing her hair. She was pushing her fingers through the front of it, using them like the teeth of a comb? To make it stand up?’
    Joshua stopped for a moment, as if he was picturing the scene. Rose gazed at the people walking past, her mind on what Joshua was saying.
    ‘She must have noticed I was looking at her and she turned round and said something like, I got a hot date, Josh. It’s the love of my life! Then she got this lipstick out of her bag and opened it up in front of me. It was almost like she was teasing me. I was fourteen, secretly mad about her and it was as if she knew it.’
    He was quiet again.
    ‘And?’ Rose prompted.
    ‘She put the lipstick on without looking in the mirror. Just using it like a crayon across her mouth. Then she came round the counter and went out of the shop. I remember she seemed to bounce along. I watched her go and stayed at the shop door while she stood at the edge of the pavement waiting for someone. A car passed and it let out a little bibbing sound and then pulled up across the road, further along so I didn’t see who was driving. Thing is, I do remember looking at the car. It was a Saab, a Swedish car. I was into cars when I was that age and I knew that Saabs were not the kind of car that young people drove. Too heavy and serious. It was something an older person would choose. An old Swedish car, solid but not stylish. Anyway, I didn’t think any of that at that moment. I was too busy pining for Daisy. I watched her walk across the road and get into the car. I remember she gave me a little wave.’
    Rose felt unsettled by this story even though she had no strong memories of Daisy herself. All she could picture was a laughing girl with long black hair. Daisy had never babysat for her and her house was just too far along the road for the families to be acquaintances.
    ‘Anyway, shall we walk around again?’
    Rose stood up.
    ‘We’ll split up,’ he said. ‘You stay in this general area and I’ll go to the far end of the market. There’s an auction there. It might be something that Kathy or Dad