Last Summer in Louisbourg by Clare Mowat Page A

clutch of customers who were listening intently as she described the alarming events of the previous night.
    â€œCory couldn’t say for sure if it was a knife or some other sort of weapon. It was sharp and was pushed into the middle of his back. Poor kid. He must have been terrified,” said Vivian sympathetically.
    â€œSo then what happened…after he nearly got stabbed?” asked a tall lady in a denim jacket.
    â€œHe was forced to open the cash drawer. The thief took all the money, then he forced Cory across the store and shoved him into the cold cupboard. That’s where we put the fruit and vegetables at night. The burglar locked him in. The thing is, there’s a lock on the outside of that door but normally we never use it. Apparently this fellow was familiar enough with the building and that’s why the police suspect he’d been in the store before.”
    â€œHow long was Cory in the cupboard?” asked Justine anxiously.
    â€œTill nearly midnight. When his parents realized he wasn’t home and it was that late, they came looking for him,” Vivian replied.
    â€œWhat’s the world coming to?” asked a heavy man in a navy blue T-shirt.
    â€œMakes you wonder,” Vivian sighed. “We get quite a few strangers in here in the summertime with all the visitors coming and going from the fortress. There’s no way we can remember every single person who shops here.”
    â€œIs Cory all right now?” Justine enquired earnestly.
    â€œHe’s fine, thank God. I told him to take a few days off. What a brave boy. You girls should go over to his house and say hello. I bet he’d appreciate a visit,” Vivian suggested.
    â€œHis house?” repeated Justine. Somehow she hadn’t given any thought to Cory’s other life in a house where he presumably lived with his family. All she had ever seen or known of Cory Rankin was right here in this store.
    â€œGood idea,” said Andrea enthusiastically, giving Justine a quick jab with her elbow. “Now which is his house? I forget.”
    â€œJust up the road there. The yellow one right across from the seniors’ home,” Vivian gestured.
    â€œOh, sure. Let’s go, Juss,” Andrea directed, as she ushered her surprised friend out of the store. They hadn’t even had time for a Coke.
    At the yellow house they stood looking at the door for a long minute. It was Andrea who finally knocked. Justine was too nervous to do it.
    Someone called, “Come in.”
    They timidly opened the screen door and found themselves in a large kitchen. Cory was sitting at the kitchen table, along with a lady who surely had to be his mother. When he saw who the visitors were, he looked a bit startled.
    â€œHi. How’s it goin’?” he enquired.
    â€œThat’s exactly what we came to ask you,” laughed Andrea.
    â€œVivian said we should come over,” Justine explained quickly, to justify being so bold as to track Cory right into his home.
    He looked perfectly all right. Apart from a piece of masking tape around the bridge of his glasses, no one would have guessed the ordeal he had endured.
    â€œSit down, girls. I’ll put the kettle on for some tea,” invited Cory’s mother. “You’re the girls who stay over at the bed and breakfast, aren’t you? And you both work up at the fortress?”
    â€œThat’s right, Mrs. Rankin. I’m Andrea. This is Justine. We heard about the robbery, so we came over to see if Cory was okay.”
    â€œIsn’t it dreadful? I can hardly believe it,” clucked Mrs. Rankin, who was a small woman with short, dark hair and a round face. She wore baggy blue jeans and a red T-shirt with the words SPORTY FORTY printed on it. “A robbery right here in Louisbourg. It just proves you don’t know who’s out there. I never did like the idea of Cory being over at the store late at night. I don’t want him