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Show 177 away from his shirt front. It was the following morning, shortly after the store opened, that a blond girl came to the cosmetics counter and asked if the store carried English Leather. Sharon pointed it out in the display rack. As the girl looked through the items, she kept glancing over her shoulder toward the door. She was a pretty girl, with her big blue eyes, her glistening blond hair in a ponytail which hung to the small of her back. There were girls who seemed pretty on first glance, but on second look turned out not to be. They had all the accouterments, all the outer signs, but on closer inspection were not really attractive. But this girl, Sharon decided, indeed was, with her smooth skin, her open, pleasing face. When she turned her head to glance at the door, her ponytail curved and bobbed at the end. These persistent glances were not strange behavior this time of the year when couples shopped the center together, but wanted to keep their gifts secret from each other. "If you're trying to keep this undercover," Sharon offered, "just point out what you want. I'll wrap it for you while you wander around the store. Then just come back for it. That way. if someone comes in, you won't be caught in the act, so to speak." The girl looked gratefully at her, with those big blue eyes. "Do you know Steve VanderMeer?" she asked. "He works here." "Yes," Sharon said cautiously, "why?" "He's not here-in the store now-is he?" "No." Sharon felt her heart jump. "He's out on delivery now." "Good," the girl said, relieved. "I phoned before I came in, from the pay booth out there in the parking lot. That's what they told |