第2章 第6節 カフェのサム
Sam at the Café
The only in Saltmere was warm, bright, and nearly empty.
A young man was wiping tables when Nora came in from the cold.
He was smiling before she had even reached the counter.
"You're the visitor everyone is whispering about," he said .
"I'm Sam," he added, offering a coffee she had not ordered.
He was easy to like, and open in a guarded town.
While Nora was drinking, Sam leaned against the counter and chatted.
"Not many people come asking questions about the old days," he said.
He seemed to know every road, every cliff, every hidden path.
"I could show you around," he offered, "if you're staying a while."
Nora, needing an , felt herself starting to trust him.
He talked about the sunken and the bells beneath the waves.
"People say you can still hear them ringing at low tide," he said.
For the first time since arriving, Nora almost felt safe.
Sam wrote his number on a , grinning like an old friend.
"Anything you need," he said, "just find me here at the ."
Later, walking back through the fog, Nora took a wrong turn.
Near the pier she saw two figures standing close together.
One of them was Sam, speaking quickly and glancing around.
The other was the man who had watched her from the pier.
Sam was gesturing sharply, his easy smile completely gone.
Nora stepped back into the shadow of a leaning boat shed.
She could not hear the words, but the tone was .
The friendly young man looked suddenly like a .
Sam handed the other man something small and folded.
Nora walked away quietly, no longer sure whom she could trust.