The first man to vanish was a salesman from Chicago.
A talkative sort, always tipping his hat too quickly and trying to charm every lady behind a counter. He’d stopped in Evansville for the night, roomed at the boarding house and spent the next morning buying flowers. A dozen blue stems wrapped in soft paper, tied with a navy ribbon.
Mrs. Landry, who ran the boarding house, remembered his last words clearly.
“Heading out east, through the orchard road. Might stop by for apples if time allows.”
He never did.
A few weeks later, Sheriff Dalrymple came calling at Vera’s shop. The bell sang the same delicate note. She looked up from trimming the stems of an indigo bouquet.
“Afternoon, Sheriff. Something the matter?”
He asked his questions, polite at first. Travelers missing, last sightings, that sort of thing. Vera listened carefully, hands folded in her apron, nodding at the right moments. Her answers were clean and unhurried.
“Yes, he bought flowers. Blue ones. Said they reminded him of Lake Michigan.”
“No, I didn’t notice anything odd.”
“No, he didn’t seem in a rush.”
The sheriff thanked her and left with a handful of daisies she insisted he take, “For your wife’s table.”
When the door closed, Vera stood in the quiet for a long while. The scissors in her hand glinted under the lamplight. She exhaled softly and turned toward the back of the shop, where the faint smell of apples drifted in through the open window.
Behind the counter, a small journal lay open on her desk. The page was dated two nights prior.
Blauw, soil mixture holds well. Roots strong. Fragrance deepens after rain.
And beneath the note, pressed between two waxy leaves, was a scrap of fabric, navy cotton, the kind used for traveling coats.
Outside, the sky was turning the same deep blue as her flowers.
Swanson’s Flower Shop
- Chapter I: Shades of Blauw
- Chapter I (continued): Shades of Blauw
- Chapter I (final): Shades of Blauw
- Chapter II: Shades of Brzoskwinia
- Chapter III: Shades of Natura
- Chapter IV: Shades of Violaceous
- Chapter V: Shades of La Couleur Bleue
- Chapter VI: Shades of Brun
- Chapter VII: Shades of Noire
- Epilogue: The Geddes Report