The door clanged open to Court’s left, and a short man walked in wearing a thick black jacket over a dark gray hoodie. Court eyed him for a half second and saw he was way too young to be an operator or a cop. He was Hispanic, he might have been twenty, and he didn’t even glance up as he passed by.

“Hey, baby,” LaShondra called out to the man as he walked behind Court on his way to the back of the little store.

The young Hispanic made no reply.

Court put his change in his pocket while LaShondra bagged his groceries. She spoke softly to him. “Lots of folks ’round here don’t speak no English.” It was her explanation for why the man had not replied to her, as if Court were wondering.

He wasn’t. The Hispanic went back to the beer cooler, and Court now had his eyes on two new people coming through the door. A male and a female, both African American, both in their late twenties. They were athletic-looking, and Court could imagine either one of them being undercover law enforcement or even FBI surveillance types, although he knew he was paranoid, and they could also be nothing more than civilians who liked to go to the gym.

Behind them a burgundy Monte Carlo rolled up and stopped at one of the gas pumps.

“What’chall doin’ out in this rain?” LaShondra called out to the couple like she knew them, but this did little to allay Court’s suspicions, since she had spoken to him the same way the first time she set eyes on him.

But the female spoke to LaShondra by name and with obvious familiarity, so Court relaxed.

LaShondra handed Court his plastic bag now. “Now you go home and get to feelin’ better, you hear?”

“I will,” he said with a little smile.

As he started towards the exit, he saw that two men had climbed out of the Monte Carlo and were approaching the store.

This market had been completely empty the first couple of times he’d been in, but those visits had both taken place later in the evening. Now, just after midnight, even in this storm, the Easy Market felt like Grand Central.

Court held the door open for two young men, both in their late teens or early twenties, just like the first guy through the door.

The young man in front was white and he wore a black skullcap and a black jacket. He nodded his thanks to Court.

The second man, on the other hand, looked at Court with rapidly blinking, searching eyes. He was Hispanic, his jaw was clenched tight, and he passed through without a word.

Something was wrong with this dude; Court saw it immediately.