take a peek. I’m sure it’s the same story as every day.”
While she’s gone, I flip through the camera views. I keep my eye on the office door, to make sure neither Connie nor Charlotte sees the feed.
The cameras are super subtle. Very small, the ceiling tiles cut to fit them so only the barest hint of the glass shows.
But it’s possible whoever was watching to see when the deli was empty happened to notice the security truck out front. Or maybe they watched for cameras to be installed, particularly after Nova took over.
So, they’ve moved on.
I wonder how long I should wait before calling this problem over. And after that, how much longer I should stay.
I don’t want to go. In fact, if things don’t go completely south when I tell Nova who I am, maybe I’ll take up residence in Austin. I honestly don’t mind the hours or the work. We have a good crew and it’s fun.
And with Kate leaving in a month, I should probably oversee the other people we hire. Maybe even hire an assistant manager and give Nova some time off. As it stands, she can’t easily take a vacation. The deli could run a day or two without her, but beyond that, someone would need to step in.
If I’m with her, hopefully watching her sunbathe topless on the Riviera, I won’t be able to help out either.
Just the thought of that vacation dream sends me over the edge. I’m ready to get out of here. I adjust my jeans and stand up to see what’s taking Nova so long.
But suddenly, she bursts into the office and closes the door behind her.
“Money’s missing,” she says quickly. “Exactly five hundred dollars. Like the old days. That’s no coincidence. Something’s happened.”
She’s shaking. I take the packet of cash from her and set it on the desk. “You okay?”
“I don’t know. I mean we knew it was happening. But for it to happen while we’re watching. It’s a lot. So I guess it was last night? Some thief?” She wraps her arms around her body like she’s cold.
I sit in her desk chair and draw her onto my lap. “Let’s look at the footage together. I think this is about to be over. We’ll see who it is.”
She nods, her hand gripping my thigh.
“I’m so afraid,” she whispers. “Please don’t be anyone we care about.”
I click the settings to find the recordings that began at close of yesterday. “That’s why we’re looking at it ourselves first. Then we can make some decisions.”
“We have to tell Jace Pickle either way,” she says. I try not to flinch at my name. “He may not care if it’s someone we love who might be desperate for reasons we don’t know.”
My jaw tightens. “Let’s cross that bridge only if we come to it. I really don’t think we will.”
But as we pull up the safe footage and begin quickly scrubbing through the recording, I wonder if I can stop what will happen. This is not a small amount of money. At the height of the theft, it was a couple thousand a week for months on end.
There are issues of insurance, and the franchise itself. What would my dad want me to do?
Nova lunges forward. “Stop.”
I scrub backward. A figure appears in the corner of the frame. She turns, and it’s clearly a woman. She doesn’t glance around but reaches up to make sure her hood covers her head.
“What does the back of her hoodie say?” Nova asks.
I pause the video, but that makes it even harder to read. The resolution isn’t high enough for a still. I reverse a few frames and start it again.
“Something cleaning service,” I say.
“We don’t use a cleaning service. Connie and Charlotte are employees of the deli. Not a service.”
“What about that time they were sick?”
“I hired Connie’s sister. Still not a service.”
We fall quiet as we watch the woman bend down, presumably to open the safe and combination lock.
“Is that the sister?”
“No. She was much larger.”
The woman blocks the view of the camera. We can’t see her actions, and it wouldn’t be enough for law enforcement. “We can’t even see her face,” I say.
The woman stands, closes the cabinet again, and walks out of the frame.
Nova braces her elbows on the desk. “We proved it’s somebody. Which we already knew.”
“I think we also know it’s nobody who works for us. This clearly is not Connie, Charlotte, Kate, or Elda. You ruled out Connie’s sister.”
“But