all in, we test it by opening the door. His phone immediately buzzes with an alert.
“Perfect,” he says. “Now we wait.”
“We’re not waiting here, are we?” My heart hammers. I’m still afraid she’ll have a weapon on her for protection. Jace Pickle’s money is not something to get killed over.
“I’m willing to bet she’ll come the same time as last night. I think we should go about our merry way this evening and around ten fifteen, park across the street and see if the alarm goes off.”
“It might be two weeks before she returns.”
“It might.” He pulls me close. “I’m happy to make out with you in the car while we wait.”
We park a block down from the deli a little after ten. We don’t want to be too close, in case the person drives up the street and is spooked by a car nearby.
“So, what exactly is our plan?” I ask.
Jason’s face is lit by his phone screen as he answers. “Alarm goes off. I call the police, and we drive around the corner to see where she goes when she leaves the building.”
“If we follow her, who’s going to be there when the police arrive?”
Jason frowns. “We’ll have to let her go.”
I clasp my hands tightly in my lap. “Don’t you think we should have called the police already?”
“Until yesterday, we thought this was an inside job. That’s a company matter.”
“It’s still an inside job. The person has the combination to the safe.”
“I guess if she doesn’t come tonight, we’ll let the Pickles know what we’ve found.”
“You think Jace Pickle will be upset we didn’t tell him right away?”
“I think he’ll appreciate our efforts to figure it out.”
We sit in silence for a moment. Jason seems so sure he understands what Jace Pickle would want.
I’m about to ask him if he’s talked directly to Jace about the theft, when his entire phone jingles with noise. The door alert comes up on screen.
“That’s it,” he says. “The alarm has been tripped.”
He eases the car forward as he dials 911.
I lean over to look through the glass. The streetlights create a reflection. I can only see the barest shadows inside.
But then, the circle of the window in the swinging door brightens. “She flipped on the light!”
Jason’s call clicks through. I hear the muted woman’s voice. “911, what is your emergency?”
“Robbery in progress,” Jason says quickly. He gives the address of the deli. “They’re in there right now. They tripped my alarm.”
“I’ll send someone right away. Are you in any danger?”
“No. We’re in our car across the street. We suspected someone was stealing and set up an alarm to catch them.”
“Just stay on the line, sir,” the woman says. “The police are on the way.”
Jason turns to me. “Should we drive around?” he mouths.
My belly is shaking. I press my arms against it. “I guess it won’t hurt to turn the corner.”
He nods and hits the gas.
Every sound seems amplified. The hum of the engine. The woman’s voice, telling him not to intervene. The swish of tires on the asphalt.
“Don’t go in the alley,” I say.
He stops at the intersection where the alley dumps onto the street.
We peer at the building. The back door of the deli is not completely closed, and a small sliver of light escapes into the dark.
“There’s no car anywhere,” I say.
Jason nods. The woman on the line asks for Jason’s name and phone number and he gives it. But something in his words catches my attention. I don’t remember those being the last four digits of his number.
I pull out my phone and scroll through my contacts.
No. Those definitely are not his last four digits.
I’m about to tell him he gave the wrong phone number to the woman when the light in the alley clicks out.
“She’s about to take off,” he says into the phone.
But even as he says it, bright flashing lights in red and blue hurtle toward us. As the police car approaches, Jason yanks open his door and jumps out in the street.
“That way! That way!” He sends the squad car into the alley.
The officer rolls in that direction.
The woman’s shape lights up in the swirl of color. She takes off running.
I shove open my door as a second police car arrives from the other direction. I’m not sure what to do.
Jason runs down the alley, slightly behind the first police car.
My breath rushes fast as I clutch the roof of the car. I feel like I’m going to pass out.
A tinny woman’s