Soulless The Girl in the Box - By Robert J. Crane Page 0,20
been around for the robbery, and based on our information, the perp had been in South Dakota during his last shift.
“Not really.” He shrugged. “We get a lot of traffic from the interstate, so there’s more strangers that come in here than regulars.”
“All right, well, thanks for your help...” I looked down at his white nametag, standing out on his blue shirt. “...Shaun.”
“Sure.” He nodded again. He seemed to let out a deep breath and I suspected he might be a little nervous talking to the law. Couldn’t imagine why.
“I’ll take these.” Kat appeared at my shoulder and plopped a plastic bag onto the counter. I looked down and saw she had filled it with a half dozen donuts from the bakery display against the far wall. She looked up at me innocently. “Want one?”
“I don’t think I can,” I said. “They go right to my hips.”
She picked up one with white frosting and multicolored sprinkles and took a big bite. “You sure?” Her mouth was full, and the glorious smell of sugary dough was in the air. “It’s really good.”
I blinked and shook my head. “I can’t.” I looked down at the bag then back up at her with a suspicion. “Are you going to eat all of those?”
“Unless Scott wants one, yeah.”
I sighed and pushed my way out the exit with a forced smile for Shaun, who blanched because I caught him checking out Kat. It figures; not only does she have a body that draws the attention of every man that crosses her path, but she doesn’t have to work that hard to maintain it.
Scott was screwing the gas cap on when I got back to the car. “How’d it go?”
“Fine. Your girlfriend will be back in a minute; she’s buying out their entire bakery.”
He frowned. “I didn’t expect to turn up much here, but I kinda hoped...” He let his words trail off.
“That we’d find the meta hiding out in front of the store, wearing a trench coat, a backward baseball cap, and rapping profanities?” I cast a look back toward the entrance as Kat made her way across the parking lot toward us, a donut in one hand and the bag hanging from her fingers in the other.
“Guess this is where the real detective work begins, huh?” He opened his door and climbed in while I got into the backseat behind him again. I watched him start to fiddle with the GPS. “Let’s hope the victim or the local cops can shed some light on things for us, or else we’re gonna be hanging out in this town until we pick up another incident. Hospital is an exit back, police station is east of here a little ways.” He shrugged. “Hospital first?” I nodded and we were off.
When we arrived at the nurses’ station and flashed IDs, a middle-aged overweight woman in pink scrubs showed us to Daniel Lideen’s room. He was sleeping, his long face tilted to the side. The nurse left when Scott asked her to and I looked to Kat. “You should get a feel for his injuries before you wake him up.”
She put her hand on his forehead, causing him to stir slightly. “Not a bad idea.” She closed her eyes and her breathing slowed. A light glow appeared under her hand and the clerk’s skin started to shine. A black and purple bruise under his eye began to fade along with a thin scab that ran the length of his cheek. I saw Scott shutting the door as Kat took her hand off the clerk’s forehead and his eyes opened, blinking at the two of us. “That should do it,” Kat said.
“Hello, Daniel,” I said as I leaned over him. “My name is Sienna Clarke and I’m with the FBI.” I halted to give him a second to process that information. His eyes blinked a few times as he tried to focus on me. “I’m here to ask you some questions about your assailant.”
“Oh...okay.” His voice was a little scratchy, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that he was more asleep than awake. “I already told the officers what I remember.”
“I know.” I tried to make my reply as soothing as possible. “But they’re local cops and we’re here to ask because the same thing that happened to you happened to some other folks in Wyoming and South Dakota. Can you tell me anything about the person that robbed you?”
He screwed up his face in intense concentration, staring over my