Drained (Edgars Family #6) - Suzanne Ferrell Page 0,78
at the floor just beyond Aaron’s boot and thought a few moments. “Come to think of it, dude hasn’t been in here a while. Maybe…maybe two weeks?” He paused, then like a light going off over his head, his face lit up. “Yeah, two weeks ago. Came in while I was watching the first Cleveland baseball game on television,” he said pointing at the little TV inside his enclosed workspace.
“The one they won in eleven innings?” Aaron asked, remembering how he’d stayed up late to catch that one, too.
The manager grinned. “Always good when they take down the Motor City kitties.” A local reference to the team’s inner conference rivals, the Detroit Tigers.
“Was anyone with him?” Aaron asked as Brianna approached, her arms laden with her finds.
Again, the other man considered the question. “No, he was by himself.”
Brianna deposited her things onto the counter and went to get her wallet. Aaron stopped her. “I got this.” Before she could protest, because she always protested when he tried to pay for things, he stopped her with a shake of his head. “We’ll expense account this.”
She accepted the explanation without argument and Aaron had to wonder if she’d acquiesce as easily if he expense-accounted their next lunch. The idea made him smile inwardly. He’d have to give it a try.
“Do you know where this Steroid Kyle might hang out at night?” he asked as the store manager rang up her purchases.
“Sometimes I find him asleep out back when I leave in the mornings. Lots of the homeless do. But that’s only when the weather’s good.” He nodded at the now heavy rain outside. “Night like this? Most of them move into the abandoned building behind us.”
“Have you ever seen a guy that acted like a news journalist come into your store? Maybe carrying a camera with a big lens on it?” Brianna asked as Aaron slid his credit card across for payment.
The manager nodded. “There’s a guy that comes by kinda regular. Not every day, but enough that I thought he must work near here.”
Brianna glanced up at Aaron and he nodded for her to continue.
“You don’t happen to know if he was on foot or if he drove in?”
“Dude drives. It’s an old white van, like the kind that carries cold stuff in it. No logos. Usually only fills up. Doesn’t buy anything inside.” He paused. “At least not when I’m here.”
“Did you ever see him talking with the homeless outside the store?” Aaron asked. “Maybe even Steroid Kyle?”
This time the guy just shrugged. “Don’t know that I paid much attention.”
Okay. Time to shift gears.
“Do you have security cameras?”
“Two inside,” the manager pointed to the one over the door pointing towards the register area and the one behind him facing into the store aisles. “And two outside.” He pointed to the far right and then the far left. “But not gonna do you much good.”
“They don’t work,” Aaron said, resigned to the fact that many businesses had security cameras installed just to give the illusion of surveillance, but didn’t pay to have them actually function.
“Oh, they work,” the other man said. “Just we only keep them for a week. So, everything beyond that was dumped. Your Steroid guy isn’t going to be on any of our tapes.”
Aaron let out a frustrated huff. Great. Another cost-saving practice that was going to prevent him from finding the killer. He put his credit card back in his wallet, then pulled out a business card and slide that over to him. “Thanks, anyways. If the van comes back can you give me a call. Don’t approach the man, just call, okay?”
“Sure thing,” he said and picked up the card to read it.
With his hand on Brianna’s back, they headed towards the door. She stopped suddenly and he barely kept from bowling her over before she turned back to the store manager. “Is there any way you can get us a copy of the past week anyways?”
The guy shrugged. “I can have the boss email you the files in the morning. That soon enough?”
“Perfect. That would be so sweet of you.” She gave him one of those melt-you-where-you-stand smiles and the guy almost turned to liquid.
“You know that little act of yours is deadly,” Aaron whispered to her as they turned to leave again.
She chuckled, that husky little sound she made when truly amused. “Sometimes you just need a little sweetness to get what you want.”