I See You (Criminal Profiler #2) - Mary Burton Page 0,64
lot. He watched Spencer inside the shop as she grinned and approached the cashier. Her expression brightened in a way that made it hard for the cashier or him not to notice.
The cashier, an older guy with white hair and a scruffy mustache, turned and selected her box from a tall stack.
When he handed her the ticket, she touched her hair and straightened her back a fraction, accentuating her breasts slightly. The man leaned in toward her, and the two spoke for several minutes before she smiled again and picked up the box and left. The cashier raised his phone, but his gaze lingered an extra beat on her ass.
She opened his back door and put her pizza box on top of his. “That your logo?”
He turned around. “Bingo.”
“I thought so. Galina comes in several times a week. Loves her toppings. The last time he saw her was Monday.”
“Was she with anyone?”
“She came in alone and paid cash. The shop has security cameras, so I suggest you get a warrant for the footage.”
“Will do.” Shaking his head, he put his car in drive. “He told you all this?”
“I said Galina was coming into real money, and there was a finder’s fee for anyone that helped me.”
Vaughan arrived at the police station minutes later, and with pizza boxes in hand, he followed her to his desk.
“Point the way to the ladies’ room?”
“To your left, just past the break room.”
“Perfect.”
Like the cashier, he enjoyed watching her walk away.
When she vanished around the corner, he flipped his attention to his desk and the dozen pink slips. He sifted through the names and numbers, deciding they could all wait.
When Spencer returned, she held two sodas and several napkins. They opened the box from Gino’s first, and each selected a slice. He sat behind his desk, and she, in front in a metal chair, scooted up close to the edge.
After they’d each sampled the second box of pizza, he asked, “What do you think?”
“If I were a hungry young girl, it would be amazing.”
“Tell me you have not eaten all the pizza,” Hughes said as she approached the desk with a computer tablet in hand.
“For you, we have plenty.” Vaughan grinned.
“Bless you. I haven’t eaten since breakfast.” She pulled up a chair, grabbed a slice, and took a big bite before pressing several keys on her tablet. As Spencer reached for a second slice, Hughes asked, “How can you be so slim and eat so much? It’s going to take me weeks to work off this meal.”
“My dance instructors used to tell me I was fat,” Spencer said.
Hughes snorted. “How much did you weigh when you danced?”
“One hundred fifteen pounds.”
“I weighed that in the third grade,” Hughes countered with a chuckle.
“They wanted me closer to one hundred.”
“At your height?”
“The teachers liked thin and wispy,” Spencer said.
Vaughan thought Spencer looked damn fantastic. “And how did you get to be a cop?”
“I broke my leg when I was eighteen and, while I was rehabbing, went to school to fill the extra time and fell in love with criminal science.”
“Ballet’s loss is the FBI’s gain,” Hughes said.
“So they tell me.” Spencer took several bites of her food before asking, “What do you have for us, Detective Hughes?”
Hughes wiped her fingers off with a napkin and punched more buttons. “The first act of this story occurs on July first. Hadley and Skylar are shopping.”
The image of the two in a dress shop appeared. They stood at the counter, and while Hadley paid the bill, the girl stared at her phone. The sales clerk seemed to speak to Skylar, but the girl didn’t look up. Hadley nudged her, and the girl turned and walked out of the store.
Hughes pressed another button, changing the camera angle. “And then this happened.”
Vaughan understood teenage hormones and moods, secretly glad he had a boy. As he watched the screen, he noticed a man who had been leaning against a store across the street began to follow them. The man wore a hat, a long-sleeve shirt, and dark pants.
“Did everybody see our man across the street?” Hughes asked.
Vaughan and Spencer nodded.
“On to act three. Hadley is at the hardware store. She bought a cooler that day. Her actual purchase was of no interest until I caught this.” Hughes pressed a button. “Remember this is around the time her husband and neighbor said she started to act differently.”
Hadley walked out of the store, and as she crossed the sidewalk, a man came up on her right.