The Reluctant Vampire Page 0,104

might as well. They hadn't been able to find Stephanie by driving around. Perhaps there was something on the tape that might be useful. "Yes. Please."

"Come around," he invited, waving toward the end of the counter.

Drina walked around the long counter and came up behind it as Jason knelt to start typing on a keyboard under the counter next to where he stood. There was a very small computer screen next to it.

"What are you doing?" she asked, as he typed, tapped at a mouse, and typed again.

"I'm pulling up the program and punching in the me I want so it will start replay there," he explained, and mu ered, "A late-night Two and a Half Men rerun was on so it was between eleven and eleven thirty."

"A late-night Two and a Half Men rerun?" she echoed with confusion.

"A comedy show on television. I watch it instead of the news," he explained, gesturing to a small television on his other side. "It passes time while I'm sitting here twiddling my thumbs."

"Oh." She nodded, and then glanced to the door as Harper entered.

Apparently, he was done pumping gas.

"What's going on?" he asked, as the door closed behind him.

"Security video," she answered, and he came around the counter to join them.

"There," Jason said with satisfaction, and an image popped up on the computer screen of the store. Drina noted the miniature Jason slumped in the corner watching his li le television. Her gaze started to shi to the background, but Jason fiddled with the mouse a bit, and the image sped up. When a beerbellied older man entered the store on the screen, he hit a bu on, and the image played at normal me again.

"That's the asswipe," Jason announced.

"Asswipe?" Harper echoed with amusement.

"Racist shopli er," Drina explained, but her a en on had shi ed to the background. It was true you couldn't see the pumps, but she could see the parking lot in front of them and the exit sign.

"See, I told you he lifted three bars."

Drina glanced to the man shoving something in his pocket while Jason worked at the lo ery machine, but then her a en on shi ed back to the background as the nose of a vehicle appeared halfway up the le edge of the screen. The SUV, she was sure, and was proven right when Jason said, "That's the Anders guy's truck, and now the asswipe's making his crack about locking up the till and store."

Drina nodded but continued to watch without comment.

"Then he just stood there in the store for a bit like he was afraid to go out, like your Anders guy would rob him or something," Jason commented with disgust. "There, Anders must be heading in to pay 'cause that's when the guy scooted out."

They watched the old man leave the store. Three seconds later, Anders entered and waited as Jason punched buttons and jiggled things on the cash register.

"I had trouble ringing him up. This is a new system, and it's kind of glitchy," Jason mu ered, sounding both annoyed and embarrassed.

"Stop!" Drina barked suddenly, and Jason started, and then scrambled to grab the mouse and pause the image for her.

"What?" he asked, glancing at the screen uncertainly. "He's just signing the slip."

"Back it up, but just a li le," Drina said. He hit his mouse, it started to rewind, and Drina said, "Stop,"

again.

Jason's hand was on the mouse, and he paused it at once, but frowned. "I don't see anything."

Harper had apparently seen what she had. He leaned past Drina and pointed to the car on the street. It had just pulled out of the gas-station exit. "She's in the backseat."

Jason leaned closer and squinted. "I see a smudge that could be a head, but - "

"It's her," Drina assured him. She'd been watching the car when it had driven into view, headed for the exit. The backseat had been empty as it cruised to a stop at the street. Then it had turned onto the road, and a head had popped into view. It had to be Stephanie. "She hitched a ride."

"That explains why we haven't been able to find her walking the streets," Harper mu ered. "We should call Teddy and give him a descrip on of the car and the license-plate number. He can pass it to everyone."

"Good thinking," Jason said, grabbing his mouse again. "I'll make the image bigger and see if we can read it."

"No need, I've got it," Drina assured him. "Can I