When this was over, she needed to rethink her career choices.
For now she shoved it to the side because there were more important things to deal with than her thirty-year-old crisis over who she wanted to be when she grew up.
The light startedto penetrate the alley, but the aroma was what hit Todd first. He’d barely noticed it the night before, he was so focused on finding whatever waited in the darkness.
Caleb held his sleeve over his nose. “That’s rank.”
“Yeah.” Todd stood with his hands on his hips as he surveyed the space. “She was over there.” He pointed to the space by a dirty old green dumpster. “Makes me wonder if it was the busboy from the bar.”
“Huh?”
“When I came back and talked to the owner, she reluctantly mentioned a busboy who works for her. She tried to misdirect me away from him, but I think she’s concerned he saw or did something. He’s fifteen or sixteen.”
“Fifteen?” Caleb’s eyebrows spiked.
“Yeah, I know.” He didn’t want to get her in trouble for violating labor laws if the kid was under sixteen. “But we must find him first to see if he’s the one who got me back here. He was skittish. If he was underage, that might explain it.”
“It would.” Caleb glanced around then took a step deeper into the alley. “How do you want to approach this?”
“Let’s treat it like a crime scene. Be careful, wear gloves, and see what we can find. If we see anything, call in the techs. I’m not sure we’ll find anything, but let’s preserve what we can in case we do.” He pulled a pair of gloves from his back pocket. They might be overkill, but he wanted to make sure he did everything right now, just in case.
They spent the next twenty minutes combing through the alley but finding nothing.
“Who’s climbing in the dumpster?” Caleb looked at him expectantly.
Todd sighed. “In the effort to leave no stone or bag of garbage unturned.” He hoisted himself up and sighed. “This smells even worse.”
“Why do you think I wanted you to do it?”
“You should pay for the dry cleaning.”
“You need to buy suits that don’t require dry cleaning.”
Todd groaned. “Do you know what my momma would say to that? She’d tell me to do better.”
“But you’d save a lot of money.” Caleb took a couple of steps back. “I’ll just be over here. Taking a deep breath.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Todd shook his head. “Always the funny guy.”
“Not at all. Just enjoying some slightly fresher air.” Caleb leaned against the wall at the front of the alley. “How will you tie anything in there to her?”
Todd wished he could answer that. “Maybe we’ll catch a lucky break.”
It would take some serious luck because all he saw was trash bags. The typical things he’d expect. Then he shifted another bag and spotted a backpack.
“Hey, if you were a thirteen-year-old girl, what kind of backpack would you have?”
“Something pink or yellow. Maybe with emojis or cats.”
Todd frowned. “Really? That seems a bit stereotypical.”
“All right, smart guy. What would you have?”
He held up a bag that was a black with pink Legos stacked along the edge. “I think this looks like something a girl who’s trying to look mature and might be a bit on the STEM side would carry.”
Caleb whistled. “That was worth climbing in the dumpster.”
“I hope so.” Todd waved him over. “Come grab it and let me get out of here.”
