Page 71 of Bring Them Home

“Well, we can’t tie her to her husband’s cargo van, and the chances are slim she sourced one from elsewhere.”

“Though it’s possible.”

“Lots of things are, but I say we call it for what it is. The Johnsons didn’t do this.”

“Agreed, which is why you’ll be interested in knowing that I took the initiative with something else.”

“Now, I’m intrigued.”

“We have one more thread to tug. Detective Briggs told us about a meetup Valerie Archer had last week at Caffeine Café, arranged with someone on the other end of a burner phone. You might remember from going there in the past, the coffee shop wants a warrant if they’re going to part with their security footage?”

“I do.”

“Well, I submitted for one and just got it back before you got here. We could pay the coffee shop a visit, see if it gets us anywhere.”

“Let’s do it. You never know, it might be the breakthrough we’ve been waiting for.” Amanda wished to believe in something, and this was their strongest lead at the moment.

Caffeine Café was a Starbucks wannabe with its endless drink options. Amanda bypassed the line and walked straight up to the counter, flashing her badge to anyone who had an issue with her doing so.

One man still called out, “Hey, lady, get in line!”

The clerk, who was ringing up another man’s order, turned to Amanda and Trent. “I’m sorry, but you’re going to need to go back and wait your turn.”

Amanda lifted her badge higher. “We just need to speak with the manager.”

The woman huffed, collected the money from her customer, and told the next person in line, “I’ll be right back. I apologize.” She shot Amanda a glare before heading toward the back of the coffeehouse.

She returned a moment later, alone, and said nothing to them. Just to the customer. “What can I get started for you today?”

They even stole Starbucks’s line… But what the heck? What was the ETA on the manager? Amanda was about to ask when she appeared. Long black hair and lengthy bangs that poked into her eyelashes. It was the same woman they dealt with during the past investigation. The tag clipped to her shirt reminded Amanda of her name. “Carla, I’m Detective Steele, and this is Detective Stenson. We’ve spoken before.”

“Yeah, I remember you.” She slipped her gaze over to Trent. “What is it this time?”

Amanda imagined how saying A murder investigation led us here would draw unwanted attention. Instead, she stuck with the basics. “Could we speak in your office?”

“All right, come along.” She turned and took them to a room in the back that was just big enough to house a desk, a chair, and a filing cabinet. She sat while they stood across from her.

“A person of interest in an investigation met with someone here,” Amanda began. “We wanted to access your security footage to see if we can identify who this person was.”

Carla sat back in her chair. “Since we’ve had dealings in the past, you might recall that I’ll need a warrant before I can hand that over.”

“Which we have.” Trent handed over a copy.

Carla tossed it to a corner of the desk. “Huh. All right, just tell me for what day and time.”

“You’re not even going to look at it?” Trent pointed at the discarded paperwork.

“Nope. It doesn’t matter to me. It’s for my boss and to cover my ass.”

“Just before we get to the time, do you recognize this woman?” Amanda showed her Valerie Archer’s driver’s license photo. It was possible the video they were about to see wouldn’t show anything useful, so she had to take advantage of the opportunity to speak with Carla.

“That’s Val. She’s a regular. She in trouble?”

“You can say that. She’s missing, and we’re trying to find her. We think it’s possible whoever she met with might be able to help us.” Amanda would leave it at that. There was no need to say this person might be connected with the abduction somehow.

Carla’s shoulders lowered. “She’s missing?”

“More precisely, she and her teenage daughter were taken. Is there any way you can help us? Did you see who she was meeting with?” Amanda appealed to this woman’s soft spot for Valerie.