Page 99 of Carver’s Craving

I grinned. “I like the sound of that.” I knew better than to ask if I could do anything. Instead, I sat at the table.

Poppin dropped to my side.

“I missed you too, baby girl. And you too, Walter.”

He snuffled.

Styx presented two plates, and after putting them down, sat. “Okay…Davey. Tell me.”

I spent the next fifteen minutes regaling him with the tales of meeting the young man I’d met at the grocery store and how much fun I’d had. “He’s not much older than you and Baxter.”

“And a physics professor.”

I put the last of the moussaka on my fork. “Right? And, I don’t know, I thought…you know…”

“That it’d be nice for him to meet Baxter?”

I nodded.

“Seth came to see me today.”

“Oh?” I cocked my head.

“Not much news. Except that Baxter’s social media’s been scrubbed. Like, it’s all gone.”

“What?” I was totally confused.

He shrugged. “So either Baxter did it himself, or someone hacked into his account.”

“Do you have the password?”

Styx shook his head. “Nope. I don’t know anyone who does.”

“Weird.” I squinted. “Oh, I meant to tell you. I thought I saw Arlene at the grocery store. She was way ahead of me in line. I mean, it can’t have been her. Why would she—” I blinked. “What are you doing?”

He already had his phone out. “Calling Seth Jacobs. You’re right, it’s probably not her. But what if it is? What if she has something to do with Baxter’s disappearance?”

“How…?” I didn’t finish the thought because Styx was already speaking into the phone.

“Seth? Styx Smith. Sorry to bother—” He nodded. “Yeah. Look, this is going to sound bizarre. In fact, I can’t even believe I’m saying this. But Carver swears he saw Arlene, Baxter’s ex-wife, in the grocery store. Can you, like, check surveillance cameras or something?”

I wouldn’t have come anywhere near swearing, but Styx’s suggestion of checking the footage was brilliant. That way, if the woman wasn’t Arlene, then she could be easily ruled out.

“Which grocery store?” Seth’s voice came over the phone. Styx had put us on speaker.

“Save-On.”

“What time?”

I snagged my phone. I checked the time of Davey’s text and added twelve minutes. That was as close to correct as I was going to get. “Five fifty-six. I was at the last cash register. On the far left.”

“That’s great, Carver. I’ll introduce myself properly later. I know the manager and hopefully she’ll give me access to the recordings without a warrant. Otherwise, it would take a bit of time to track down a judge. I’ll report back as soon as I can.”

No warrant sounded a little dodgy to me, but I held my tongue. Whatever might help.

“What can we do? I mean—” Styx flapped his hands.

“Write down everything you know about Arlene. I mean every single thing. Email it to me. But there’s always a chance Carver’s mistaken.” Seth’s words were both gentle and stern at the same time.