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Chapter 9
Marv and I strode intoBean Water—one of the last places Clarissa’s niece had been seen—and promptly headed for the countertop where a bright-smiled barista in a black and purple uniform welcomed us.
“Hi and welcome toBean Water,what can I get for you today?”
“Actually, we’re looking for someone and we’re wanting to know if you’ve seen her,” Marv said. “She’s about this high”—he held up his hand just above my head—“and she’s been missing for a few days. She’s a dark skinned woman and she would’ve been wearing a business suit when she last came to this establishment.” I grimaced. The barista began to frown, taking a step back from the counter as Marv’s tone became more severe. “Have you seen her?”
“I-I don’t—”
“Here, let me,” I said with a sigh, moving to stand in front of Marv. “Hi”—I paused and glanced down at the woman’s name tag—“Claire. My boyfriend and I were in here a few days ago and we ran into a woman on our way out and duh—stupid me, I made her spill all of the stuff she was carrying.” I slapped my forehead playfully. “I accidentally crashed into her and her stuff got mixed with mine. It looks like I have everything I need, but I accidentally picked up some documents she had with her and they seem pretty important, but we’re from America and we’re about to leave to head home and we were hoping to find her and return her stuff. Can you just tell us if you’ve seen anyone matching her description?”
“There are a lot of people that come through here,” the woman said, though she seemed more comfortable as I took the lead.
“Oh dang it, you probably do.” I sighed and then winced as I looked back up at her. “Would we be able to speak to a manager about security footage? I’m sure you caught our accident on camera. Maybe if we point her out you can tell us if she’s a regular here or we can at least print out a picture to give to the police if we have to give them her stuff before we leave the country.”
“Oh, yeah.” Relief was clear in her tone. “Let me go grab my manager!”
She dashed away as I stepped back and looked back at Marv. He lifted a brow at me. “You scare people when you’re so serious,” I said.
“Apparently,” he agreed, “but there’s just one thing wrong with your story.”
“What? The fact that it’s made up?” I asked.
He shook his head. “No.” His hand gripped my hip and brought me closer as he leaned over and lowered his head until his mouth hovered over mine. I inhaled sharply. “I’m not your boyfriend, Sunshine.” My heart pounded. “I’m yourhusband.”
“I—”
“Hi, I’m the manager here atBean Water, how can I help you, folks?”
I spun away from Marv and plastered a smile on my face as a short voluptuous woman with bright orange hair approached us. “Hi,” I squeaked, shuffling away from Marv. I heard the quiet vibration of his chuckle at my back and quickly jerked my elbow back, nailing him in the side as I relayed the same story I had told the barista.
The manager—her name tag read Maria—frowned. “Normally, we don’t let anyone look at security camera footage,” she started. “But from what I understand, these are extenuating circumstances. When did you say you were leaving the country?”
I bit my lip. I knew it didn’t matter if she didn’t let us look at them. Texas could hack in when we got back to the hotel, but I also knew Knix wanted to keep everything as legal as possible.
“Two days,” Marv answered. “We’ve been here for a while and we have to get back for work.”
Maria nodded and when she agreed to let us in the back to look at security footage, I released a sigh of relief. “Thank you so much,” I said.
“You go on ahead,” Marv said as Maria moved towards the back office, gesturing for us to follow. “I’m going to check something out real quick.”
I frowned his way, but before I could say anything, he disappeared into the line of people who had begun to congregate at the counter as they ordered their drinks.
“This way please.” I nodded and trailed after theBean Watermanager as she led me towards the back through a small kitchen and into an office with tiled floors and a poster of a large Italian man with a handlebar mustache, holding a minuscule porcelain cup of espresso. “All of the security footage gets sent to the main computer,” Maria explained as she quickly scurried over to a small step ladder and adjusted it so that it was in front of the desk before she took the overstuffed looking computer chair.
I smiled and quietly nudged the stepladder back in place and came to stand alongside her as she clicked through some old files and found the security footage we needed. I gave her the date and time and she pulled up the video. I watched in silence as the frames moved by. I sighed when I noticed that the timeframe was stamped wrong—it was the right day, but the wrong time. The manager had pulled up the a.m. time period rather than the p.m. one I needed.
“Do you mind if I try?” I asked.
She looked up and scooted her chair back, nodding for the computer. Relieved, I leaned over and moved the mouse down to the times and moved up until it was past mid-afternoon. Slowing down the frames, I let it run for a few minutes before I saw the same woman Texas had pulled up a picture of on the security footage from Bricker and Stein.
I watched the woman on the screen for several long minutes, screenshotting a few of the frames. As accommodating as Maria was, I hesitated to ask for the full footage, so I asked if I could print off some of the screenshot frames. By the time those were done printing, Marv still hadn’t come back so I thanked the woman and headed to the front, folding the images I had taken and tucking them into my back pocket.
Anxiety began to work its way through me when I saw that Marv was nowhere to be seen in the shop. Pulling my phone out, I stepped into the bright sunlight and took a path to the side, scrolling through to his number as I paused in the mouth of an alleyway, but a figure leaning over and talking to a gruff-looking homeless man had me putting my phone away and approaching cautiously.
Marv noticed my arrival and nodded, quietly thanking the man on the ground, half shaded by a cardboard overhang that was obviously self-built. Marv passed the man a few bills and turned, heading my way before I was even halfway over.
“Did you find out anything?” I asked, tucking my cell phone away.
