AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Rachel sounded as frustrated and lost as Elisa felt. Why do something so obvious? Josh could have skipped mentioning the storage unit and prevented the spotlight from shining so brightly on him.
The empty space didn’t end the inquiry. Not for Elisa. “There’s a manager on duty. Maybe that person will have answers.”
“That would be nice.”
Rachel stood there while Elisa relocked the door then accompanied her through the maze of hallways that mirrored each other. Elisa spotted the security cameras. Noted how clean the place was and how hard it would be to unload a unit’s contents quickly. The hallways, while larger than normal hallways, didn’t make it easy for carts and carriers to move in and out without being noticed.
On the bottom floor, across from the main doorway into the building, a twenty-something guy sat in a glass-walled office eating a hoagie. Elisa could smell the mix of ham and onions and for some reason it made her stomach turn over.
She slid the chain with the key and card in the small open space at the bottom of the window separating her from what purported to be the manager’s office. “There’s a problem with the unit.”
The man dropped his sandwich with a sigh and wiped his hands on his pants. “Like what?”
“There’s nothing in it.”
He frowned at her. “Did you clean it out already?”
Rachel shoved her way in next to Elisa in front of the glass. “You don’t think she’d remember that?”
“Right.” He tore a brown paper towel off the roll sitting on the counter. He wiped his hands for another twenty seconds before finally turning to the computer. “Give me a sec.”
He typed then fed the key into a card reader machine of some sort then typed again. Elisa almost reached through that little hole in the glass and grabbed the screen.
“Do you have a written rental agreement of some sort?” Rachel asked, clearly exasperated with just standing there.
After a quick glance at her watch, Elisa worried she’d messed up. It was before noon on a weekday. Her schedule was flexible because she set it. She didn’t know where Rachel had to be and when but hanging out at a storage facility couldn’t have been on her agenda.
She leaned over and whispered to Rachel, “Do you need to get back to work?”
Rachel shook her head. “I’m good.”
“Elisa Wright,” the man behind the glass announced.
Elisa didn’t remember giving her name. “Excuse me?”
“That’s the name. Elisa Wright rented the unit.” The man looked up. His gaze traveled between Elisa and Rachel. “Do you know her?”
What the hell?“I am her.”
“Okay, then.” The guy shrugged. “There you go.”
“No...” Elisa thought her head might explode from frustration. “I didn’t rent it.”
He turned the monitor around. “Is this a copy of your license?”
There it was on his screen. Her face. Her license.
“Yes... but... I didn’t...” She honestly had no idea what to say or what argument to make. She knew she’d never been here. “I’ve never seen this place.”
“Uh-huh.” He turned the monitor back to face him and continued to type. “Looks like paperwork was done online.”
This guy suddenly had all the answers. Except the big one—who faked the paperwork to make it look like she rented the space? There was one obvious answer. The only one, really. Josh. But that didn’t answer anything. He had handed her the keychain. If he wanted to set her up, this was an odd way to do it.
“When?” Elisa asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.
“Probably a few days ago. It’s a new agreement.”
Not possible. Josh acted like he’d rented the unit months ago. Not that long after Abby disappeared.
