AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The clerk took one look at the picture and sprinted for the backroom. Owen took off, getting ahead of the guy and blocking his escape route.
“Chill out, dude. We just want to talk.” Owen kept his hands off the clerk, but his tone made it clear that the kid wasn’t going anywhere.
The clerk shook his head. “Can’t.”
“We’re not cops,” Owen said, seeming to grasp the kid’s fear. “Promise.”
He squinted at them for a minute and his shoulders dropped. “I know him,” he admitted. Sophie wanted to say, ‘no kidding,’ but she bit the sarcasm back and waited for him to continue. “Look, I’m just like the middleman here.”
“Middleman for what?” Owen pushed.
The clerk’s eyes shifted between them. “Mason needed some work done. I was the go between.”
“What kind of work?” Sophie asked.
“There’s this guy who edits video footage. He’s a real pro. He can make video look any way you want and still seem totally legit.” The clerk got excited while talking. He was obviously impressed with the editor’s skill.
“What video did Mason want changed?” Sophie asked but she had an inkling that she already knew.
The guy shrugged. “It was more than just one. He brought stuff in now and then.”
Not helpful. “Did you ever see any of the videos he had altered?” Sophie took a different approach.
“Think real hard,” Owen added with just enough menace in his voice.
“There was one time that Mason wanted to view what he’d paid for before he left the store. I put the flash drive in the store’s laptop for him. No biggie.”
“Didyousee it?” Owen repeated the questions with more force.
“Yeah, it was some old dude signing for a package. Nothing exciting. I was hoping for something—”
“What did Mason have changed about it?” Sophie cut him off because she really didn’t want to know what was in the clerk’s head.
“Just a date. Easy stuff for the editor.”
“And easy money for you,” Owen said. “You get a cut, right?”
“Yeah,” the clerk said. “It wasn’t hurting no one and the money was good. Besides, I wasn’t the one doing the editing.”
Someone should probably explain what “accessory” was to this young man, but that wasn’t Sophie’s job. She could scare him a bit to get some more information. “What you’re doing is criminal.”
“Hey, now wait a minute. I just put a flash drive, cash, and some instructions in an envelope and leave it in the store’s mailbox. When the job’s done, the editor returns the stuff through me. A day or so later, I find an envelope of cash in the box with my name on it. Like I said, easy.”
“What else can you tell us about the editor?”
“I shouldn’t…”
“He’s the one breaking the law. Not you.” She hoped he got the implication that throwing that guy under the bus would take any blame off the clerk.
“Not much. I met him on Reddit. He goes by the handle Sam98.”
Finding Sam98 on Reddit wouldn’t be hard, though getting him to communicate might be. But it was a solid lead and they desperately needed one of those.
“We’re going,” Owen said to the kid, “for now. If we find out that you lied to us, we’ll be back. Understand?”
The kid only nodded, unable to handle Owen in badass mode. Owen did do that well. Being threatening was a strength. She thought his ability to make friends easily was just as valuable.
Back in the truck, she turned to him. “Was he scared enough to tell the truth?”
