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“Well, since I’m on the candy aisle, I can have a quick look,” she says, pouting at me.
I sigh, knowing I won’t win this battle. Luckily, no one else is in line behind me, and the cashier goes back to watch their phone while waiting for Ava.
I turn to watch Ava gathering candy in her hands, and the door chimes. Three people have entered the store. Two teenage boys and what looks like a grown man, but it’s hard to tell with the black hoodie obscuring his profile.
“Ava,” I say, my tone impatient.
“Almost done,” she calls back.
The man clad in the black hoodie keeps staring in Ava’s direction. He’s average height and build. He must realize he’s been caught looking because he quickly turns his back.
“Okay, I’m ready,” Ava says, depositing her loot on the counter. I hand the clerk the cash I have on hand while Ava tugs on my sleeve.
“Did you see the man who walked in?” she whispers.
I lean down to answer, “of course.”
“I swear I’ve seen him on my block before,” she says.
“Here you go,” the cashier says with the change in her hands.
“Take it,” I say to Ava.
The door chimes again, and I see the man in the dark hoodie has left. The only evidence he was in the store is the soda he pretended to want. It’s sitting on the top of the candy aisle.
CHAPTER 4
Ava
“Wait in here,” Brandon quietly demands.
I stuff the change into my jacket pocket, freeing my hands to loop the bag of breakfast sandwiches on my forearm, making it easier to hold my candy and the two coffees. Heading over to where Brandon’s standing into the doorway, propping it open with his body, one leg on the sidewalk and one leg inside where he can see me. Thankfully, no one is trying to pass between us.
Brandon turns his head both left and right, slowly lowering his right arm to his side where the gun is stowed.
“Is that man out there?” I ask in a soft voice, not wanting to alert anyone else in the deli to what’s going on.
Brandon shakes his head. “No sign of him. Come along.”
He remains in his stance, and my body brushes against his lean muscled figure. The shiver running through me is from the cold air, certainly.
I hand him his warm to-go coffee cup and our fingers brush. We lock eyes at the abrupt contact. Brandon is the first to break it.
“Let’s get out of here,” he says, proffering an elbow for me to grab onto as we head back over to the car.
After giving Brandon the address to my apartment, he quickly enters it into the Maps app and we’re pulling off.
Why did the man look so familiar? Granted, there’s certainly thousands of people who walk past my street on a daily basis, but something about that washed-out hooded jacket made me think I’d seen him before. Possibly standing outside of my building.
We pass over the George Washington Bridge, heading down past Morningside, when Brandon voices his command to make a call to a Kamaya Scott.
After a few rings, the call goes to voicemail, and Brandon takes a sip of his coffee before speaking.
“Kamaya, when you come into the office tomorrow, see if you can get into the security footage of The Deli on Smithson Ave, a few blocks away from my home. There’s a man I need to track down. Interior and exterior cameras. Based on the exposed skin, he’s a white or Hispanic male. Average height and slim build between the times of eight and nine hundred hours.”
After a quick goodbye, Brandon turns the radio down to a low volume before he resumes speaking.
“Earlier, you said Asher went behind your back and hired TSS after last night.”
