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“Orly?” Hallie asked.
Orly carefully picked up the newspaper. “That’s her.”
“Who?” There was a woman’s photo on the bottom corner of the front page, but Orly’s fingers were blocking most of the text and the headline. “Who is she?” Hallie asked.
Orly pressed the paper to her chest and raced out of the office. Hallie was going to follow, but Garrett approached. “Would you mind if I took your statement now? The sooner I know what happened, the sooner I can start looking for whoever did this.”
“Sure,” Hallie said. “I don’t have much to tell you though. I was sitting at the register when I heard a car backfire. I looked up and saw a baseball bat going through my window. I panicked for a second and then ran in here and hid under the desk. I even forgot to grab my phone to call 9-1-1. I felt like such an idiot, but I was terrified. I didn’t actually see anyone’s face. I stayed here long after they left. Actually, it felt like a long time, but I don’t know how long it was.”
“Caden said he got here around 6:20. So, based on that, what time would you say they were here?” Garrett asked.
Hallie thought about it for a second. “I closed early tonight because the street was quiet and I had a lot of work to do, so they must’ve come maybe ten or fifteen minutes after that. So, maybe just after six.”
Garrett smiled. “You’re doing great. While you were sitting here, under the desk, did you hear them talk at all? Maybe they said something to each other, or yelled out to you?”
Hallie shuttered trying to remember, but she hadn’t heard anything over the sounds of glass shattering. “No. I didn’t hear anything like that. Just the shattering of glass and the blaring alarm, of course.”
“Do you know if they came in at all?”
Hallie closed her eyes. “I don’t think so. I didn’t hear anyone coming inside until Caden.”
Garrett nodded. “Last question. Do you have any cameras in or around your store? Or do you know if your neighbors have a camera with a view of your front door?”
“I don’t have any. I was thinking about putting them in, but then decided against it because I didn’t want my customers to feel like they were being watched. As for Alicia and Meg,” she gestured to either side of her store, “I don’t think they do, but I can ask them.”
“I’ll take care of that. You just sit tight and try not to worry. The guys are making good progress on cleaning up the larger pieces of glass and I brought a commercial vacuum that will suck up any small pieces they miss. Then, I’ll board up your windows and we’ll be good to go.”
“Thank you so much,” Hallie said. “For everything.”
Garrett smiled. “I don’t know what’s going on here, but we’ll figure it out. In the meantime, just stay safe and if you need anything, give Caden or one of us a call.”
“Thanks,” Hallie said.
Garrett stepped out, and Caden came in holding a manilla envelope. He sat on the stool Garrett had been sitting on. “Mind if we talk for a minute?”
“Sure,” she said. “What’s up? And what’s in the envelope?”
Caden sighed, his shoulders sagging just a bit, but enough for Hallie to notice. “I have no right to ask you this, so please understand that I'm only asking because I want to find whoever did this to your store.”
“Ask me anything.” Hallie wanted to find whoever did this too. If answering some uncomfortable questions helped, she was on board.
“Have you been seeing anyone lately? A man?” His question came out soft, not threatening or accusatory.
“No. Why would you ask me that?”
Caden swallowed hard. “Hallie, one of the reasons I haven’t seen you is because my boss wanted you put under surveillance. I knew I couldn’t do that with the feelings I had for you, so I chose to distance myself. It became very clear to me that I made the wrong decision, which is why I’m here now. Regardless, my boss had agents keeping an eye on you. They were instructed to take photos and they saw you with a man.” He pulled out several pictures from the manila envelope and handed them to her.
Hallie was still processing the first part of what he’d said. Surveillance. Agents followed her. They took photos. She felt violated. Lied to. The black car she’d seen, thinking it was Caden, that must’ve been them.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before. I still technically can’t, but when I decided to come back into your life -“
“When you took me to that Italian restaurant… Was I under surveillance?” Hallie wasn’t sure if she really wanted to know. It felt more like she had to know.
“Yes,” he said, his face marred with regret.
“When I went to Luke and Orly’s party?”
“Yes.”
