Page 35 of Stealth Mission
The man hurries until he halts at a lighting display. “Here are the patio and sidewalk lights.”
For a small store in a country that I’m just getting to know, it has an impressive supply of options. “Thanks.”
I gather a dozen lights into my arms.
He magically has a plastic basket in his hand the next second. “This is easier.”
After I drop my armful in, I carry it to the other lighting section where he points to the spotlights. “Is that all?”
“Actually.” I put the overflowing basket on the floor and retrieve my phone. “I wanted to see if you might have seen my friend. I’ve been trying to catch her in town, but keep missing her and she doesn’t have a phone.”
The man looks hard at the image. Taps his chin. “Maybe.”
“Recently?”
He shrugs. “Last week, possibly.”
Vague. “Do you think any of your coworkers might remember her?”
He holds up a finger. “Wait here.”
My brows go up. “Sure. I won’t move.”
A few minutes later, he returns with a young guy and nods toward my phone.
“Hey, have you seen my friend?”
He gives me a wolfish smile. “Oh, yes. I have.”
Now I know why the other man went to get his coworker. This guy is our missing woman’s age. The kind of person who might notice how beautiful she is because he’d see her as a peer.
“Did you see her here in the store?”
A weird sound above us makes us all look up. Tension coils in the air and an eerie silence overtakes the entire place.
An uneasy feeling climbs up my neck. “Is that someone running on the roof?”
“Earthquake,” the older man replies. “Better get your things and go, it’s dangerous in here when things start falling.”
The young guy and I look at each other. Shit.
He starts talking real fast. “I saw her on the street. A few days ago.”
“Was she alone?”
We’re moving toward the register at a fast clip as he replies, “No, a man was with her.” He stops suddenly and makes a face. “I hope she’s not your girlfriend and I didn’t just out her.”
“Oh no, I’m just a friend.”
He exhales a relieved breath. “Good. That would have beenawkward… I’ll ring you up on register three.”
“Do you know where she was shopping or dining?”
When the roof groans again, he looks nervously at the door. “I think it’s time for us to run.”
Chapter Fifteen
I’m about to tell Mellie the good part when the ground rumbles. “Holy… what the? I think we just had an earthquake. I wasn’t sure if that’s what I felt a few minutes ago or?—”