“Open it,” the man said. He was holding a gun in front of himself. And it was pointed at her chest. Tara could hardly move or register the command he’d just made. She’d seen a gun before. Many times, in fact. Her brother Doug had one at one point until her father had gotten rid of it for fear Doug would one day use it for the wrong purposes.
“I have to get the key,” Tara said, her voice shaky with fear. She fumbled with her purse and pulled out her shop keys. As her fingers trembled, she slipped the key in the lock and turned it.
“There isn’t much here,” she said. “I never leave that much in my register. Just enough to start the day. I haven’t even had a chance to open—”
“Shut up!” he hissed. He glanced at the store door and then inched his way to the side until he was semi-hidden from the sidewalk by a display. “Give me what you have. Then go to your safe and give me the rest.”
Tara shook her head. “I don’t keep cash here. Most people pay me with credit—”
“Liar!” the man said. There was something vaguely familiar about him. The anger. The wildness of his eyes. She’d seen it before in her brother. She’d forgotten how much she hated it, and how much it scared her. In some ways, it scared her more than the gun that was pointing at her.
“I’m telling you the truth. Why would I lie to you? Here you can take all of it.” Tara started pulling out the money she had in the drawer and held it out to him. “I only keep about a hundred and fifty dollars in my drawer. Hundred fifty dollars is a lot of money. Please, just take it and leave. I won’t try to stop you.”
The man grabbed the money from her hands. “I know you have more. And I’m going to get what’s coming to me.”
* * *
“What’s going on?” Brody asked Hunter as he walked out onto the sidewalk. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“I’m pretty sure I just did.”
“Who?”
Hunter glanced across the street to Sweet Sensations. “I saw Tara’s car behind the store. Do you have her cell phone number?”
“Just the shop number. Why?”
So many times Brody had wanted to call Tara over the last week. Calling her at work to talk would have been wrong. He was sure there were ways he could have gotten Tara’s cell phone number, but it would have been wrong to breach her trust that way. If she’d wanted him to call, she would have given it to him. Instead, she’d told him she didn’t want to see him.
Hunter hesitated. Brody couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen Hunter this rattled.
“I think we better call the police. I already called the store number and she didn’t pick up. Tara already had one break-in and I think I might know who it was.”
“Tell me.”
“Do you remember Ox.”
Brody sputtered. “I try not to. He’s the guy that supplied Doug Mitchell and got Marie hooked on drugs. Did you see Ox around here?”
“I can’t be sure. But I think I just saw him now. He didn’t see me. And I didn’t really want to see him. But then I saw him go to the back of the building behind Sweet Sensations.”
Panic nearly leveled Brody. “Call Caleb or Zeb. Get them down here quick. I know from talking to inmates that sometimes they go back to the same place they robbed again because the owners aren’t expecting it a second time.”
Brody started to run across the street but then he heard Hunter calling after him.
“Brody, wait. He may have a gun.”
Brody didn’t bother to turn back. “And Tara’s inside without one.”
Brody ran to the back of the building where Tara’s car was parked next to a small dumpster. The delivery door was open. But he couldn’t see Tara anywhere. Hunter ran up behind him.
“I called the police. I told them not to use sirens. Caleb is down the road.”
“Are you sure you saw Ox come behind the building?”
“Yeah. Geez, I thought that guy died a long time ago. He’s just a shell of a person now. But it was him.”
“I don’t see anybody behind here. But the door’s open.” Brody searched the surrounding area hoping to find Ox outside the building. That meant that Tara would be safe inside. But he found nothing.
“Brody, I told them you are with me. I don’t want them to come to the wrong conclusion.”
“I don’t care so much about that just yet.”
He walked slowly toward the building, trying not to make any noise on the pavement with his boots so he wouldn’t rouse any attention. To anyone who might be watching from a distance, he and Hunter would look like burglars trying to break in. They’d have to be careful.
They reached the door and Brody paused to listen for any kind of movement inside the building. He knew that there was a stockroom and he was fairly sure this door led to that. For all he knew Tara could be in the front room arranging her pastries in the bakery case like she did every morning and Ox could be in the back waiting for her.
He turned to Hunter. “Go to the front of the building and see if you can see Tara in the store. Then send me a text and let me know what you see. Keep it on vibrate. I’m going to go in through this back door.”
“Be careful,” Hunter said. “He’s got nothing to lose.”
“Yeah, but I do.”
Hunter ran to the front of the building and Brody stepped inside the building into a small hallway. There was an open door a few feet in front of him, so he paused and listened. He couldn’t hear any sound as he inched his way forward. Then he glanced through the doorway into what looked like an office. It was empty.
He cursed silently, disappointed
