Taking the stairs, she looked again at the overhead mirror. A man peered around the corner a few aisles away. He seemed to be watching her. When she turned to look at him, he ducked out of sight. Her heart skipped, fluttering into action as she stared hard at the spot. But the man was gone. Slowly, she walked to the aisle, rounding the corner as widely as possible.
The aisle was empty.
She side-stepped, checking the next aisle. A young couple with a pair of children climbing on their cart looked up at her. The man had the same color coat. Maybe.
When she noticed they were all four staring at her she smiled. “Hi.”
She walked back to the stairs, eyes darting up and around.
She was either seeing things, or somebody who was watching her had sprinted out of sight before she got there to look. Hoping it was the former, she turned the corner into the narrow corridor with the stairs.
Skipping two steps at a time, she trotted up, emerging into a small break room.
A teenage girl eating noodles out of a steaming bowl looked up at her.
“Hello,” she said. “I’m looking for the manager.”
Her eyes, and then a finger, went to an open door along the wall.
Inside there was movement. “Who’s that?” a woman’s voice echoed out.
Piper went to the door and poked her head into a closet of an office. “Hello. Are you Sally?”
“That’s me.” A woman sat in front of a computer screen, tapping on keys. When she turned around Piper recognized her immediately from other times she’d shopped there.
“Hi,” Sally said, smiling.
“Hello, I’m Deputy Piper Cain. I’m with the county Sheriff’s department.”
“Nice to finally know your name. I’ve seen you around.”
“Nice to meet you, Sally.” Piper eyed the clock ticking away on her wall. It read 3:18. “Is that clock right?”
Sally looked up at it. “Beats me. No I’m just kidding. It’s precisely on time. I have to keep a tight schedule, you know?”
“Right. Listen, I’m wondering if something’s possible.”
“Shoot.”
“Is there a way to see who purchased something from the meat department on, say, last Monday?”
The manager blinked a few times. “Well, we use a new software system that monitors inventory. The purchase details are stored, in a dumbed-down version, mind you, in the system. We don’t keep credit card numbers or anything.”
“How about names on the credit card tied to specific purchases?”
“We would have the name from the loyalty card. Or, yes, we’d use the name that comes through on the credit card if they don’t have a loyalty card.”
“Could you do that for me now?”
Sally drew the frameless glasses off her nose. “Do what?”
“Check who purchased meat on Monday for me?”
“Don’t you need a warrant to do something like that?”
Piper put up her hands. "Listen, I would love to just get a basic idea of what I'm looking for and see if you even have the ability to do what I’m asking. If so, the sheriff and I will come back in here with the necessary warrant.”
The manager sat, thinking.
“But,” Piper looked at the clock again, “it would really save me a lot of time and effort if I could just figure this out right now while we're right here in front of it. If I had something to bring to my boss, you know? He would be happy." She held her smile, not too cheery. The explanation made no sense, she thought, holding her breath.
The manager finally nodded. “Just a quick glance, to see if we can do what you need is all.”
“Perfect.”
Sally swiveled around and clicked an icon. A progress bar started loading at a worm’s pace.
“Updates,” Sally said. “They never end.”
3:22 p.m.
She pulled her phone out, seeing Stacy had sent her a message.
Are you on your way home?
Piper ignored it and put it back in her pocket. She still had time. It took only fifteen minutes to make it back, maybe ten if she drove at full speed with her lights on.
Another progress bar blipped on screen, and then another.
Come on!
Three full minutes later, Sally was in the system. She pointed the cursor to a 'Meats' button and clicked. A spreadsheet, and with it a list of seemingly unintelligible numbers, appeared.
Piper's stomach dropped in disappointment until Sally spoke, pointing with the cursor.
"Here we are. The sales are here. The names are here. And here are the codes for the meats.”
“Which code is a T-bone?”
“Right here. Oh-eight-three.”
“And where are the dates?”
“I have to enter it in to see the date.”
Piper calculated in her head. "What about June 24th? That would have been Monday, is that right?"
The manager pointed her finger and touched a calendar hanging on the wall. "Yep.” She entered the date in a cell on screen and tapped enter. “And you say you want to know about T-Bone steaks?”
“Yes. Please.” Piper leaned into the screen, reading the name column. One name jumped out immediately. “There.”
She reached over Sally’s head and tapped the screen.
Sally ducked away.
“Sorry. That one, there.” The name was only partial, two letters followed by three dots.
Sally clicked the edge of the column and pulled it to the side, revealing the full name.
“That’s it.” Her heart raced. “What time was that purchase made?”
Sally eyed her warily, looking like she knew she’d done something wrong.
“We’ll get the warrant,” Piper said. “But you’re helping. This is a major help.”
Sally rolled her eyes and pointed the cursor at the screen. “It was late. Eleven thirty-one p.m. Likes his barbecues late at night, does he?”
Piper pulled out her phone and took a photo of the screen. “Thank you.”
“Now you’re taking pictures?” Sally asked.
Piper failed to answer her, because she was already out of the room and down the stairs, back into the yawning space of the supermarket below. She selected the photo on her phone and texted it to Wolf.
When she got outside, she ran headlong into a stiff breeze that burrowed into
