Camy Tang - Gone Missing

She went to the women’s clothing store, but the manager had stepped out for a few minutes, so Joslyn said she’d be back later. Then she made her way to the shoe store.

She asked to see the manager, and while she was waiting, she tried to figure out what she could say so that it wouldn’t be a repeat of her experience with Edgar. Lord, please just tell me what I should do to fix this.

The manager was a woman with short, dark hair that framed her pixie face, but her walk was straight and confident. She held out her hand and gave a friendly smile. “Jody Mills. How can I help you?”

Joslyn squeezed her hand a little harder than necessary. “I’m sorry to bother you like this, but I need your help.”

Jody’s eyebrows rose. “My help?”

“I’m Joslyn Dimalanta, and I work for the O’Neill Agency.” She handed Jody her business card. “I’m in the area with a friend, Clay Ashton, searching for his sister. We’re very worried about her.”

“You think she was here?” Jody looked around her store.

“No, but we were here earlier today because we needed a change of shoes.” Joslyn shrugged. “It’s a long story. Anyway, at the same time, our rental car was stolen and used in a hit-and-run, and Clay is in jail because the police think he did it.” Joslyn nodded to the security cameras. “Do you think I could look at your store video feed? It might show Clay and me here around the same time as the accident, which would prove he couldn’t have been involved.”

Jody’s shoulders straightened. “Of course. That should be easy enough.” She led the way to her office on the far corner of the store, a nondescript door with just a small sign that said Employees Only. They walked down a short, narrow hallway, passing a staff break room on the right, then to an unmarked door.

Inside, a man with a round face, gray-brown beard and merry eyes looked up from where he sat in front of several video monitors. “Yeah, boss?” He had a slight Southern accent.

“Hey, Benny,” Jody said. “We need to see some video from earlier today, around...?” She looked at Joslyn.

“Around noon,” Joslyn said.

“I’ll pull up from eleven o’clock on.” Benny fiddled with the security video computer, punching in commands at the keyboard, then nodded toward a monitor and chair at the desk behind him. “Coming up right over there.”

“Thanks, Benny.” Jody sat at the chair and Joslyn stood to one side.

The screen was split into the four video cameras in the store. Jody moved the mouse at the computer and the feed went into fast forward. Joslyn kept her eye on the video that showed the front door, and as soon as she saw herself and Clay enter, she said, “Stop, there we are.”

Jody squinted at the video. “Yup, there you are.”

They watched the videos as it showed them shopping for shoes and finally paying for them. The timestamp showed them entering the store at 11:37 and leaving at 11:55 pm.

Joslyn sighed and passed her hand over her eyes. Even if Edgar had let her see the video, it would have been the wrong timestamp to prove Clay hadn’t been involved in the accident. Thank You, Lord.

“Your friend’s being held by the police right now?” Jody asked.

Joslyn nodded. “Would you mind calling the police to come look at this? It’ll prove Clay couldn’t have been in the hit-and-run.”

“No problem.” Jody used the phone sitting on the desk next to the computer. “Mall security will call the police and escort them here.”

“Thank you so much for doing this for me. I can’t begin to tell you how much I appreciate it.”

“You poor thing. You must be so stressed and worried.”

“What’s worse is that the more we’re delayed, the further behind we are in our search for Clay’s sister.”

“When did she disappear?”

“About three weeks ago. Fiona Crowley?”

Jody shook her head. “Sorry, don’t know her.” She nodded to the frozen shot of Clay at the cash register and flashed Joslyn a grin. “He’s a cutie, though. Just a client?”

Joslyn felt her face burst into flame. “Um...yeah.”

Jody laughed. “What do you do for the O’Neill Agency?”

They chatted about Joslyn’s work until a police officer, accompanied by a mall security guard, knocked on the door to the security room.

“Hey, Jody,” said the mall security guard, “this is Officer Winchester. He’s a buddy of mine.”

“Nice to meet you.” Officer Winchester had a deep voice and a self-assured air about him. He shook Jody’s hand.

“Thanks for coming,” Jody said. “This is Joslyn Dimalanta.”

His large hand engulfed Joslyn’s, and his grip was strong.

“So what’s this about?” Officer Winchester asked.

“I have a friend in police custody right now,” Joslyn said. “The detectives say that his rental car was involved in a hit-and-run accident at noon today, and they won’t believe that he was here with me, because he spent some time in jail.”

Officer Winchester’s face was impassive.

Joslyn pointed to the video. “This is video feed from Jody’s store that proves he was here at the same time as the accident. I’m hoping we can turn it over to you and you can give it to the detectives in charge of Clay’s case.”

Officer Winchester gave a firm nod. “I can do that. Could I see the video?”

They played it for him, fast-forwarding through the entire eighteen minutes that they were in the store.

“I’ll take the video in,” the officer said. “Jody, I’ll need the originals.”

“Could I get a copy first?” Joslyn asked. “Clay’s lawyer is going to want to see it.”

While waiting for Benny to make a copy for her, she said to Jody, “Thanks again. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t been so helpful.”

“Aw, sweetie, I could tell you were really worried. Of course I’d help. Besides, it was no skin off my back.”

“Thank you for doing this for me. For Clay,” Joslyn said to Officer Winchester.

His dark eyes were inscrutable, but he nodded. “I’ll take this to the station, but I’m afraid I can’t do anything else for your friend’s case.”

She knew he couldn’t make her any promises, but she hoped he’d at least do what he said. She was waiting to hear from Liam O’Neill about that lawyer for Clay, and hopefully she could fix this entire frustrating situation.

As she was leaving the store she felt it. That shiver across the back of her shoulders, that suspicion that she was being watched.

She had felt it often a few months ago, when she was on the run from Tomas, who had murdered her father. Most of the time, that feeling had been false, because if someone had been following her, Tomas would have found her a lot sooner than he had. She’d been paranoid and jumpy, exhausted by grief over her dead father and dead...

Her hand automatically went to her stomach and tightened there for a moment. Her counselor said she was making progress, but it still hurt like a physical pain.

Her shoulders tingled again. Was this the same thing, paranoia because of all the stress of the morning? It wasn’t every day she was almost killed by a bomb. She knew she had compartmentalized it—her counselor would use the term coping mechanism —but she’d have to come to terms with it.

Later. Not right now.

“Hello, sweetheart.” She didn’t recognize the gravelly voice, but she recognized the man’s face from the glimpses of him in the passenger seat of the car that had been following them this morning—his curly dark hair and sunglasses. He stood in front of her, blocking her way.

Stupid, stupid, stupid! If she’d been paying attention instead of taking a mental coffee break, she wouldn’t have been surprised by him.