Page 88 of Darkness of Mine

A teenage cashier with blonde hair in a ponytail looks up as I flip my badge. “Whoa,” she murmurs, her eyes darting between the five of us.

“Can we speak to your manager?” I ask.

She nods. “Sure, give me a sec.”

I watch Freya as we wait. So far, she’s treating this day like it’s any other and I’m determined to prove to her it’s not. I bet Eli a tenner that she wouldn’t tell us what today is but part of me wants to lose. I want her to tell us, to trust us.

“Why are you looking at me?” Freya’s eyes slit.

“Because you’re beautiful.” The words come without thought, their truth as undeniable as the need to breathe.

Freya’s cheeks flush pink as the cashier returns with an older woman in tow.

The woman crosses her tan arms over a heavy chest and takes us in. “What do the cops want with a homeware store?”

River flips his badge. “FBI, actually. We need to see your security footage from November second.”

The manager kisses her lips together. “No can do. All the footage gets deleted after a month to make space.”

“Of course it does.” Oz is standing behind me, but I know he’s rolling his eyes, probably ranting internally about how shopkeepers constantly do this.

“In which case we need to look at your sales records,” River says.

The woman sighs but half an hour later we’re in her office sifting through a list of purchases attributed to Zach’s bank card.

“A couch, paintings, bedding. Rather eclectic,” Freya comments as Oz clicks through each item.

I turn to the manager who’s staring over our shoulders like our existence is the last in a long list of inconveniences. “Did he use the delivery service you offer?”

The woman hefts out a breath and takes the mouse from Oz. She scrolls down the screen and shakes her head. “Nope.” Her deep thick eyebrows pull together. “I remember this guy actually. It was strange because he’d ordered a couch, but he insisted on taking it with him on the day. Pulled the sections apart and put it in the back of some van.”

“Do you remember what model the van was?”

She stares up at me. “Do I look like a car dealer?”

I probably shouldn’t find her amusing, but I bite the inside of my cheek to stop from smiling. “No, Ma’am.”

“Go back to that photo,” Freya says, leaning over Oz’s shoulder.

He moves the mouse and clicks on the screen till a black and white photo appears. Freya grips onto the back of the office chair and the edge of the desk as she squints at the image of a woman spinning around, her blonde hair swirling in the air.

“What is it?” Eli asks.

She purses her lips and shakes her head. “I don’t know, I just… that photo, it feels familiar. Like I’ve seen it before, but I can’t place where.”

The manager looks at the clock and taps her foot. “How much longer do you all need to be here? You’re not the only one with a job to do.”

River flashes her a charming smile. “No time at all. Oz, you know the drill.”

“Already printing.”

The printer whirs as Oz gets copies of all the purchases Zach made like he’s done for every other store we’ve visited today. Maybe once we have the whole picture, we can make sense of what he’s bought. And if we’re lucky, there’ll be something that gives us a clue as to his location.

“Do I get compensated for the ink and paper?” the manager calls after us as we leave her office.

“Well, she’s just the belle of the ball, isn’t she?” I whisper to Freya who laughs under her breath.

I tuck the sound away under my ribcage, feeling its warmth spread over me. Making Freya laugh is one of my new favorite hobbies, right below making her come.