Page 78 of Three Girls Gone

“Can’t help you there. He called in sick this morning. Must have one of those twenty-four-hour bugs.”

It didn’t feel like a coincidence that Eloise was taken last night, and this guy left early. But how did that line up with him calling in? If Alec was their killer, would he have bothered? “Is Alec a new hire?”

“Nah, he’s been here for a couple of years.”

“What does he look like?” Trent asked.

“Alec’s a ginger, round face, can’t seem to hold a razor. Scruffy all the time. What’s this about?”

That wasn’t close to the description Krista had provided. “Eloise Maynard was taken from her home overnight. We’re trying to track her last movements, see if we can find the person who took her.”

“Wow. Okay.” Greg rubbed his jaw. “But there’s no way Alec’s involved with any of this.”

“We were told that the party had a male and female server,” she said.

“I don’t know who it was then. As I said, Alec went home.”

“This man was described as having brown eyes and hair, of average build and height, with a scar through his top lip. Do any of your staff fit that description?” she asked.

“Not at all. Did this person say if the man was wearing one of these aprons?” Greg pointed at his own. The Scoop logo of a rainbow landing in a sundae was embroidered front and center.

“She didn’t say,” Amanda said. It wasn’t something she thought to ask Eloise’s mother. The man must have looked like he belonged.

“Well, all employees do. Though Alec has lost several of them. I ended up telling him to keep his at the store unless he needed to launder it.”

“Is his apron here?” Trent asked.

“It should be. Let me look.” Greg disappeared into the back and returned with the apron. “This is it.”

“We’d like to take that with us,” Amanda told him.

“Ah, sure, if you’ll return it when you’re finished with it.”

“We will.” A few things with this scenario didn’t gel for Amanda. She’d begin with the foremost one. “Did Tammy comment about anyone else helping her?”

“No.”

“We’ll need Tammy’s number and home address.” They needed to have a chat with her.

“Sure.”

“Do you have security cameras in here?” Trent asked.

“No. Now I’m wishing we did.”

“We’ll take Tammy’s information now.” Amanda wanted to get moving. While they were chasing leads, little Eloise was out there.

THIRTY-TWO

On the way to speak to the Scoop employee, Amanda kept replaying the name they were provided with in her head. Tammy Welland. Would she give them something to break this case open? “This guy is bold. Putting himself in plain sight. And serving a table of twelve.”

“I wonder if he wants to get caught. It wouldn’t be the first time some sick freak wanted intervention.”

“I don’t know if I’d go quite that far, but I don’t see him stopping unless someone makes him.” And she planned on being that person.

“All of this is so unsettling. He could have chosen Eloise from a distance, but he didn’t. He served the girl and her mother.”

“Definitely a game for him. It also goes back to what Katherine said on Monday. This is about power and control. By besting us so far, he’s showing us he has the reins. He has the power, and we can’t stop him.”