Page 36 of Three Girls Gone (Detective Amanda Steele #14)

THIRTY-ONE

Amanda did up her seatbelt and sank into the passenger seat, rolling over their one new clue. A gray car. Why couldn’t it have been neon green or orange? And was it new or older? Sedan or two-door?

“So do you want to go back and watch the footage from Hailey’s school or head over to the Scoop and talk to them there?” Trent was looking over at Amanda from the driver’s seat.

“Option two seems the stronger choice to me. We might get a more concrete lead there. With the school video, we don’t even know who we’re looking for and we’re just hoping that we see something that flags for us.”

“I get it. The ice cream shop it is. Though the Scoop sounds more like it should be a newspaper.”

“Agreed.”

Trent got them to the Scoop, and the front door chimed when they entered the business. The smell of waffle cones and sugar had Amanda’s stomach grumbling for food, but she pushed it aside .

At two in the afternoon on a Wednesday, they had the place to themselves, which worked better for their purpose.

A balding man in his fifties wearing a bright blue apron came to the counter from the back. “What can I get you fine folks?” he asked, tagging on a smile.

Amanda swept her jacket back exposing the badge clipped to her waist.

His lips fell into a straight line. “What can I do for you, Officers?”

“Detectives Steele, and Stenson,” she said. “We have some questions about a birthday party you held here yesterday.”

“Why would the police care about that?”

His response seemed rather defensive, but she let it go. “We’ll get to that. First, if we could get your name, sir…?”

“Greg Loudon, and I own the place.” He walked toward the counter, and she and Trent followed.

“The party was for Eloise Maynard,” she supplied. “That sound right to you?”

“Yes. I booked it myself. Is she okay?”

The fact he’d asked about Eloise wasn’t suspicious on its own.

For one, the police were asking about her.

Two, Hailey Tanner’s disappearance and subsequent murder had shaken the town.

It would be on most people’s minds. “We’re trying to find that out.

We’d like to speak with the servers responsible for that party. ”

“It was only a group of twelve. Six kids, six women. Tammy was the primary server, and Alec was to back her up. He cut out early though.”

“Why was that?” Amanda had her own theory.

“Wasn’t feeling well.”

“Were you here?” Trent asked.

“Not last night.”

Amanda nodded. “We’d like to talk with Alec for a few moments. ”

“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.