Page 31 of Wild Fever

“I think you're probably talking about Lori. She was working samples the other day, but she hasn’t been in since. She called in sick.”

"Sick?”

"That's what I heard anyway. But you never know.”

I spotted several black domes on the ceiling that hid security cameras. "I need to take a look at your security footage. Is your store manager around?”

"Yes, I think so. Would you like me to page him for you?"

"Please. Can you tell me Lori's last name?”

She did, and I forwarded the information to Isabella.

The clerk’s voice crackled over the loudspeaker, interrupting the Muzak. “Gary to perfume. Gary to perfume.”

A few minutes later, Gary waddled to the counter. He had curly brown hair and a thick mustache. He took a look at us and forced a smile. “What can I do for you?”

I flashed the badge, and that fake smile faded.

“Need to take a look at your security footage from two days ago.”

“Is there some kind of problem? Was there a theft?”

“No. We just need to verify a few things.”

His brown eyes glanced between us. “Sure thing. Come with me.”

We followed him through the store to a far corner, where a long hallway led to the restrooms and the security office. The space was large enough for a few people to work in. A whiteboard against a pale gray wall tracked security alerts, persons of interest, and recent incidents. A wall of screens displayed a view of every angle of the store, and a desk jockey monitored shoppers. With a mouse click, he could select different screens and zoom in on customers.

Gary smiled. “We just got a new system. It's fully AI and has advanced tracking capabilities. Based on body language and eye contact, the system can pick up a shopper who intends to shoplift. It tracks them as they move through the store, identifying items they’ve taken. The system alerts security officers on staff, and the suspect is monitored by an officer. Fascinating technology. This is going to seriously up our loss prevention game. The store lost almost 2% of its revenue to shrink last year. That’s the high side of normal.”

Shrinkwas the industry term for theft.

"Not surprising," I said. Crime kept getting worse.

“We’re hoping this system will cut that in half.”

“I hope so.”

"You said you needed to see the feed from two days ago. About what time?”

Kara told him, then Gary asked Carlo to pull up the footage.

He did, then scrubbed through the timeline.

It didn't take long to come across what we were looking for.

"Stop right there!” Kara said.

The interaction was clear as day. Kara walked through the store. Lori approached, sprayed perfume on a sample card, and held it in front of Kara’s nose.

"That's Lori, right?" I said.

"Yes," Gary replied.

"I need contact information for her.”

"I don't understand. Did she do something wrong?”