“That would be most appreciated,” Blackford said, his voice still a lot more gentle than Laura would have liked. She had been thinking it was a man who committed these crimes, due to the strength involved, not to mention the whole DIY aspect. But the truth of the matter was, that was only an assumption. There was no reason a woman couldn't be strong enough, couldn't be handy enough with a hammer. Assumptions, she had to remember, could break cases. Could let people go uncaught for decades and more. Assumptions were like poison to a murder investigation.
“I think it might be better if we get a chance to speak with her as soon as possible,” Laura said. “We need to see a list of those online sales urgently. I’m guessing she’s the only person who can provide us with that.”
JT nodded, starting to shuffle over to a landline phone hung on the wall of the store right next to that beaded curtain. “I’ll call Susanna now,” he said, and Laura leaned back against one of the counters to settle in and wait.
***
The moment that Susanna walked into the store, Laura's heart sank. The woman was petite, probably only around five foot tall, and carrying a lot of extra weight. When they shook hands to greet one another, Laura found her grip soft and her arm strength weak. There was little chance that Susanna could have been responsible for putting anyone on a platform, let alone carrying the lumber to set up the platforms in the first place. Unless she had an accomplice, Susanna was a dead end. Just like the store was seeming to shape up to be.
But there was still hope.
“We need to see as many of the online orders as you have records for,” Laura said, once the initial introductions were over. “Specifically for this type of clock here.”
Susanna looked at the picture with a kind of businesslike nod, taking it in. “That's one of our more popular models”, she said. “Really does well with the aging demographic. They like to have those modern luxuries, but they also appreciate something familiar.”
Laura bit back the response that she wanted to give, which was that she didn't care at all about the ins and outs of the business. She just wanted to know who had bought them, and that was all. While she was busy trying to retract her words from her head and turn them into something more polite before they ended up on her tongue, Nate interrupted.
“Do you have full data on customers from the retailers you stock with, or do you ship them out wholesale?”
“A bit of both,” Susanna said tilting her head. “We sell on a few online marketplaces directly, and the rest go out to big warehouses where they can handle larger orders. I can get you the customer data for anything we've sold directly, but the rest might take a while.”
Laura was already sighing to herself in her head. This was turning out to be far more complicated than it needed to be. All they needed to get was this information about who had bought at least three of the same cl
ock, and they could go arrest the guy. It didn't have to be this hard. They were so close, and yet here were all these roadblocks coming up to delay them and make things take much longer. It was frustrating, to say the least.
Her phone rang in her pocket and Laura pulled it out to take a look at the screen. She frowned, seeing a name she hadn't expected.
Christopher Fallow.
“You take that,” Nate said, no doubt seeing the consternation on her face. “I'll go through the sales records with Susanna.”
Laura nodded gratefully, stepping outside of the store. Nate had no need to let her take the call, given that he didn't even know who it was. But it was a one-man job, so she wasn't going to turn him down. Not out of a sense of duty, anyway. And if this was something about Amy, she needed to know.
“Hello,” she said, stepping back out into the cold air and wrapping her jacket around herself a little tighter.
“Hi!” Chris said, his voice sounding relieved. “Hi, Laura? It's Chris Fallow.”
“I know,” Laura said. “Is something wrong with Amy?”
The pause that Chris allowed left her heart missing a beat in her chest.
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
Laura was about to repeat herself, in case there was any slim chance he hadn’t actually heard her, when she heard a deep sigh down the line.
“I don't know,” Chris said. “I just… I needed your advice. I know you said I could call anytime, but if it's a bad time for you right now...”
Laura glanced back inside the store. She could see Blackford, still leaning on the counter, talking lazily with JT. Nate and Susanna had disappeared into the back of the store, no doubt to find where the records were kept. “No,” she said. “Go ahead. I have a short while. What's going on?”
“It’s…” Chris sighed. “Man, this is awkward. Well, it’s about the nights. Amy’s been wetting the bed, and everything I read online told me she would settle down after the first few nights in an unfamiliar place. But… she still hasn’t stopped.”
“Have you talked with her about it?” Laura asked.
“With her?” Chris sounded puzzled. “No, well, she’s just a child. I figure she probably doesn’t even understand why it’s happening.”
Laura sighed, pressing the heel of her hand against her head. She had a headache, and for once it wasn’t even from a vision. She didn’t need the added stress of dealing with this, but that didn’t matter. It was important. Amy was important. She wasn’t going to allow her to slip through the cracks, not in any way, shape, or form.
And it was good that Chris had reached out to her. A good sign. A sign that maybe he was taking this new guardian thing just as seriously as she expected him to.