Saying someone could’ve been a fireman was like the highest praise my dad bestowed on anyone. I still couldn’t get my head around the idea of my boss spending hours at dialysis watching a blacksmith show and talking to my dad about me. It didn’t compute very well. Especially since he’d been avoiding me. He was Damon’s friend, that had to be it, I told myself. Except he’d been Damon’s friend all along and never stepped in to help with my father’s treatment.
When my mom walked in, she handed me a list.
“Grocery store looks crowded. You do it. It’ll get you out of the house, and I can get dinner started,” she said.
“Don’t you need the groceries to cook dinner with?” my dad asked.
“Who’s been cooking your dinner for three decades, hmmm? I manage just fine. I do that meal planning now, and I have a pasta and vegetable dish we’re having tonight. A light lemon dressing on it, nothing fatty.”
My dad groaned right out loud. I kissed his cheek, “Be nice, you old fart. I’ll be back in an hour.”
I put on my shoes and scanned the list. When I got to the store, I grabbed a cart and set out. My mom wrote the list out in the order you found stuff in the store if you started out by turning left toward the produce section. She was the most organized human I knew, so the trip would be easy. I was humming along with the music, wondering when Radiohead started being easy listening grocery store loudspeaker fare, when I got that prickle up my neck. I heard my own blood pound in my ears, tuned out the music and every sense went on high alert. Someone was watching me. Same as they had at the falls that day with Brody. I wasn’t questioning my instincts this time either. I selected some bell peppers and put them in a bag. Then I looked casually back to my right and saw the same guy from the diner. The one Rachel said had been coming in there and creeped her out. I knew it was him, and that didn’t make me any more comfortable. I continued to shop, studying the list and making sure I looked totally relaxed, humming along a little. I said hi to people I knew, chatted for a minute with Bobby’s wife in the meat section. But all the time I had my eye out for the creeper. He popped up in my peripheral vision a time or five. I made note of any detail about him. He wore work boots that looked new, jeans that didn’t and had worn knees, a t-shirt for a band I didn’t know and a hoodie. It was cold in the store thanks to the air conditioning and I kind of wished I’d grabbed a hoodie, too.
When I was checking out, I glanced up at the mirror on the wall where they put the security camera. I saw him behind me. His eyes met mine in the mirror. I got a chill, and he turned to leave. There on the back of his jacket was the same emblem the person of interest wore on the convenience store footage when he bought the burner phone. I told the checker to hold my groceries and I’d be back for them. I took off after him and got in my car. I lost him somewhere before I even got out of the parking lot. It was crowded, dusk was falling and he could’ve been on foot or in a car. Frustrated, I dialed Brody’s personal number.
“Hey,” I said. “I think I saw the guy who bought the burner phone. He was tailing me inside Giant Foods but he took off. Same jacket, very creepy.”
“Wait there,” he said and hung up.
16
Brody
I pulled in to the Giant Foods Mart and found Laura waiting in her car. I knocked on the window and she jumped a little. She must have been unnerved by the guy she saw because she wasn’t easy to startle. The woman had nerves of steel at work. When she got out of the car, I was hit by the force of her closeness. Her baggy t-shirt and cropped leggings, her messy ponytail and no makeup—every bit of it seemed private, casual. Like it was how she looked when she stayed at home. I wanted to run my hands up her arms and make sure she was okay, but I couldn’t risk touching her after the other night at the bar.
“You okay?” I asked gruffly.
“You ask Carl that when he finds something on a case?” she quipped. I shrugged.
We went in the store, and I asked the manager for a copy of the surveillance footage for the last forty-five minutes. While we waited, Laura tugged my sleeve.