Chapter 6 #2
As soon as she rang one person out, another order would be ready, and she got stuck at the cash register.
Pulling someone from delivery, Sharon made sure that the items were stocked up when they got a breather, and the floor was swept.
She was good at making sure that the restaurant was cleaned when there was time, and she was sure that the patrons appreciated it as well.
When she was ready to leave at six, she simply clocked out after telling them that she had to go and left.
She could easily get caught up in things, but really did have some things that she had to get done by six.
Agent Freemont was at the house when she got there. She wasn’t late, but he said he was early. After inviting him in, she handed him all the papers that she’d been writing things down on since she was asked to do that.
In her words, she was to tell the agent what had happened the morning that the Golden Sheep had been shot up and people were killed.
It took her ten pages of notes to get things all down on paper for them.
She hoped that she’d not missed anything and that she was out of trouble.
Not that she’d ever been in trouble, but she also didn’t want anything to come back and bite her in the ass either.
“I’m going to read this over, all right?
” She told him that it was fine, she could play on her phone.
It had been a gift from Gleason so that he and the feds could get in touch with her.
Just as soon as she opened the shopping app to look into getting herself more clothing, he asked her about pictures.
“Pictures? I’m not sure what you mean. I didn’t take any pictures that morning. I didn’t have my cell phone out at all that morning.” He said that one of the officers had taken pictures and that she was in them. “I didn’t know anything about that. He must have taken them before I left.”
“They’re of you sitting on the floor with the dead man, Mr. Sheppard.
” She didn’t know anything about that, so she said nothing.
He’s also acknowledged the fact that the bodies were moved after you left.
He said that the Sheppard man had been moved because the lighting wasn’t good in the dishwashing area. ”
“I didn’t know that he’d not been killed where he laid.
I mean, I guess had I thought about it, I might have figured it out, but I was wigged out enough just having to sit next to him.
Jamie was my friend, and he might have been a little odd, but he was a good man to work with.
He also kept me from being arrested by McGee after things went down.
” He said that he was going to need a copy of her fake ID.
“I’ve already turned that into the other agent.
He said that he didn’t want it getting around that I had one and how easy it had been to get it. It had been very easy to get.”
“Good. Let me mark that off my list.” While he was going over his list of things to ask her, she asked him if he wanted anything to drink.
She was also hungry and glad that she’d been able to get herself some dinner before leaving the Parlor.
She ate while he asked her questions. She was glad to be getting this over with so that she could move on with her life.
“Daniel said that you moved the bodies. We know that you didn’t, but can you tell me why you think he’d say that about you? ”
“He shouldn’t have moved them and was looking for someone to blame?
I don’t know the workings of his mind. He seemed to have this power-trip-like thing going on.
I did mark down that he kept pointing his gun at my head when he talked to me.
Or around me. There was no one else there who seemed to be doing anything but following his orders.
And he’d bark them out like he was some kind of master and everyone was his peons or something.
” She knew that what she was saying was in her paperwork, but wanted to make sure that she wasn’t going to be missing anything when they read it over.
“None of his men seemed to want to be there. I would have hated to work for him, too; he was so mean to everyone.”
“When did you leave? Did you get the time?” She said it was just after noon, and she’d been there since just before nine when her shift started. “That’s what I have too. IN those few hours, did you see them move the bodies?”
“I saw that they had been moved. I didn’t actually see them moving anyone.
And the two waitstaff in the back room, I could see too that they’d been moved, but I don’t know what happened to their bodies.
They were out of sight when they finished with them.
” She thought of something else that she’d written down.
“The back door had been opened by then, too. We were told never to use the back door. I did see a couple of cops back there smoking and eating, but I have no idea where they got the food from. I don’t remember them having any when they rushed into the place. ”
The agent tsked, but he didn’t actually say anything.
When she’d answered all his questions, he read over the paperwork that she’d given him.
Twice, he asked her about something that she’d written down, but other than that, he just read it over.
When he was finished, he had her sign each page that she’d used and number them.
She was more than glad to do what it took to get things finished with him, and he stood up to leave a few minutes later.
Hailey didn’t know what was going to happen now, but she did feel better about having things going her way with the Agents.
Each time she had to speak to another one, they had different questions, so that was nice.
But she was getting tired of answering them, period.
She wanted her life back to normal. Or as normal as it could be after seeing what she’d seen in the Sheep.
~*~
Glad to have Hailey at his side, he was able to enjoy the dinner more than he had at any other dinner that he’d been to.
Most of the people at the dinner were older than he was, and he was glad for that.
At the last meeting, he’d been the only single male around, and the women of all ages had hit on him.
He had been embarrassed by the time he’d gotten home and decided that he was never going to go to them alone from now on.
Being with Hailey meant that no one would hit on him, and he had someone to talk to as well.
She was so brilliant that he could talk to her about anything, and she’d be able to talk to him about it.
“I’m glad you told me to eat.” He looked around at the waitstaff that was passing out small plates of food.
Mostly, it was different kinds of cheese on crackers, but there were other things as well.
Like one of them had some fancy bread with a shrimp on it.
He couldn’t get past the eyes sticking out of the thing before he could eat it.
And what was he supposed to do with the shell?
He asked Hailey. “I don’t think that I’d trust the shrimp.
It’s supposed to be cold all the time, and this room is sort of warm. ”
“Good to know. I’ll remember that in the future to make sure that I don’t get sick.” She nodded and took a small plate of what looked like some kind of salad to him. “What is that?”
“I was thinking that it’s chicken salad, but now that I smell it, I think it’s tuna.
Another thing that should be cold all the time.
What were these people thinking?” He didn’t have an answer, so he didn’t voice anything.
“People are going to be sick if they eat much of this stuff. I’m so glad now that I ate at home, or I might be tempted to eat some of this because I’m so hungry. ”
“I’ll take you out after this is over.” She said that would be wonderful.
“You should also know that the one we’re going to on Friday has the same small plates.
We’ll both eat a good meal before we come here.
Look over there, someone has been feeding the plants the stuff so that they don’t have to eat what they pulled off the trays. ”
The two of them laughed for most of the evening.
He would shake hands and introduce Hailey around, but other than that, he didn’t know why he was there.
No one had asked him for money, but he knew that they were charging for the dinner that came next.
He’d only been asked to come to the thing and to bring a date.
The food afterward, perhaps, wasn’t anything he was supposed to eat.
When dinner was called, he was ushered in with the rest of the people.
Hailey sat across from him, and he asked her quietly to tell him what to eat.
The first thing they brought out was shrimp cocktails, one of his favorites, but the shrimp was warm to the touch, so he didn’t partake of any of it.
The next thing was a salad, and he ate his and part of Hailey’s when she said that she was full.
After that, there was a dinner of beef tips and noodles that he enjoyed, plus bread.
Hailey only ate about half of hers again and a slice of bread.
He was able to finish off what he had and hers again.
If he’d known about the meal that was coming, he might not have had dinner.
So far, this was the best meal that he’d had at one of these things if he was careful.
He wasn’t going to get sick just because someone didn’t know the temperatures of seafood when it was left out to get warm.