Chapter 27
Evan knocked on the front-door glass. He cupped his hands around his face and looked into the store.
He couldn’t see Myles or any cops or anyone.
Evan turned around and looked at the news vans that remained in the parking lot.
A handful of people milled about by the vans, but he didn’t see any reporters actually reporting, and the big crowd that had been at the store earlier had mostly dissipated.
He pulled out his phone and sent a message to Myles saying that he was out front.
Evan stared at the screen of his phone. From the messages sent back and forth between him and Myles since Evan had been an employee at Newman’s, Evan knew that Myles had read receipts enabled on his phone.
The little message beneath the text that he’d just sent switched from “Delivered” to “Read.” Myles had seen the message, but no little dots on the screen showed that he was replying.
“Come on,” Evan said.
He dropped his phone into his pocket and again looked into the store. A second later, he saw Myles walking past the bedroom sets and in his direction. Evan waited while Myles popped open the inner door then unlocked the main exterior door.
“What’s up?” Myles asked.
“Hey, sorry. I forgot my wallet in my locker.”
Myles waved him in. “Come on.”
Evan stepped inside, and after Myles relocked the front door, Evan followed him through the store toward the back.
He’d purposely “forgotten” his wallet in his locker when he left so he would have a reason to return.
In the event he couldn’t get back in, Evan had removed his driver’s license, cash, and a couple of credit cards before leaving it.
Myles entered the warehouse and made a right toward the lunchroom and employee locker area.
Evan followed, a few steps off Myles’s pace, with eyes on the open back door of the warehouse.
Evan could see a patrol car still parked in the alley near the back door, but he didn’t see any officers inside—or what they were doing outside.
It had been hours since they’d found the body, and from all appearances, the police presence had dwindled.
“Are you coming?” Myles asked.
“Yeah, sorry,” Evan said. “I was just looking to see what’s going on. Did they find anything?”
“I don’t know.” Myles shrugged. “I’ve been in my office waiting on them to give me the okay to lock up.”
“Ah. Gotcha,” Evan said.
Myles stopped at the lockers and waited.
With his manager looking as if he wasn’t planning to let Evan out of his sight, Evan spun the combination and pulled open the door of the twelve-by-twelve-inch locker. He reached in and pulled out the wallet that he’d left behind. He held it up so Myles could see it. “Got it.”
“All right.” Myles pointed toward the front of the store.
It seemed that Evan wouldn’t be allowed to linger. He closed his locker and started back the way he’d come with Myles on his heels. As Evan was about to make the turn for the front of the store, the red-haired cop that he’d seen earlier in the day walked in the back door.
“We’re going to get out of here,” the cop said.
“Yep. Give me one second,” Myles told the cop. He turned his attention back to Evan. “Let me walk you out and lock up quick.”
“Um,” Evan said. His mind raced. He searched for any logical reason to stay, but he came up blank.
Myles pointed toward the front door again, and Evan, with no excuse at the ready, started in that direction. Myles walked him all the way out, said he’d call when he knew when they would reopen, and locked the doors with Evan standing outside.
“Dammit,” Evan mumbled as he turned and walked to his car.