Page 32 of Secret Stalker

Once inside, he made a call to his boss and told him about the name that Bex had remembered.

“Where are you right now?” the chief asked.

“Eva-Marie’s. Just had breakfast.”

“Good. That’s a hop-skip away from the Piggly Wiggly. This Reggie thing sounds like a great lead. And this is the perfect time to follow up on it. I sent Colby, Donna and Blake to the Pig to walk the witnesses through the shooting, step-by-step, to see if any of their initial statements change. Plus, we asked the manager to round everyone up who works there to come in, not just the ones on shift during the shooting. I wanted to see whether anyone saw anything suspicious in the days or weeks before, when maybe the shooters were casing the place to plan the assault. Everyone should be there right now. You can head on over and see if one of them is named Reggie.”

“Will do. Wait, you said Blake is there?”

“You got a problem with that? The man isn’t exactly a rookie at law enforcement. He’s just new to us. He needs to be brought up to speed on how we do things.”

Max grinned but was careful not to laugh. “You’re the boss.”

“Don’t you forget that. Now get over there. And let me know once you find this Reggie guy.”

* * *

WHEN MAXREACHED the doors to the grocery store, he flashed his badge to the deputy assigned to log everyone who went in or out. Then he was inside, taking quick stock of the situation.

A row of folding tables and chairs had been set up in the main aisle that ran the width of the store, just behind the checkout area. He counted fifteen civilians, mostly teenagers, sitting at the tables. They pretty much all had the same bored look that teenagers often sported these days as they apparently waited to be interviewed.

Many of them he recognized, by sight if not by name. In a town as small as Destiny, it was common to run into the same people at local stores and events, even if they never spoke. But there were still a few faces he didn’t know, and some he couldn’t see because they were blocked by others.

A short distance away were two more tables, each with only one civilian sitting behind it. Donna sat at one table, writing something down while her interviewee spoke animatedly with his hands to punctuate whatever he was saying. At the second table, Colby was the one asking questions, with Blake taking notes like a good apprentice should.

Colby spotted Max and waved him over. “Hey, if you’re here to help interview, we sure could use you. Drag one of those tables over here.”

“Which one’s Reggie?”

“Reggie?” Colby frowned and picked up a clipboard of names. “Reggie, Reggie, Reggie.” He ran his finger down the line, then reversed direction. “Hmm, no Reggie here.”

“You mean Gina,” the man sitting across from him said. He pointed to one of the names on the sheet of paper. “Gina Oliver. We all call her Reggie.”

“Why?” Colby asked.

He shrugged. “Her real name is Regina. To most people she’s Gina. But to her friends, she’s Reggie. Beats me why she uses that for a nickname. I like Regina a lot better.”

“Which one is she?” Max asked.

The young man leaned back in his chair, scanning the faces of the other employees. “There she is, on the end.”

“Red hair?” Max grabbed an extra clipboard and pen from the table.

“Nah, brown hair.” He stood and pointed. “That’s her, next to the redhead. The one in the green shirt.”

The young woman he was pointing to looked at Max and her eyes widened—just like they had the morning of the shooting, when he’d pulled her to the floor, supposedly to protect her from the gunmen.

“Oh, she’s definitely involved in this,” he muttered. “She was the cashier in my line when the gunmen busted into the store.”

He dropped the clipboard on the table and stalked toward her.

She jumped up from her chair and took off toward the entrance.

Max took off after her.

Some of the other workers whistled and made catcalls as Reggie shoved a display of potato chips over and raced past a cash register.

Max hurdled over the display, bags of chips crunching beneath his feet as he sprinted toward the door where she’d just disappeared. He ran through the opening and slid to a halt in front of the deputy stationed there.

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