Page 11 of All He Sees
"I don't think so," Nicky said. She glanced at the house again. "I think that woman is confused. She might not have even heard the girl scream. She might have heard the engine, and then the girl's scream. It's hard to say."
"So you think that Beverly Johnson is just a nutcase?" Ken asked.
"I don't know," Nicky said. "She could be. She might even be senile, for all we know."
"But if she did just make up this story, why would she want to?" Ken asked.
"That's the million-dollar question, isn't it?" Nicky said. She nodded at the convenience store across the street. "You think they have security cameras there?"
Ken looked over, then back at Nicky. "Only one way to find out."
CHAPTER FIVE
Nicky and Ken made their way over to the convenience store across the street, and the outside was nondescript enough—a narrow gray building with concrete walls. Nicky checked for any cameras, but she didn’t immediately see one. Would it even be hooked up? Did they keep recordings? She had no idea, but she hoped this place would bring her at least some sort of answer.
The door dinged as Nicky entered, and she found herself surrounded by aisles of chips and candies and snacks. The place was tiny, but it still managed to have a decent sized deli.
"Hello?" Nicky called out. "Is anyone here?"
"What can I getcha?" a man asked, coming out from behind a wall of snacks. He was older, probably in his 60s, with thick, graying hair and thin spectacles on his face.
"Hi," Nicky said. "I'm Agent Nicky Lyons, with the FBI, and this is my partner, Agent Ken Walker. I'm here to ask you some questions. We're here to ask you about the disappearance of the girl who lives across the street--Mira Phillips."
“Dang, I heard about that,” the man said. “Saw it on the news this morning. Real shame. That girl used to come in here and grab snacks a lot.”
"She did?” Nicky asked. It made sense; Mira was a young girl, and she lived right across the street. This guy had probably seen a lot of her.
“Oh, yeah,” he said. “A big sugar addict, that one.”
"We were wondering if you heard or saw anything," Nicky said.
"Oh, not at all," said the man. "I was sleeping upstairs, but I can't say I heard anything out of the ordinary. I know Ms. Johnson across the street was saying she heard a scream in the early hours of the morning, but I'll be honest with ya, I could sleep through a hurricane."
"What about the security cameras?" Ken asked. "Do you have any footage of the street?"
"You know, normally I would," he said, "but my camera was actually smashed last week. I took it down until I can afford a new one. Someone broke it."
Nicky paused. A week before Mira disappeared, a security camera across from her house was broken. It might be a coincidence--but Nicky wasn't so sure about that. In fact, it could easily be connected.
"Do you think we could see the footage from before it was broken?" Nicky said.
"Sure thing," the man said. He walked out from behind the counter, then beckoned for Nicky and Ken to follow him. "I've got my computer in the back room. Follow me."
Nicky and Ken made their way through the aisles, then into an office behind the convenience store. The man sat down at a desk, then turned on his laptop. He clicked on the icon for a video editing program, then the video for the security tape. He minimized it so they could see the video on the smaller screen in the corner.
The man clicked play, and the footage started to play. Nicky watched as the camera scanned the street. She could see Mira's house, then she could see the sidewalk, and she could see the road. And that was it. The picture was clear, and she could see into the distance, but there were no cars, no people. It was just her street, silent and empty.
The man skipped through the footage. "And here," he said, "is the rascal who broke the damn thing."
Video showed a kid, no older than twelve, come up to the store, looking over his shoulder. It was around four p.m., according to the timestamp, and happened exactly one week ago. The kid warily looked around, then picked up a rock and threw it right at the camera. It smashed and went dark.
"Haven't fixed it yet," said the owner.
"Do you know that child?" Nicky asked.
He let out a hearty bellow. "Oh, yes, I know that little troublemaker. That's Dean Spanos, Frank Spanos's kid. He hangs around at the skate park with his other hooligan friends. Doesn't surprise me they did this. That group of kids is always causing trouble."
Interesting, Nicky mused. A group of delinquents could be behind this, but Nicky felt fairly certain it wasn’t kids who kidnapped Mira. But still, this all felt like something, so Nicky pushed on.
