Already Chosen (A Laura Frost FBI Suspense Thriller—Book 7) by Blake Pierce

Author:Blake Pierce [Pierce, Blake]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2022-07-20T18:30:00+00:00

***

Laura bobbed on her feet impatiently, straining her neck to try to see over the crowds of shoppers for a sign of the oncoming manager. She couldn’t catch sight of anyone in uniform, and she was starting to grow impatient – when a sound from behind the customer service desk drew her attention, and she turned to see an unfamiliar man standing there.

“Hello,” he said politely, using the respectful yet firm customer service voice that retail workers always seemed to develop eventually. “I’m the manager here. I’m told you’re here to follow up on the theft report we filed yesterday?”

“That’s right,” Laura said, showing him her badge just the same way she had shown it to one of his subordinates at the desk a few moments ago. Nate did the same. She was worried by that word – yesterday – because if there hadn’t been any theft before then, it wouldn’t be possible to connect them to all of their murders.

“I didn’t expect to have the FBI respond,” he said, blinking from behind round eyeglasses that made him look about ten years older than he probably was. His brown hair was very neatly combed and parted, as if he’d taken inspiration for his look from Victorian-era shopkeepers in England.

“Well, we’re actually investigating another case, but we’re checking out some local cases while we’re here,” Laura explained. “Is there somewhere we can go to discuss your report?”

“Yes, of course,” he said, gesturing towards a door behind him. That must have been where he had emerged from to surprise her. Laura followed Nate around the side of the counter and through the door, experiencing a moment of that strange feeling of entering an area that was normally reserved only for staff. As an agent, she went into private places all the time – but not usually while customers were still walking around, given that it was often part of a murder scene.

The door turned out to lead into a slightly grimy staff room, with a small coffee table surrounded by a battered sofa and several armchairs as well as a row of lockers against the wall. It was currently empty, a fact which allowed the manager to sit down at the coffee table and gesture for Nate and Laura to take the sofa.

“I didn’t think much of it, at first,” the manager said. “You must be taking it seriously, then? You think there’s a link?”

Laura blinked. “A link between what?” she asked. The question sounded blunt once she’d said it, but she was confused as to what he was talking about – he clearly already thought she should know, but they hadn’t even mentioned the murders yet.

“Oh,” he said, his turn to be a little taken aback. “I’m sorry – you said you’d seen the report?”

“We saw a report that you’ve had a theft from your back room, but those are all the details we have,” Nate said, spreading his hands wide to follow the explanation. “We came down here to find out more from the horse’s mouth – so to speak.

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