TAMING BECCA

SEVENTEEN

SEVENTEEN

“Something tells me that maybe this Bill, James’ friend maybe he is not the culprit and maybe it is someone in the store trying to frame him, for example look at this at this angle, the person knew the exact time Bill went in to the staffs’ room and messed with the CCTV, the persona knew that he was going to be there and he was going to be the first suspect because he was the last in the room before the CCTV stopped working, so they put the evidence there intentionally so that we could find it, it was planted there for us to find so that we could follow him up, the person who did this was not stupid enough to let us find he evidence of the sketched key on the piece of paper and if it was a normal robbery maybe they could have broken into the store and stole everything, but they just took a few valuable items that they knew they could find the market so easily, this was someone who needed money urgently so we need to find the real culprit before they sell those things and with that the boss can stop breathing on our necks, you know this is something we can solve in a day so come on guys what do you think?” Becca asked on their way to Bill’s place, she had her doubts on the two girls at the store, nothing made sense to her because ever since James inherited the shop from his father, there was never any case of robbery or any kind of suspicious thing happening and for the longest time they had known each other, Bill was not the type that could plan for a robbery especially not that type of a sketchy robbery, he was always open with his friend and in case he was in any type of trouble or needed cash, he would just ask his friend and not steal from him but things were not being clear to James, Bill’s phone was off and he never went to any leave without telling him, that was always their norm and when Cynthia mentioned about him going to their small cabin, their vacation house back in Los Angeles, he would have told him and he figured out that something was wrong with the information, so he excused himself to go talk to Detective Becca, he knew that something was up with Cynthia and he was yet to know what she was trying to hide

“Yeah, I gave it a thought a long time ago, that girl Cynthia was suspicious to me, I don’t know why I don’t trust her guts and my instincts never lie to me so I was giving it a second thought and I was thinking what if we go back to the store, just Becca and I, then you two can proceed ahead to go ahead and talk to Bill, I just think that we are leaving the real culprit at the store and w going for the wrong party and I am not just saying because I want to prove it, the look that was on Cynthia was a look I have seen it before, the guilty look, and I just didn’t want to ruin anything before I could confirm my suspicions, on this I agree with you detective Becca, my instincts never lie to me” Detective Joanna said supporting Becca’s point and before any of them could answer, her phone rung, it was a new number so she received and put it on speaker

“Yes hello? Detective Becca speaking, how may I help you?” she said in a professional way and Joanna smiled on the other end

“Hello Detective Becca, this is James Bond, the store owner, I was just wondering if you are already at Bill’s place because there was something I just found out and would like to share it with you” he said on the other end and she gave her colleagues a questioning look and they all agreed

“Not yet Mr. Bond, we are on our way, what would you like to share with us?” she asked and Bond cleared his throat noisily, he looked through the window and realized that Cynthia was not looking at him so he went on to talk

“Okay, I don’t if this is important but I think this might be helpful, so I was just talking to Cynthia, the other girl that works for me, we come from the same neighborhood and she happens to be my friends too and she mentioned something to do with Bill going to Los Angeles, at their family vacation cabin, I thought maybe this might be helpful, you can be on your way to his place and find out that he is not there, but Bill would not do that without telling and something else, I think she is freaked out, she was not supposed to say anything of the sort and I think it just slipped so I think maybe there is something that she knows that we don’t know, I don’t know if I am right though but I know Cynthia, she never acts like this, something seems off, can you like keep your tabs on her, she might be having information to help us” he said and Becca nodded in agreement and Joanna gave them a ‘I told you so’ look

“Okay and where are you guys now?” she asked him

“We still at the store with Cynthia although I let Elena go, she said she had classes today so she thought the break would do good” he said

“Okay, hold up, I will be on my way with detective Joanna, just keep calm and try to engage her in a normal conversation until we arrive, and don’t tell her anything I just told you, tell her you talked to us about Bill being in Los Angeles and that we are on our way there, so just act normal, can you do that?” she asked and he nodded in agreement

“Yeah, but I don’t think I can hold her for long, we only have like a few minutes before she goes for lunch and she goes to school, she has an afternoon class” he said checking back at the store and Cynthia was busy trying to arranged the store, it was a mess and she thought it would be good if she kept herself a little bit busy as James talked on phone and before she went for lunch break

“Okay, how much time do we still have here?” she asked just to be sure that her plan was going to make it, she had a better plan

“About thirty minutes before she goes for her lunch break” he said

“Okay, keep we will be there as soon as possible’ she said to him and then hung up

“Okay, here is the plan, we will forward Bill’s number back at the department, let them track his last location but you two will go to the other girl’s school find her back to the station for interrogation, and Joanna and I will head back to the store and interrogate Cynthia again, I feel like she is hiding something, we don’t have much time with us, now you will talk to our computer guy on your way to Elena’s school, Joanna and I will grab a cab back to the store, that will take a few minutes before the girl leaves, who knows maybe she might be planning her escape right now, I will talk to one of the detectives back at the office to bring Bill to the stations, any question?” she asked and they all shook their heads, which only meant that they were satisfied, so Detectives Becca and Joanna called for a cab to take them back at the store and the other two, Baker and Oscar drove to Elena’s school and coincidentally that was where also where Cynthia went so the team broke apart and everyone went to where they had agreed, it didn’t take long before the two detectives got back to the store, they were five minutes late though, so they met Cynthia on her way out of the store

“Hey Cynthia, you leaving already” Becca asked her with a fake smile on her face

“Yeah, I have a class in the afternoon, plus I am on my lunch break, is there something I can help you with?” she asked without blinking, she had summoned enough courage to face the two detectives and she promised herself not to flinch unless she wanted to get caught

“Yeah, actually we would like you to answer a few questions before you leave, I promise it won’t take long” detective Joanna said and she looked confused, she thought they were only doing the interrogations once but she was wrong

“Okay, we can do that back at the store then, I hope nothing is wrong though” she said as they headed back to the store, James was seated at the counter, busy browsing on his phone and the moment his eyes and Cynthia’s eyes locked, he could see the mixture of emotions in her eyes, she had both fear, anxiety and curiosity in her eyes and she seemed restless, something was definitely off with her and that was exactly what the two detectives were going to find out, that was their job.