A Necessary Evil(24)

He arrived at the isolated location less than twenty minutes later. He’d phoned Lonnie with the update on the drive there, and Kurt saw Lonnie had made it there before him and was walking the perimeter. As he got out of his Camaro, he took in the sight of the old grocery store. It was certainly run-down and hadn’t been inhabited in years, maybe even decades. The paint on the white clapboard siding was peeling, and termites had evidently had a field day with the wood. It reminded Kurt of an old shotgun shack with a small porch that was caving in on the left. A weathered sign that read ‘HARVEY’S GROCERY’ was barely hanging on to the front of the store by a couple of rusty nails. Lonnie had put up yellow crime scene tape around the ramshackle building.

Kurt walked up to the porch and whistled to get Lonnie’s attention. Lonnie came around the front and met him at the front door.

Kurt held out a black iPhone with his gloved hand. “Look what I found inside.”

“I’ll be damned,” Kurt said under his breath as he slapped on a blue latex glove and reached for the phone. “Is this hers?”

“Got to be. Look at how the screen is shattered. Our perp obviously attempted to destroy the phone by smashing it. Found it on the floor by the register.”

Kurt turned the phone over and tried to power it on, but nothing happened. It was definitely dead, which would explain why there were no more pings after this location. But Kurt couldn’t figure out for the life of him why the kidnapper had brought Mollie here, only to move her again. He looked it over more closely and noticed, to his horror, a speck of blood on the back cover.

“Did you see this?” Kurt pointed at the spot and looked at Lonnie.

“Yeah,” Lonnie said. “Probably Mollie’s. Let’s bag it and tag it and get it back to the lab ASAP.”

“It’s not going to tell us anything we don’t already know, but we definitely need to process it anyway.”

“I’ll go get a bag.” Lonnie turned and headed toward the cruiser. When he passed Kurt’s Camaro, he smiled and said, “I see you’re still driving the Red Fox.”

Kurt shook his head. “I never understood why you call my car the Red Fox.”

“Cuz” Lonnie turned his back to Kurt and shouted over his shoulder, “it’s a sly old fox who’ll drive a vintage sports car at your age.”

“Very funny, asshole.”

While Lonnie was retrieving the evidence bag, Kurt looked around the shop, searching for any sign of a struggle or a clue that might tell him where the kidnapper had taken Mollie next. To his right was a refrigerated display case that probably once held dairy products. Some of the shelves which were still attached to the wall had a few canned goods sitting on them. Just ahead of him was the register which was affixed to the top of a scarred wooden countertop, and behind that was an old cigarette machine. Kurt remembered back in the day when he, Addie, and Frankie used to get their smokes from machines just like this one.

Kurt shook off the memory and turned to walk outside. When he stepped out onto the rickety porch, he saw Lonnie standing in the grass to the side talking to an elderly man who was bent over and leaning on a gnarly wooden walking stick. Curious, Kurt approached the pair and introduced himself to the man.

“This is Gerald Harvey,” Lonnie said with a self-satisfied smile. “As in, Harvey’s Grocery?”

“Nice to meet you.” Kurt extended his hand to the octogenarian. “Name’s Detective Kurt Jamison. Are you the owner of this grocery store?”

“Guess you could say that,” Gerald Harvey said. “Been in my family for three generations. Went outta business back in the late eighties, though. When them big box giants started sproutin’ up on every damn street corner. No one seemed to want to shop here anymore. Roll back prices, my ass.”

Kurt stifled a chuckle. He liked the old fart already. But now wasn’t the time to make a new friend. “Seen anyone suspicious around here lately?”

“You’re the second feller who’s asked me that today,” the man said.

Kurt looked at Lonnie, but he just shrugged. “Who else asked you?”

“Some slick feller come around here coupla hours ago askin’ me if I’d seen anyone lurkin’ around. Said somethin’ about his granddaughter bein’ missin’.”

“Frankie,” Kurt muttered under his breath. “God damn it.” He looked back at Gerald. “What did you tell him?”

“Told him I seen a little red car parked over here late last night. I live right up yonder on the top of the hill, and I seen headlights comin’ through my window.”

“About what time was this?” Lonnie asked.

The old man scratched his chin and looked down at the ground. “I’d say about eleven o’clock. I know this cuz I’s up takin’ a piss. Looked at the clock when I noticed the car cuz no one’s ever down there at the store these days. Been closed down for damn near thirty years.”

“Did you see anyone get out of the car? A man, perhaps?”

“Yessir. Seen a tall man with girlie hair…you know the kind the kids are wearin’ these days. Anyway, he was walkin’ around like he was lookin’ for something. Just as I’s about to grab my gun and shoo him off, he got back in his car and drove away.”

“Did you see anyone else with him? A young girl?”