Fletcher and Tyler left the building and spent several minutes talking to the detective before returning.Drea used the time to set up some food, napkins, and bottles of water.
“Please, Ms.Caron, take a seat.”Fletcher indicated a spot closer to the window, where a small amount of light was being provided by the streetlights.“This is Detective Carter.”
“Andrea,” she said, looking at Detective Carter.“Please, call me Drea.”The container of cookies opened with a pop.“Help yourself to cookies.No charge.It’s on me.”
“Sorry we aren’t meeting under better circumstances, Drea,” Carter said, shaking her hand.“Do you have surveillance cameras?”
Drea took a seat.“Yes.But they cut the lights before they came in.I assumed they cut the power.”
Carter looked toward one of his colleagues.“Tyler?”
“On it.I’ll call the power company, see if they can send someone out as soon as possible.”
“Drea!”José hustled through the door, his hair sticking up in a thousand directions, his jeans a curious combination with the rumpled pajama top he was wearing.Because the café opened at seven, José liked to do the early shift.He started baking at four thirty and was always in bed by eight.“Are you okay?”
“Sir.Wait.You can’t just march in here.”
“Get your hands off me.That girl is the closest thing I have to a daughter.”José brushed the officer’s arm away and rushed to Drea.
José hugged her then stood back slightly, still holding both her arms.“Seriously.Are you okay?”
“The cash.I didn’t check the register, José.”The drawer didn’t look open, but that didn’t mean the money was still inside.And the day had been crazy busy, so a lot of money could be gone.“What if they took the cash?”She made a move to go look, but José stopped her.She grabbed hold of his hand, fighting the tears that threatened to reveal just how terrified she had been, and in truth still was.
“You think I care about the float, Drea?You foolish little thing.I don’t care as long as you’re okay.”
José wrapped an arm around her shoulder, and Drea let the comfort he was offering seep into her frozen veins.He was the only man she could rely on in her life.She loved him like a father.If he hadn’t given her a job, both she and her mom would have been a whole load of screwed.
“Sir, are you the owner?”Carter asked.
“Yes.My family has owned the property for decades.”
José sat next to Drea.
“Can you walk us through what happened, Drea?”Detective Carter asked.
“I was getting ready to close up.Marco had just left, so there was only me and the woman here.”
Drea took her time and explained step by painful step to the officers.
“So you didn’t actually see the woman get taken?”
“No.”Drea hated that she hadn’t.“I recognized the outline of her as she ran by, and a larger person I assumed was a man, in pursuit.The rear exit is a straight line from the swing doors, and the sign is illuminated, so I guess she saw where she was heading.It was very dark.”
“Did you see either of them again after that?”Carter jotted another note in his book.
Drea shook her head.“Neither of them came back into the café.”
“Okay.We’re going to get a crew in here to have a more detailed look around.Bag up the woman’s coffee cup.Can one of you wait for the power company to arrive?”
“I’ll stay, Drea.You go home and get some rest.”
After taking all of Drea’s contact information, a police officer walked Drea through the store to her car at the back.
She turned the key in the ignition, the car coughing up gas before choking.“Come on,” she said, casting a glance to the officer on the curb, waiting for her to leave.She tried again.Thankfully the car started this time.
Home may be a pile of crap, but it felt like the safest place to be.
***
