He did, but he’d already determined that he needed to take the long view with Ramsey. Their conversation at dinner had borne that home. And there was still the matter of the wine. She might have had four glasses because he’d topped her off at one point. If she eventually remembered that, it wouldn’t go well for him.
“No,” he said. He raised his head and cupped her face. “I’ll be a better man for making the sacrifice.”
“What if I don’t want a better man?”
“You do,” he said quietly. “You know you do. You deserve one.”
Ramsey sighed. “I don’t like you very much right now.”
“I’m counting on you coming around.”
She nodded. Her fingers climbed the buttons of his shirt. “Probably in the morning.”
“Sounds good.” He released her face and stepped back. “You have your house keys?”
Ramsey found them, held them up. Sullivan took them and then took her arm. “C’mon. I’ll let you in.”
24
It wasa good week for Ramsey. Not only did she come around to thinking Sullivan Day was a pretty good guy, but she also hit her stride hauling in twelve shoplifters. Paul noticed and texted her a thumbs up emoji. The cops also noticed. Jim Butz pointed out that he was at the Ridge more than his wife and she was a dedicated shopper.
Ramsey saw a lot of Sullivan. He responded to five of her calls: one tweaker with a dozen fishing rods in his cart with the intent of selling the steel reels for cash; a young mother who dropped six frozen lasagna dinners from under her coat while she was in line to pay for a Coke; two boys ages sixteen and seventeen, working in tandem to distract the clerk in electronics and make off with a router, a backup hard drive, and a handful of HDMI cables; a middle-aged man with a hoodie pouch drooping with C and D batteries, and finally, yet another shopper trying to go through the self-checkout while paying for only a third of her items.
“Usually they pay for less than that,” she told Sullivan. “I can’t figure out if she was trying to be decent, stealthy, or didn’t know any better.”
“I’m thinking stealthy,” he said, taking the cup of coffee she offered him. “You know, what gets me is that she had more than enough cash in her wallet to pay for it all. And a credit and debit card.”
“They often do.”
“She didn’t try to run?”
“No. She had excuses ready to go, but she stopped offering them when I brought her back here and asked for identification.”
“You recognized the name,” he said.
She nodded. “I don’t follow local politics, but even I know the mayor’s last name. I didn’t ask, but I think she’s his daughter.”
Sullivan nodded. “She is. Youngest. Just graduated from Temple this past spring. I’ve seen her around the city building.”
“You didn’t act as if you knew her.”
“I figured it would embarrass her. Didn’t see the point.” He glanced toward the open doorway. The cart with the items Janet Holloway had attempted to steal was visible outside the office. “That’s quite a haul,” he said, lifting his chin to indicate the buggy. “Did you already do the inventory?”
“Uh-huh. While I was waiting for you. Ms. Holloway helped.”
“Good of her. Paperwork?”
Ramsey made a few scratches on the paper lying in front of her, looked over what she’d written, and laid down her pen. “I’ll make a copy for you.” She got up, took the paper with her, and started for the manager’s office.
Sullivan figured she’d only turned the corner out of his sight when she ran into her boss. Evidently Paul blocked her from going anywhere because what Sullivan saw next was Ramsey being backed into the interview room. She was no longer holding her report. It dangled from Paul’s fingertips. The Ridge manager was wearing his take-no-prisoners expression and it was aimed at Ramsey. Paul gave her no choice but to clear the doorway and make space for him inside the interview room. She surrendered the high ground and dropped into the chair she had just vacated.
“Hey, Paul,” said Sullivan. He received a terse nod in reply.
Paul placed the report on the table and slapped it with the flat of his palm for emphasis. “What were you thinking?” he asked Ramsey. He said it in a way that communicated he didn’t believe she’d been thinking at all.
Ramsey tilted her head to look up at her boss and said innocently, “I’m not sure what you mean.”
“I’m not buying what you’re selling, Ramsey. You know who you had in here.”
