“Well, I haven’t come across that one before, but I have a few that might work, I think.” The man proceeded to pull out a large box from under the counter.
It contained six different types of chargers, sadly none of which would work, Ally realised, her spirits dropping. Hers was a brand new model and had only been on the market for a couple of weeks. Clearly the price of early adoption was steep.
She thanked the man for his time, and was just about to leave when she noticed some distinctive looking spiral-bound notebooks near the counter. They reminded her of the one in the suitcase and immediately, she thought of something.
“Hey did anyone come in to buy one of these today by any chance?” she asked, figuring it was a long shot, but what the hell…
He stopped to think. “Come to think of it, yes a little while ago actually. A couple - on their way to the ice maze apparently. He needed gloves too.”
Nowthisnews was music to Ally’s ears. Maybe small town living wasn’t as bad as she thought. And she congratulated herself on her good ole fashioned detective skills.
“Did you catch a name by any chance?”
“No didn’t get that much - like I said, they were in a hurry. Definitely from out of town though, much like yourself I’d wager.”
That made sense too. “Yes, I’m here to visit my friend - she recommended I come here, Lara Clark?”
The man beamed. “Of course I know Lara, and Mark too. Great couple, pillars of this community.”
Ally smiled. “They are a great couple. Well, she’s actually waiting for me in the car, and we’re on our way to the ice maze too, so I’d better get going, but thank you so much for your help.”
“No problem. Tell Lara I said hi. And little Riley too.”
“I will. But I might need to pop back before tomorrow - besides a charger, I’m also in need of some Christmas gifts for Lara and her family.” She sighed, reminding herself again of her current predicament. “You see, I lost my luggage en route here, and if I don’t get it back soon I’m out of luck until after Christmas. My gifts, along with my clothes were in there too. About all I have left is a sparkly dress and that’s not much use in this weather.”
The man smiled. “Coming along to the Snow Ball then? It’s a great evening, the holiday highlight of the year in this town.”
Ally gulped, not having anticipated the event as that big of a deal. With luck by then she’d be reunited with her shoes too. Otherwise she was going to cut a very sorry sight tomorrow night in her sparkly dress with no accessories, or even decent underwear.
“Well, maybe I’ll see you there,” the shop owner continued smiling, and Ally nodded politely.
Then, before turning again to leave she thought of something. “That couple … who bought the notebooks earlier - can you tell me what either of them looked like?”
The man thought for a bit. “Well, she was maybe early thirties with long, curly hair, green jacket and grey bobble hat and very friendly like you. He was tall - lighter hair maybe? Wearing corduroy trousers. And a red knit sweater. Typical out of towner stuff.” He chuckled.
“Wonderful, thank you so much.” Ally headed back to the car to tell Lara what she had learned.
“Guess who could also be on the way to the ice maze?” she said, answering her own question before she even gave her friend a chance to guess. “J.T. must be in town too.”
“Well, I hate to sound negative, but we do get a lot of out of towners coming to the ice maze at this time of year. Could be a needle in a haystack.”
“I do know whoever bought the notebook is wearing corduroy pants, and a red sweater,” Ally said, proudly filling her in on the couple’s description.
Lara wrinkled her nose. “Old guy clothes. Well, at leastthatshould narrow it down.”
Chapter 12
“OK, if this is Lara, how do I find Ally at the ice maze? Or even know what she looks like?” Jake was asking, as he continued to scroll on his sister’s phone.
Meghan showed him where to click for Walters Technology, and they both looked for a photo or more pertinent info about Ally, as he scrolled through various pictures of office space, computer equipment, and a few business articles.
They continued to search, hoping to find at least one picture of their mystery woman.
And while her friend had lots of personal photographs on her social media profile, there seemed none at all of Ally.
“This is obviously more of a business page,” Meghan pointed out. “All her posts seem to be tagged reviews from clients. And very satisfied ones at that.”
Jake began reading some of the rave reviews. Clearly this Ally was very good at what she did. Not that he understood any of the technological lingo.
