“Oh no, we don’t want to return it. We just have a problem. My husband lost his credit card and this is the last place it was used. He was wondering if he left it here.”
At that, the man on the stool looked up and Jennifer felt Shoshana stiffen. It was a small thing, but attuned to Shoshana’s peculiarities, Jennifer noticed.
The woman said, “Let me check with my manager. Can you wait right here? I’ll see.”
Jennifer nodded, then glanced at Shoshana. She was laser-focused on the pockmarked man. He stood up and said, “May I see the receipt?”
Jennifer showed it to him and he said, “A man used this card, not you. I was here when he bought this.”
Jennifer said, “I know. Like I told her, he’s my husband.”
The man nodded, then said, “Good luck finding the card in here,” and returned to his seat. Shoshana kept staring at him.
The woman returned, saying, “I’m sorry, but no card has been lost in our store.”
Which, of course, Jennifer expected. She pretended to take the news, then said, “Okay, well, we need to cancel that card and we don’t know the number. Every time we call the bank, they want it. The receipt just shows the last four. Would it be possible to find the transaction and at least just give me the whole number?”
The woman said, “I don’t know...”
The fact that Jennifer was holding the very item on the receipt seemed to sway her, and Jennifer pressed, saying, “You can keep the security code if you’re worried we’re going to steal it or something. Just the number for the bank. Please? We did buy this here, after all.”
The woman said, “I can’t.”
Jennifer held out a wad of pesos and said, “It would really help us.”
The woman glanced at the man on the stool, saw he was engrossed with his phone, and snatched the money. She said, “Wait here.”
She was gone for another thirty seconds, and Jennifer used the time to study the man, but he appeared bored. The clerk returned and handed Jennifer a slip of paper, saying, “Don’t tell anyone.”
Jennifer smiled, saying, “Thank you. You’re a lifesaver.”
They left the store and Jennifer said, “Well, that was easy. What was up with the man in there? You acted like he was the Ghost himself.”
Shoshana said, “Let’s go to the second floor and get a coffee or soda.”
“Why?”
“I want to see what that man does. He’s bad.”
Jennifer didn’t argue. They found a wooden stairwell leading to the second-floor balcony and walked along it until they were abreast of an ice cream shop with two small tables left and right of the door, the maté store below them across the courtyard.
Shoshana glanced down and saw the man through the window talking on a cell phone. He turned, facing the window and she quickly looked away, saying, “Get a table. This will do.”
Jennifer pointed to one on the left side of the door, saying, “You want to tell me what’s going on?”
Shoshana took a seat, saying, “Get us something sweet and I will.”
Jennifer went inside and found the place crowded. She waited in line, bought two scoops of ice cream and returned to the table, sliding one across and saying, “Okay, Carrie, what’s up?”
“That man with the pockmarks is bad. He was giving off nothing when we entered, but his aura went red the minute you pulled out the maté kit and started talking about the credit card. When he came over and looked at the receipt, he went positively molten. He knows that card, and he knows you don’t own it, but he said nothing.”
Jennifer was used to Shoshana’s talk of auras, even as she didn’t understand it. Shoshana had tried to explain it to her, but to Jennifer it was like trying to explain what it felt like to taste color or hear an odor. It was something Shoshana possessed that nobody on her team quite understood, but all respected. Somehow, she could sense a person’s intent by looking at them. It wasn’t specific or concrete—more like a warning—and Jennifer would have scoffed at the notion in the past, but she’d seen it in action and now believed it absolutely.
She said, “Okay, so you think that guy could be a better lead to follow than the card number?”
“Yeah, might be. Let’s just see what he does. Maybe we follow him to a vehicle or a bed-down site.”
Jennifer said, “Okay. Let me get Pike in motion.”
