Somebody had prepared a record using my identity before I arrived. Somebody had attached my name to a bag, created a second sale, and then used the confusion to make the first sale look like a theft.
But the question remained.
Why me?
I stepped through the doorway before anyone could stop me.
Harris reached for my arm.
“Ma’am, stay outside.”
“I am not going into the back office. I am looking at the register.”
The paper beside the register was still there. I walked toward it and saw a customer profile on the screen.
My name.
My home address.
The last four digits of my phone number.
And beneath it, a note in red letters:
DO NOT RELEASE WITHOUT SECONDARY VERIFICATION.
I had never given Bellwether House my address.
Marcus came inside behind me.
“Camille, step away from the terminal.”
I could barely hear him.
The note had been entered at 2:12 p.m., almost half an hour before I walked into the store.
At the bottom of the screen was the name of the employee who created it.
Elaine Porter.
I turned toward her.
“You knew my name before I arrived.”
Elaine began to cry.
Grant closed his eyes.
Then the store’s front alarm began to sound.
A sharp electronic tone repeated through the showroom. The display lights flickered once, and the register screen went black.
Miller grabbed his radio.
“What triggered the alarm?”
No one answered.
From the back office came the sound of a door slamming.
Harris ran toward it.
Marcus caught my shoulder.
“Stay here.”
But I was staring at the dark register screen.
For one second, before it shut off completely, a message had appeared.
CUSTOMER PROFILE TRANSFERRED.
And beneath it was a destination I recognized.
My husband’s company name.
Reed Security Solutions.
Marcus saw it at the same time I did.
His face lost all color.
Then his phone vibrated.
He pulled it from his pocket and read the message.
I watched his eyes move across the screen.
“What is it?” I asked.
He did not answer.
I took the phone from his hand.
The message came from an unknown number.
STOP LOOKING FOR THE MISSING NINETY SECONDS, MARCUS.
THEY WERE DELETED BECAUSE THEY SHOW WHAT YOUR WIFE DID BEFORE SHE ENTERED THE STORE.
Part 3
I stared at the message on Marcus’s phone until the letters blurred.
THEY WERE DELETED BECAUSE THEY SHOW WHAT YOUR WIFE DID BEFORE SHE ENTERED THE STORE.
My thumb hovered over the screen.
“What did I do?” I asked.
Marcus took the phone back, but his eyes stayed on mine.
“I don’t know.”
The alarm continued to shriek through the showroom. Every display case seemed to vibrate with it. Behind us, Officer Harris disappeared through the back-office door while Officer Miller kept one hand near his radio and the other raised toward the crowd.
Grant Bell moved quickly toward the register.
“Everyone out,” he ordered. “This is now a security incident.”
“No,” I said. “You just used my name to create a customer profile before I arrived, and the register showed that my information was transferred to my husband’s company.”
Grant’s face hardened.
“I have no idea what you think you saw.”
“You saw it too.”
“You are trespassing.”
Miller stepped between us.
“Mr. Bell, stop touching the register.”
Grant looked at him with disbelief.
“This is my store.”
“And this is potentially evidence.”
Elaine stood beside the doorway, trembling. The alarm made it impossible to hear every word, but I saw her lips move.
“She didn’t do anything.”
Grant turned on her.
“Go to the office.”
Elaine flinched.
That reaction told me more than her words.
A crash sounded from the back. Harris shouted for someone to show their hands. The crowd outside pressed closer to the glass, phones raised, faces distorted by the flashing lights from the patrol car.
Marcus pulled me away from the register.
“Camille, we need to step outside.”
“I’m not leaving.”
“The system just displayed my company name. Whoever sent that message wants us to stay focused on the deleted footage.”
“Or they want us to believe you are involved.”
His expression tightened.
“That is exactly what I’m worried about.”
Miller heard him.
“What do you mean?”
Marcus turned the phone so the officer could read the message. Miller’s eyes moved across the screen. His face changed, but not in the way I expected.
He looked at Marcus with suspicion.
“Why would someone send this to you?”
“I don’t know.”
“Your company name appeared on their register.”
“Which suggests someone transferred information without my authorization.”
“Or someone used your company’s system to access theirs.”
Marcus’s mouth pressed into a thin line.
“I did not access this store’s customer database.”
“I didn’t say you did.”
“You’re thinking it.”
Miller glanced toward the back office.
“We need to preserve the phone and the tablet.”
Marcus looked at the black case in his hand.
“The tablet contains the original footage.”
“Then you need to hand it over.”
Harris returned through the doorway with a man in a gray Bellwether House uniform. The man was young, maybe twenty-five, and wore a security badge clipped to his belt. His face was pale, and he kept looking at Grant as if waiting for permission to speak.
Harris held up a small metal key.
“Found him near the server room.”
Grant pointed at the young man.
“He is our overnight security technician. He has no reason to be in the back office during business hours.”
The technician shook his head.
“I was called back there.”
“By whom?” Miller asked.
The young man looked at the floor.
“I got a message from the store system.”
“What did it say?”
“That the security feed had failed.”
Grant stepped forward.
“And instead of reporting the problem, you entered a restricted area?”
“I thought management had requested it.”
“Which manager?”
The technician’s eyes moved toward Elaine.
She whispered, “I didn’t call him.”
Grant lifted his voice.
“This is absurd. My employees are panicking because two strangers brought unauthorized equipment into my store and accused us of fraud.”
Marcus’s head turned sharply.
“Two strangers?”
Grant gestured toward me.
“You and your wife arrived with a recording device, interrupted an investigation, and are now demanding access to private systems.”
“We arrived after your officers stopped my wife,” Marcus said.
“You had the footage ready before you came.”
“Because I was concerned about her safety.”
“Or because you knew exactly what would happen.”
The words hung between them.
For the first time, Grant did not sound defensive. He sounded prepared.
I looked at Marcus.
He was watching Grant, but something in his face had gone still. The same way it had when he first arrived in the black SUV. Calm, controlled, too calm.
“Why would you say that?” I asked Grant.
Grant’s attention shifted to me.
“Because your husband has been asking questions about Bellwether House for weeks.”
Marcus turned toward him.
“What are you talking about?”
Grant smiled faintly.
“You told me your company was reviewing our building’s access controls. You told me you wanted to know who had access to the property network.”
“That was a routine security proposal.”
“You were not hired.”
“Because you declined the proposal.”