The store where Emily Clarke had supposedly used her credit card to buy chocolate, amongst other items, was on a road which lay about two miles north of Wood Hill. We didn’t go straight to the counter and speak with the staff. Instead, Potter and I wandered around the store and looked to see what CCTV they had, if any. The only camera I could see was positioned behind the counter and looked out into the store and down at the cash registers. I looked at Potter, and we didn’t have to speak to one another to know that if Emily had been in the store the previous morning, she would be on camera.
I threw some items into a basket, junk food mainly, and went to the cash register with it. The spotty youth who was working began to process my groceries. Once he had placed everything into a bag, Potter asked for a pack of cigarettes.
The guy working the cash register threw them into the bag and said, “That will be thirteen pounds twenty, mister.”
Potter rummaged through his jeans pockets and pulled out a roll of twenties. At the same time I took my warrant card from my jacket pocket, opened it, and realised that I hadn’t any money. I looked at the cash in Potter’s fist. My savings? I wondered and looked at him. Potter shrugged his shoulders at me with a guilty grin.
I looked at the spotty youth behind the counter and I could see that he was eyeing my badge “Sorry, but my boss says I can’t give discounts to the law anymore — not since one of you guys issued him that ticket for running a red.”
“What?” I asked surprised. “I don’t expect any discount.”
“You can’t be from around here, then,” he said back.
“No, we’re not,” Potter cut in.
What kinda police department are they running down here? I wondered. Potter handed over the money and looking at the CCTV camera above his head, he looked back at the clerk and asked, “is there any chance we could take a look at the CCTV footage for yesterday?”
“No, you can’t,” he said.
“How come?” I asked him.
“Doesn’t work. It’s been broken for months,” The clerk explained. “The boss says it costs too much to get fixed. He’ll be screwed if we ever have a robbery, insurance company will never pay out.”
“Do you have any other cameras in store?” I asked.
“Nope, just that broken one. Why you want to know?” he asked, looking at me, then at Potter.
“It doesn’t matter,” I said, picking up the groceries and leaving the store.
I threw the bag onto the backseat of the car and slammed the door shut in frustration. Potter popped one of the cigarettes between his lips, lit it, and inhaled deeply.
“When are we going to get a half-decent break?” I asked him.
Potter looked at me and blew a lungful of smoke into the air.
“We’re running around in circles,” I said, more to myself than him.
“Something will turn up,” he said, leaning against the side of the car and enjoying his smoke.
“And what if it doesn’t?” I snapped, sounding more frustrated than cross. “Kayla is inside that school, werewolves are free to take children at will, we’ve got a young woman who has suddenly vanished or worse, and the local cop couldn’t give a crap because he’s too busy screwing the local Seven-Eleven for a discount!”
Potter didn’t say anything back, he just puffed on the cigarette and squirted jets of smoke out through his nostrils. When he had finished, he flicked the cigarette into the gutter and got into the car. I climbed in next to him, feeling more frustrated than ever. Potter started the engine and it spluttered and wheezed to life.
“We need some petrol. We’re nearly empty,” he said.
On the other side of the road, there was a small petrol station with two pumps on the tiny forecourt. “Over there,” I said, jabbing my finger in the direction of the petrol station.
Potter swung the car out of the car park and crossed the road to the petrol station which stood opposite the Seven-Eleven. He drew level with a pump, got out, and began to fill the tank. I watched him through the car window, and it was then that I saw it. There was a CCTV camera attached to the underside of the petrol station canopy facing out across the forecourt.
While Potter finished filling the tank, I climbed from the car and walked over to where the camera was fixed. I looked up at it and studied the position it was facing. I turned my back to face it and looked out at the view that the camera had. I could see the whole of the forecourt and beyond, where to my delight, across the street was the entrance to the Seven-Eleven.
“I wonder?” I whispered. “I wonder?”