A Step Closer to Love

Kieran met the waitress who was in the restaurant. She insisted that no one was taken forcefully from the place.

“Have you seen her?” Kieran asked pushing his phone to her face.

“Yeah she came in here today, she sat at that table for a while before another woman joined her and they left together” the quirky waitress said.

She was hoping that she was doing good with her lies, Aurora had tipped her so heavily to keep it a secret that someone had been abducted in her presence. She had promised a greater reward if she did well.

The girl needed the money, the patronage at her workplace was low and she was on the verge of losing her job due to the decision by the owner to close down the restaurant and sell it. She had bills and debt to settle and Aurora was willing to pay.

“Can we check your cameras? You do have some right?”

The girl gulped, she had to be smart about it, if she allowed them to see the CCTV then she would be exposed and she would lose the opportunity to get more money, she had to stall for the time being and then get her money before disappearing into thin air.

“Do you have a warrant?” she asked leaning in trying to act bold.

“No, we don’t” Kieran stuttered. This was the first of its kind, he was stuttering. He was usually the body and confident one in the room, he was always ten reasons why others stuttered, how could a young woman make him stutter? Looking at her face he was sure she was around the same age as Arabella.

“Then come back when you have a warrant with you and possibly a police officer with you” she added. She just had to work a bit more and they would be out of their hair.

“Do we really need a warrant to look at it? Can’t you just show it to us? We won’t be making a copy of anything we just want to have a look at it” Kieran said in a rushed manner.

“It’s private property so you do need a warrant” Kieran sighed and leaned into the counter.

“I agree that I might need a warrant but it’s urgent, it might be too late by the time we get a police warrant to see the camera, something bad might have happened to her,” Kieran said.

The girl looked down at her feet, his worn-out sneakers staring back at her. She would be able to change those sneakers and buy a few extra needed things if she just kept her mouth shut. That’s all she had to do. She was pitful enough, she did not have any energy in her to pity anyone else.

“I am sorry but you can only get cooperation from my boss if you come with a warrant” She pursed her lips and drew herself back from the counter.

“If you would not be ordering anything then I guess you can take your leave now”

Kieran felt a bit bad for taking up her time so he ordered something to take out with him. He left determined to get answers by all means so he went to the nearest station in the area.

The girl watched Kieran and Ethan leave the place before she put a call through to Aurora. Aurora did not pick up so she kept calling, she knew she would give in and pick up if she was persistent.

She had to report to her and demand the money she was promised so she could be out of the situation as quickly as possible. It was becoming messy and she did not want to be a part of it anymore.

“Didn’t I say I would be the one to contact you?” Aurora barked at the phone as she picked up the call.

“You did but I felt like this was too important to wait for you to call,” the girl said slowly and silently. The restaurant was empty but she had to be careful in case someone heard.

“What is it? Let’s hear it” Aurora said with an eye roll. She had been discussing with the men when her persistent calls came through.

“A man came here”

“Just as I said”

“Well two men but only one did the talking”

“Two men?”

“Yes, one older one and a younger one but not too young” the girl continued.

“And?” Aurora asked not letting her get distracted by what was not important.

“Well, they requested to see the CCTV but I managed to turn them away”

“So what’s so important to report?” Aurora asked. She could not believe this naive little girl had disturbed her so much only to say something like this.

“They would be back, I am sure of it, I saw it in the eyes of the man while he spoke, he would do everything in his power to check the CCTV”

“So?” Aurora let out dryly. She was not interested in the conversation anymore but she wanted to see where the girl was taking it to

“You should pay me quickly so I can help you either erase it or destroy it and disappear”

“Don’t do any of that”

“What?”

“Show it to them if they want to see, why would you hide it?” Aurora asked. She knew they couldn’t track her by watching the video.

She could not believe how naive young people were. Did she actually believe that she would get more money just because she said so?

“What?”

“You want me to pay you more?” Aurora let out in a sinister tone. “More? For what? What have you done to require more money? Show them the footage, I don’t care” She said before cutting off the call.

The girl took the phone from her ears and stared at it in silence. She looked down at it unable to comprehend what had just happened. She took the card that Kieran had dropped that was still sitting on the counter.

As she punched his number on her phone she thought about how foolish and thoughtless she had been. She should have helped out at first.

“Hello”

“Hello,” she said after much hesitation.

“Who is this?” Kieran sounded uneasy like the caller was holding to the call line preventing him from doing other things.

“This is the waitress from the restaurant” she let out.

“Oh”

“You can check the footage, I checked with my boss and he said it was okay” she lied.

“Oh, thank you, I will be there soon,” he said.

“Wait”

“Yes?”

“Can you pay me to check it?”