Page 76 of Foxy Filthy Omega

When she leaned back against the bench, I did the same but turned my body to face her, propping my arm up on the top of the bench.

My body language was open and casual which should help her relax a little more.

Most people didn’t understand what I was doing when I matched their body language, but they always responded to it whether they realized it or not.

She glanced at me again and color started to seep back into her face. “Are you a police officer?”

“I’m not.” I shook my head and gave her a reassuring smile. “These guys just call me in when they can’t figure something out on their own. I really don’t know what they’d do without me.”

She watched the police officers for a moment before refocusing on me. “Why do the police need you?”

She was already shaking off the shock. That was lucky.

“I’m a behavior analyst,” I explained. “They call me for the really messed up ones.”

Now she was giving me her full attention.

“I’m Frankie James.” I held out my hand. “What’s your name?”

“Leslie Omer,” she murmured as she carefully took my hand.

“It’s nice to meet you, Leslie.” I gave her another warm smile and this time, she almost smiled back. “Your hand is freezing. Here, you can wear this.”

I went to take off my jacket but she shook her head. “I’m fine, really. But I appreciate it.”

“Okay, then let’s finish this up quick so you can get out of here. I’ll have one of the officers drive you back home, okay? They’ll take your car and make sure you get there safely. Is that alright?”

Leslie nodded again and opened the candy I gave her. “I really don’t know what else I can tell you about what happened. I’m sorry. I should have been paying more attention.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it.” I carefully placed my hand on her shoulder to reassure her. “I don’t expect you to know anything. I actually only have one question for you and then you can go home and rest.”

I dropped my hand, glad she didn’t seem opposed to my advances. I didn’t need her to fall for me even if that would make things easier, but I did want her to see me as someone she liked – someone she could easily trust.

“You told the cops the route you took, right?”

“I did.” Leslie carefully placed the candy in her mouth and then pulled her phone out of her pocket. “I come here every morning around dawn to hike before work and track my routes on this app.”

She showed me the app and my adrenaline surged but I didn’t dare let my excitement show on my face.

“Is it okay if I take a look at it?”

Leslie nodded and offered me her phone. “Like I told the police, I parked in the lot just over there and walked the coastal trail before heading back.”

The app was one for hikers to log their miles and steps. It also had GPS tracking with time stamps. This would be perfect for narrowing down a window of time.

“You came back down the same trail, right?” I zoomed in to check all the time stamps.

“I did.” She leaned in and pointed to one of the spots on the trail. “This helps hikers stay safe so there are regular check-ins. I didn’t notice anything on my way up the coast since it was still pretty dark out. It was on the way back that I found…that.”

“Do you mind if I send myself screenshots of this?”

“Go ahead.”

Perfect.

I propped my head up with my fist and went to the app store and selected one of Lucy’s backdoor apps before swiping back to the hiking one. I screenshotted everything I needed and then texted them to myself.

“I’m going to save my number in your phone,” I told her. “If there’s anything you need you can text me. Dealing with this kind of thing can be really overwhelming.”