Page 36 of Just Now

“Sounds just fine to me,” he agreed.

Connor ordered two of the combo deals—burger, fries, and soda. Within a couple of minutes, the car was filled with the same rich smell of food that she’d picked up from outside, and she was hungrily munching.

“Can you use your software to devise us a route that takes in all of Priscilla’s stopping points over the last seven days? Since she started work?” Connor asked between mouthfuls, as they drove into the heart of downtown—which, at this time, was quiet, the office buildings mostly dark, the apartment buildings lit up, and traffic thinning on the roads.

“Yes, I can do that. I can optimize it so that we visit every stopping point in sequence,” she said.

“Let’s get a feel of where she went. Let’s retrace those steps and see if there’s anything that needs relooking at.”

Just as she had instincts regarding IT, she guessed that Connor had similar instincts regarding the practical side of an investigation. But as yet, she wasn’t tuned in to them and had no idea what it could be.

Crumpling up her burger wrapper, Cami got out her phone, quickly collating the routes into one long and rather convoluted zigzag path.

“So, here you go,” she said, activating the GPS to map it out. “This stops at every place Priscilla visited in the past seven days.”

“Good,” Connor said. “Let’s take a look.”

He began driving through the darkened streets, this time not going at his usual impatient speed, but at a slower pace. Cami stared out the window, taking in the places.

A small carpet supply business. A florist’s and a hairdresser. A three-story office park. A small building containing medical practitioners—doctors, dentists, physical therapists. Here was a warehouse that was all closed up and dark.

Cami felt like they were retracing the steps of a ghost, following the trail of someone who had disappeared while leaving only this hint of evidence behind. And in a way, she supposed they were.

They were getting a feel for the places Priscilla had been, the environment she had moved in. It was like they were stepping into her shoes. It made Cami imagine what it had been like for this recently divorced woman, getting back into the working world, and in the tough field of door to door sales. Had she liked her job, had she hated it, was it what she would have chosen or just what she’d found?

They went past the warehouses, through a stretch of suburbia, and then joined a main road that led past more office blocks.

Cami was looking carefully at each place they passed, taking it in, trying to figure out what Connor was looking for, and using all her brain power to try to assess if there was anything strange or irregular here.

A few of the businesses were still operational, with lights on. Many more were closed up and dark.

She reached into the bag, snagging one last fry and munching on it, and it was as she did that, in a sudden wash of understanding, that she thought she knew what Connor was looking for.

She inhaled sharply as she realized, causing Connor to glance at her.

“I think I know,” she said. “I think I’ve figured it out.”

“Good,” he said approvingly.

Checking the map again, Cami went a step further.

“I even think I might know where it’ll be. There are a few likely spots. And one’s coming up.”

Connor glanced at the map. “Yes. It is. One’s coming up now. So let’s see if it’s the right one.”

Cami felt disproportionately pleased with herself for having gotten onto his wavelength and being able to make a logical leap into something that was not tech related.

It was the food that had made the connection in her mind, a connection that Connor had been mindful of earlier.

In a long, weary working day, Priscilla would surely have needed to stop and eat, to sit down, to use the restroom, to spend some time regrouping. And perhaps that was where she’d been noticed by the killer. It made sense for him to use a diner or a restaurant or a coffee shop as a hunting ground.

With that in mind, she watched as they approached the next of the businesses. This was where a few of the dots converged, Cami saw. That meant Priscilla had made a stop here on almost every day that she’d gone out and about. It was a large multi-story office park that looked to contain a number of businesses inside.

There didn’t seem to be a coffee shop in the building, but as they drove closer, she saw something even better.

Right next to the office park, on this well-treed street, there was a diner. Brightly lit, attractively advertised, with photos of tasty-looking food in the windows that would have made Cami feel hungry all over again if she hadn’t just eaten. There were special offers, co-sponsors, competition drawings with weekly prizes to be won. This diner, named the Zesty Kitchen, was doing a great job of marketing itself to the community.

She stared at it in understanding, taking in the busy atmosphere, the bright lights, the lines of cars parked outside.

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