Chapter Five
Cam rushed down aisle six, past Jordan, to the store entrance.
Eric pointed to a man standing by the security gate. The guard opened a bag he was carrying.
Cam looked at the man. She blinked her eyes and said, “Click.”
“This is it,” the guard said as he took out a videotape rented from another store. “These always set off our alarm.”
The man was about to leave.
“I’m sorry,” the guard said. “I’ll have to check your other bag, too.”
The guard was wearing a name tag. HELLO. I’M ERNIE’S HELPER. MY NAME IS BARRY was printed on the tag.
The man with the videotape was holding another large paper shopping bag. Cam got closer to see what was in the bag.
“It’s a watermelon,” the man said. “I’m having a party tonight, and this will be dessert.”
Barry the guard looked in the bag. Cam looked in, too. It was a watermelon.
“It’s a big one,” Barry said.
“I’m having a big party,” the man told him as he left the store.
The bottom of the watermelon bag was wet and left a spot on the floor. Barry the guard wiped the floor and then went back to his seat near the cash registers.
Cam told Eric, “Come with me. I’ll show you how the thief got out.”
Eric followed Cam to the back door.
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“There’s no guard here,” Cam whispered, “and there’s no security gate.”
Cam and Eric walked closer and looked out. The door opened out on a back street and driveway.
“Excuse me,” said a woman pushing a handcart loaded with boxes. She was making a delivery.
Cam and Eric moved aside and let the woman walk past. Then they started to walk through the back door.
A tall woman wearing a yellow and green striped jacket stopped them. “This exit is for emergencies only. If you want to leave you’ll have to go out the front door.”
On the woman’s jacket was a name tag that said: HELLO. I’M ERNIE’S HELPER. MY NAME IS SUSAN.
Cam and Eric walked away from the door.
Eric said, “Maybe the thief got out when Susan was on her lunch break.”
“Sh,” Cam whispered. “Look.”
Cam pointed to a woman wearing a large raincoat. The woman was walking along the back aisle of the store.
“She’s wearing a raincoat and it isn’t raining,” Cam whispered. “It hasn’t rained all week.”
Cam and Eric followed the woman. She stopped by a rack of videotapes. She took a tape from the rack and looked at it.
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The woman turned and saw Cam and Eric watching her. She quickly returned the tape to the rack and walked down aisle four.
“Did you see that?” Cam asked.
“What?”
“Her pockets are full. I’ll bet she’s got the stolen CDs.”
Eric said, “Or maybe she just has a rain hat and gloves in her pockets.”
Cam and Eric walked quietly to aisle four. They stood at the end of the aisle. They pretended to be looking at the CDs. But they were really watching the woman in the raincoat.
The woman turned and saw Cam and Eric watching her. Cam smiled at the woman. Then Cam blinked her eyes and said, “Click.”
The woman turned and walked away.
Cam whispered to Eric, “I just took a picture of her with my mental camera. I want to remember what she looks like. She might be the CD thief.”
Cam and Eric walked to the end of aisle four. They looked down aisles three and five.
“Where did she go?” Cam asked.
Just then they heard a loud “Beep . . . Beep ... Beep.”