Between The Lines

10.

It took thirteen minutes for the police to arrive-I counted out the seconds and figured out the math because the wait was so boring. The rest of the boys who had been rummaging through things with Gabriel had all left with various parts of cars in their hands. The first car of the day had driven into the main shop and the sounds of drills and other machines I had no name for sounded on and off.

Once we saw the one squad car, Eli and I started towards the office. Detective Mallory and Officer Reyes both stepped out. I had sort of expected her to have changed, but it hadn't been very long since I'd seen her last. In the dirt and rust-colored mess of the junkyard, she looked more sophisticated and tough. Officer Reyes looked... well, the usual. I wouldn't have been able to pick him out of a crowd of policemen.

Mr. Duarte came out of the office cursing Gabriel's name but immediately stopped upon noticing the beautiful detective (I can't help it; she was pretty admiringly mesmerizing, and there is nothing wrong with acknowledging another woman's beauty-respect).

"I'm Detective Mallory, and this is Officer Reyes," she said. "We received a report about a break-in that could be related to the Sans/Mills case?"

The shop owner nodded. "Yes, I'm the one who called." His eyes sort of glazed over, just watching the detective.

"Could you show me and my associate where this happened?"

Mr. Duarte nodded like a little boy and led the way out of the office.

"Go easy on the guy," Reyes muttered under his breath to Mallory.

Eli sighed. "I don't think they'll find anything we couldn't."

And he was right. It took the detective just a bit longer to realize the door had been opened from inside-after Eli had just assumed. All they found was the rock that had broken through the window; whoever had gone in had pushed in the rest of the glass. It was Reyes who guessed there must've been an accomplice, guessing a smaller sibling or a thin girlfriend had to squeeze through the window. The only problem was when they went around the back.

Under the window was a jumble of footprints-most likely Gabriel's while the three of us had gathered there (and Eli and I apparently didn't leave any). Det. Mallory followed the prints around the unit-from when Gabriel had walked through me-and then across the lot to where his truck had been parked outside. From there, it was lost among other footprints, probably those of the employees and the other boys as they left.

"Who else was here early this morning, Mr. Duarte?" asked Mallory.

"Just me and five boys who usually come here," he answered. "They come before I open to find what they need for their cars, spare parts and such. They were in the back, and my men all stayed in the garage where I could see them."

"This set of footprints is the only one that leads to the storage unit and back. Did you see any of the boys go back here?"

"No-I was in the garage with my employees."

"Can you give me the names of the boys who were here?"

He rattled off the names-Gabriel's name being the first one listed, the first one they would check out, and the only one where there seemed to be just a hint of recognition in Mallory's eyes, a little shake to her head. Eli and I glanced at each other, completely worried about getting him in trouble already-or again, if that was the case. I more or less knew it would happen eventually if he continued to help us, but I didn't expect it so soon.

"I noticed you have a security camera over the entrance to the storage unit," said Mallory. "May we see the tape?"

"Should we warn Gabriel?" I asked Eli as we followed them.

"After watching the tape," he answered. "I don't think he'll be in too much trouble."

"But how is he going to explain his footprints? He probably messed up the ones that had been there before, since we hadn't."

"We'll figure it out-don't worry."

Could I really do anything else?

Mr. Duarte was already popping the ancient video cassette into the little TV/VCR combo unit he had on the filing cabinet next to his desk. Everyone had to crowd around and see-as did Eli and I without stepping into someone.

He already had it cued up to when the door opened. The person who had already been standing outside was taller than the one who opened the door. I couldn't recognize the bigger person since they had a Steelers cap pulled down their face, and the inside person hadn't stepped out from behind the door all the way, so we only saw their gesturing gloved hand while they talked. They both disappeared inside for a couple of minutes.

It was when they emerged that I saw it.

They both wore gloves meant for cold weather as they maneuvered the windshield out through the doorway. The bigger person still kept their head down, but the second person was struggling with the glass. Neither of them wore anything distinctive; jeans, t-shirts with a blurry image. She tried getting a better grip with her gloves, so she bent down a bit and was forced to look up-straight into the camera.

"Oh, my God."

Eli frowned at me. "What? You know them? Who is she?"

"My best friend."