Page 43 - Labelle Gramercy, On the Case

Thrown for a Loss

be that she was used to writing down what people told her, and here
she had no notebook, no pen or pencil, no tiny computer. Tough to
do your job without the proper tools. Would she remember
everything she’d seen and heard during this disaster? I realized I
would have to pay extra attention, just in case she couldn’t. As it
turned out, she did just fine without notes.
“Was the person who said the money had fallen a man, woman or
child?”
Again he pondered. “I don’t know. It was like a screechy kind of
voice, loud enough to be heard over all the noise in here.”
He had a point. The mall was never totally quiet. And this area was
one of the noisiest. People talking to each other and on cell phones,
people walking on shoes with hard heels, people with loud babies in
strollers with squeaky wheels. Music coming out of the loudspeakers
all the time, different stuff depending on the time of day or if a
specific holiday was coming up. Plus a lot of the shops pumped out
rock music to attract the kids. I think the customers liked the noise,
made them feel like they were part of something exciting. Me? I
might have been able to pick out the voice if I heard it again. But this
kid wasn’t a trained observer.
“All right, Nolan. One last question and then you can go. Do you
know Bertha Marks or Autumn Pratt?”
“Never heard of them.”
“Okay. Please leave your home phone number with Officer Weller
before you leave.”
Officer Weller. I liked the sound of that. I usually didn’t get that
much respect from anyone, certainly not from a real police officer.
Most of the public don’t know what to call me, so they don’t use any
title at all. A middle-aged woman without a gun doesn’t impress
anyone. That’s why I try to keep up a dignified manner, to get
cooperation from people just with the force of my personality. I can’t
say it always works. Teenagers can be the worst. Too old to fear me
and too young to know they ought to.
Anyway, I got the kid’s information and sent him on his way. He
made a mad dash for the Cineplex. I hoped he’d miss two or three
gigantic explosions or whatever special effects come on at the
beginning of Armageddon XIV. I hadn’t seen it but they always put
something like that at the beginning of those thrillers to get the

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