The Unseen Red String

I never thought I would find and know someone that I have a connection with, mostly drawn and wanting their presence. It all started when a black haired boy came into the store. He was wearing a black zip up jacket, dark gray t-shirt, black pants, black Converse sneakers, and a black backpack on his back. He went to the electronics area and selected a boom box and then to the liquor aisle where he selected a bottle of Jose Cuervo, concealing it into his pants. The boy went towards the sporting goods area and took the boom box out of its packaging and concealed it into his black backpack and walked out the front door with a smile on his face towards all the other workers there.

This was my first time working alone as a "secret shopper" due to being my first week alone and I did not know what to do, along with when to call the police for a shoplifter. I didn't have all the information of what the boy took, along with who it was. I took too long to gather evidence and I was scared of making a bad call until reviewing footage, the liquor was taken of which I can prove. Writing and getting times of the event took 2 hours and the police were called after I had everything. I could feel my body warm up for being anxious and wondering what they will say because of how much time it took along with the waiting time for them to come.

15 minutes after the call, the police knocked on the door and they entered after I opened it. Looking up at both of them, there was a transport officer, wearing a grey shirt that had "Transport" on his left arm, black pants, black shoes, and his vest that had "POLICE". The officer had long black hair with a black beanie, black long sleeves, black pants, black shoes, and his vest with his equipment and "POLICE". I greeted them and they entered fully into the office where the video was pulled and items that the boy had took were sitting on the desk. I explained what had happened and I could smell Bourbon body wash from the officer that was closer to me watching the video. While watching video, he asked the transport officer if he can go to his vehicle and get him paperwork to give me for the shoplifting that occurred and the transport officer exited the office.

"So why did you decide to call us 2 hours after the suspect left?" he asked with a grin.

"I wanted to have the evidence to provide and make sure he did take those items. This is my first time being alone and calling the police for what had happened." I replied nervously.

"Interesting. Well I have never seen you before so I will give you a pass, but next time you should call right when it happens so I can be here faster and make an arrest." he said smiling but with his eyebrow raised.

The transport officer came back into the office and had a victim's right form and he asked "hey, so how is your mom?"

I looked at the transport officer and recognized it was David, one of my mom's old friends. I felt my stomach loosen and answered "well, I believe she is doing better with her new job and being more out and about like she use to." David gave a soft smile and started to talk about the old times where they and their other friends would go out every weekend when they were younger. The officer was filling out the paperwork while David was talking.

David mentioned "so, how have you been, I haven't seen you since you were 9 years old, and now you look like you've grown into a beautiful woman." The officer looked at David and glared at him for the comment.

"I have been doing good. I'm in a new position and learning what to do and what not to do, due to this officer giving me pointers." I answered.

The officer looked at me with a smile and told me to sign the form, giving me a copy and him keeping the other 2 pages that were under it. He looked at the video one more time and concluded that they will try to look for someone fitting the description, though he may be gone already.

"Next time, call when it is happening, not 2 hours later," the officer smiling said while exiting the office.

During this time, I did not think anything of it besides of being critiqued of what I did and did not do wrong. I felt the weight on my shoulders lift and I started to input my case into the computer. When I read the victim's rights, I saw J. Quintero, for the officer that took the report. Thinking back to this day, his critique made me better at what I do along with wanting to do it better, but at the same time, the longing to be around him grew and learning more about him was interesting.

A month had passed and I had a better insight of what I needed to be doing along with getting better of gathering evidence. I felt more eager to catch shoplifters and wasn't as anxious as I was before, I had more confidence.

I had a night shift one night, it was February during this time and cold. It was near closing time and a police officer knocked on the office door. It was reported that a man's wallet may have been stolen and video was needed to be overlooked. I pulled up video of the victim and it was seen that he put a cart in the cart corral and went to his vehicle. The cart associate went to that same corral and got a line of carts, putting it back into the store for the customer's. The cart associate saw the wallet, grabbed it, and the video froze along with shutting off. I was trying to turn the computer back on but did not have any luck and the cart associate was already gone for the night. The officer explained that he will be back tomorrow to review video and try to talk to the associate about the incident since he was seen on video holding the wallet.

The next day, while I was working on a case with the other secret shopper, named Anna, there was a knock on the door. Anna went to see who was knocking and notified it was a police officer. I got up and answered the door while she logged into the computer. I opened the door without looking for who it was and sat next to Anna.

"So you do still work here?"

My heart skipped and I looked to my right, gazing up to the officer.

"I thought you quit or something after that guy stoled some items" officer Quintero said smiling.

"Yeah I still work here and no, I just don't call cause our boss has us doing other stuff." I said nervously looking back at Anna.

He came closer to the chair I was sitting on and Anna started to get video ready of the cart associate from the night before. I pulled my phone out and started to look at my schedule for the next 2 weeks and I could feel officer Quintero leaning on my chair. Anna looked back at Quintero and smirked and said "well, here is the video and it shows the cart associate taking the wallet to the back of the cart bay. I know we have some holes in the wall back there, so let me check and I will be right back."

Anna exited the office and Quintero sat on the black bench that was against the wall and I logged back into the computer.

"Do you like it here? If so, and you like doing investigations like this, you might as well work in the Police Department." Quintero said smirking.

"Well, I kind of like it here, I only deal with the shoplifters and associates here. Out there, you deal with the whole town along with murders, drug busts, civilian complaints, and more." I said, while my stomach tightened.

"I do, but we do need more people like you, I heard you are getting better, better than the last time I was here." Quintero said.

I felt my face get warm and him looking at me, I could tell my cheeks got red. I could tell he knew what he was doing, along with him smiling, and lightly biting his lip. I looked at the ceiling and then to the wall to my right, trying to not react or show any emotion.

Thankfully, Anna came through the door and told Quintero she did not find anything in the cart bay. Quintero came to the computer between Anna and myself and told me to replay the video. As I went to push the space bar, I felt him near my neck, taking a deep breath. I pushed the space bar down fast and slowly scooted the chair away from him to have room to watch the video. His smirked and came closer and I had no choice but to sit still.

While he was watching the video, I could smell Bourbon. The same smell from the first night I met him. His long black hair was in a ponytail and he didn't have long sleeves this time, showing that he had some scars on his arms. When the video ended of the cart associate taking the wallet, he turned towards me, and gave me the DR# for the case.

"Why do we need a number, we didn't report it." Anna said.

"I think you will need it, since you guys might be firing someone for stealing a customer's wallet." Quintero answered.

"That makes more sense, thank you." said Anna.

Quintero gathered the CD that had evidence and started to exit the office.

"Hopefully it will be nice and quiet for you guys today, I just started my shift." Quintero said while walking out the office grinning.

I sat there, puzzled of what just happened. I had the thought of, wow, did he just smell me? Or was he really just taking a deep breath? What if it was that scene from Twilight where Bella thought she stinked and Edward was holding his breath? What if there was no meaning and he's just weird?

"When Quintero was coming into the office the first time and you had your phone out, he was looking over your shoulder looking at your phone. Just wanted to let you know because he is gorgeous and if you don't take him, I will." said Anna abruptly.

I laughed and told her to go ahead. I exited the office and began my day of work. This is where I also began to find different feelings that I have not experienced before along with more calls to the Police Department.