by S J Sargent
“Any customers?” Ken yelled as he made his way back in from his smoke break. Only an addict would be crazy enough to go outside in this weather. That’s the power of nicotine.
“…do you see any cars out there?”
“You never know. Someone could’ve walked here.” Ken smiled. Alex busted out laughing. “We are definitely losing money today. There won’t even be enough rentals to cover our hourly, unless we upsell like crazy. Sucks because I was planning on racking up some extra commission with this shift.”
Bills weren’t a concern, though. Billy and Leslie had so much money in other businesses that this one was just a fun side hobby. They opened it for their son and kept it open just to show him that they loved him. As long as the store broke even, they were happy. And even that was a higher expectation than they really had for the place.
Alex wandered over to the horror section and plopped down on the floor. He pulled out his Moleskine and added some notes to his growing pages about the case. He had added various mind maps, names with question marks, and potential pieces of evidence throughout the morning. He jotted one more down at the bottom of the pages.
The Matrix DVD. Possible locations:
He stopped, realizing he had no theories on where it would be. And even then, how would he access them? Looking up at the shelf, he noticed Psycho had been gently put back on the shelf by Molly after he’d pulled it off for her. Of course.
Alex slipped out his phone to text her. Usually, he would be more patient. But the blizzard, and boredom, was driving him crazy.
“By the way, bizarre story. Detective came by to ask questions about Amy! And there may be evidence linking the case to Movie Madness!”
Alex shoved his phone in his pocket and went to the front. He’d hoped the open-ended vagueness intrigued her to respond. Ken was playing a game on his phone, completely zoned out. 11:50 on Saturday morning. Usually there was a steady crowd of families streaming in and out of the store at this point.
Alex’s phone buzzed with a text.
“Whoa. I actually wanted to talk to you about something related to that. Are you at the store now?”
Alex’s curiosity was awakened.
“Yeah. Me and Ken.”
He shoved his phone in his back pocket, pulling out again a few minutes later when the empty store couldn’t distract him any longer. He reread her last text, theorizing what she had held back from sharing. Molly knew something he didn’t
and Alex was fervent to find out. He wanted to solve this case, especially considering how little confidence he had in the detective to piece it together.
Alex’s phone buzzed.
Molly was calling him.
Just as Alex answered the phone, Christine walked in from the back. He immediately hung up. Crap. She wasn’t on the schedule and the last thing Movie Madness needed right now was a third employee on the clock. That officially outnumbered the customers in the store by three.
Christine examined the front of the store, making eye contact with Ken and then Alex. Her head bounced as she thought, a nervous tick. “Morning, gentlemen,” she said with her arms crossed.
Alex’s phone rang again. Molly. Ignored.
“Madam Christine!” Ken said. He was the only one that could get away with talking to her that way. “Didn’t know you were on the schedule…”
“I wasn’t. But someone told me a cop had come by. What happened? Why didn’t you call me?” Her arms remained crossed as if she expected both of them to confess to a crime.
“Oh,” Alex began. “The detective was asking questions about…the Amy case. Seeing if we knew anything. Get this! She checked out a movie here two days before she went missing!”
Christine was not as impressed as him. She waited a moment before speaking. “What did you tell him?” She asked.
“I just…showed him her rental history.” Ken paused. “It was…maybe a ten-minute conversation?”
“You did that without my permission?” Christine asked, her stare piercing through the empty store.
Alex froze. His phone, still in his hand, rang again. Ignored.
“Yes…” Ken said with a sarcastic smile. “He is a cop. It was harmless. Alex was just answering questions for the detective. No big deal. He was just trying to help. It’s really not a big deal.”
Christine took a step toward him. “And who gave you the authority to make that call?”
“I dunno, Christine. The constitution?” Ken joked. “Freedom of speech? I mean, what is the big deal? What do you want us to do? All we did was say the last movie she rented…”
“But that’s private information, Ken. You can’t just give out any customer’s information to anyone that walks into my store like this!”
“Oh, give me a break.” Ken threw up his hands. “It wasn’t just anybody. It was a detective trying to find the murderer. Why wouldn’t we want to help? We don’t have anything to cover up.” He stared. “Do we?”
Christine hated his suggestive tone. She pointed at him and pointed to the break room. “Now.” Ken looked over at Alex and shrugged as he began the walk of shame to the back.
Alex watched as both disappeared to the back. His face frozen. Afraid this might be the last straw for Ken. Afraid that this understaffed team might go from five members to four. Afraid of Molly’s connection with Amy.
Maybe Movie Madness was more tied into this whole case than he realized. Part of him was afraid of things might play out. And the other part was excited. Once they were both out of sight, he pulled out his phone and called her.
11
Ken
Saturday, December 18 – 12:22 P.M.
“You need to lose ninety pounds.”
Those words were six years old, but still haunted Ken on a daily basis. A huge part of him wished he had never even gone to see that army recruiter. The man, dressed in full uniform, stood up and pointed to a weight chart on the wall behind him, as if Ken needed it to prove he was overweight. “At six feet and three inches, you need to be under 212 pounds before we could consider you for enlistment. Anything above that is not suitable for combat.”
Ken nodded. He wasn’t sure what else to say to him. He stood up and extended his hand. “Thank you, captain. I guess I’ll see you again in about ninety pounds. Maybe even ninety-five just to be safe.” The officer smiled, shook his hand, and Ken left the recruitment office for his car.
He knew he had to lose some weight but hitting 212 would be the hardest thing he’d ever done. Two years of scraping by in community college just felt like a big circle. It didn’t help that he lived in the same room with the same posters on his wall. All that had changed was that his DVD collection had grown.
But now he had a goal.
So, Ken made a plan. Get a part-time job and work out like crazy.
Lose the weight.
Re-enlist next year.
Become an Army Ranger like his dad. And his older brother. Carry the tradition of all the men in his family.
“I’m proud of you, son. You can do it.” His dad told him when Ken got home and told him his plan. “I know you can do it.” His parents had been trying to help Ken lose weight since he was in middle school.
But their attempts just made things worse. His rebellious nature turned their weight loss attempts into binge-eating sessions. Now with Ken maxing out at 302 pounds, he finally had the motivation to shed the weight.
That’s when Movie Madness entered Ken’s life. It started as just a twenty-hour-a-week job that allowed him the flexibility to lose as much weight as he could. And for the first three months, things were going really well. He was in a routine his mom had never seen before. He was focused. Disciplined. He’d even resisted all the snacks at Movie Madness.
After ninety days, Ken had serious momentum. He’d excitedly slashed through the first thirty numbers on a poster board he had taped on his wall. He flexed in the mirror, sucking in and dreaming of the final remaining sixty pounds being gone forever and finally bei
ng able to escape the treachery of his childhood bedroom.
Then Christmas hit. It started with him taking home one of those boxed pre-popped popcorns with a new release comedy from work one night. He inhaled it before the opening credits were done. His mom came in and politely tried to remind him of his goal, but that made Ken angrier. The next night, he repeated his sin. By the end of the week, it was a routine. By the end of February, it was same old Ken. Weight and all.
His parents were crushed. They offered to get a personal trainer for him. Nope. They offered to help him get another job that allowed him to move around more and be less tempted by junk food. Nope. They offered to send him to a weight loss boot camp. Nope. Eventually, they stopped offering.
Ken kept working at Movie Madness. Years passed. Employees came and went. Managers came and went. But Ken remained. The job was too easy for him to consider making a move. No pressure. No weight requirements.
Five years in, Christine was hired. It took less than a week for Ken to realize that they clashed. But he loved the job too much to let it disrupt him. So, he often bit his tongue and didn’t say anything…to her face.
When Peter was promoted as the Assistant Manager instead of him, Ken acted like he didn’t care. He told Alex that he preferred to have less pressure on his job anyway. But underneath, it was a big hit. Ken had been at Movie Madness for over four years longer than Peter. He obviously wasn’t as polished and responsible as Peter was. But it was a video rental store. How much responsibility was it, really?
And now, on this snowy December day, Alex could hear Christine’s yelling from the front of the store. Every now and then, she could hear Ken say something back. But not often. It was definitely a one-sided conversation. This was bad. Alex had learned that when Ken felt cornered, he came out swinging. It was the soldier in him, buried underneath an extra ninety pounds of fluff.
Ready to press send on his call to Molly, he was interrupted.
“Alex.”
He looked up. There she was in the flesh. Out of breath. But beautiful as always, especially in light of their pseudo-date the night before.
“I need to talk to you.” She tried to slow her breathing. Before she could continue, another yell came from the back. Both sets of eyes darted that way. “What was that?”
“Christine and Ken. They’re...talking in the back. I’ll catch you up in a minute. It’s kind of a long story. What’s going on with you? Are you okay?”
“Not quite.” Molly played with her hands while she looked down at the ground. “I haven’t been completely honest with you about everything with Amy. You’re probably going to find out about it eventually, so I’d rather be upfront with you. You’ve been so kind to me and such a good friend. I just don’t want you to be mad at me…”
Alex was too wrapped up in everything to even notice her use the f-word again. Friend. He looked to the back and quickly waved her over to the side counter. Molly came and stopped in front of him. Then she hugged him. Alex wasn’t sure how to respond. Delayed, he hugged her back.
“Thank you. For everything,” she whispered. “You’re the only person that’s even tried to care for me this week. My parents don’t understand how I feel. It’s like they aren’t even acknowledging everything that has happened.” She looked down, ashamed. “I wanted to tell you this last night, but we were having such a good time. I didn’t want to ruin it.”
This made Alex smile. Their eyes locked for a brief moment before she looked away. “Okay. What did you need to tell me? Molly looked at him briefly, trying to carefully prepare her words.
“What is going on?” Christine’s voice from across the front counter. Both pulled back and turned around. Guilty looks on their faces.
“Sorry,” Alex said. “Molly’s just shaken up with everything right now.” She wiped away a tear, looking up at Christine. Trying to appear composed. Christine’s lack of sensitivity was obvious. The argument with Ken probably didn’t help. Alex looked around.
Where was Ken?
“Now listen, guys.” Christine tried to hide the exhaustion and defeat in her voice. “I know the weather is ugly. And half the town is already shutting down for the blizzard. And there’s a curfew. But the owner doesn’t want to close yet. So, I’m just asking us to keep moving forward. Okay?” Alex and Molly nodded. “Molly, I’m actually glad you’re here. We’re going to be short-staffed the rest of the day.”
Oh, no.
“Oh…” Molly stumbled over her words. “I, um...can’t work today. I mean, I’m not scheduled. Right?”
“You weren’t, no. But would you be able to work? In case…we can’t get the spot filled?”
As Christine said that, Ken emerged from the sci-fi section with a plastic bag. His shirt was untucked and he walked with defeat. Alex looked over at him, who looked back. Before Ken could say anything, Christine turned around to him. Arms crossed. Daring him to say something.
“I’ll...see you guys around,” Ken said. Alex and Molly were stiff. Afraid to say anything. So they spoke with empathetic stares.
“Bye, Ken,” Christine said as she stepped forward, staring right at Alex. Daring him to challenge her.
“Merry Christmas, Christine. May you continue to fill this place with joy and cheer.” His final snarky remark made Alex bust out laughing. Almost. It took everything in him to hold back. Christine gave her signature glare. Ken smiled and walked out, giving a peace sign to Alex on the way. All three watched his shaved head immediately collect the falling snow as he trudged toward his car.
After an awkward moment of silence, Christine turned back to the two. “No more hugging when you’re on the clock, Alex. That’s inappropriate and you know it.”
“Okay. I’m sorry.” Alex nodded. “So, is Ken officially…”
“I’m not sure yet. I haven’t decided.” Christine said confidently. She swung over to the computer and logged Ken out of his register. “I told him to go home for now. I just don’t think I can tolerate…” She stopped herself and shook her head.
Alex and Molly were frozen. Silence. She looked at them, satisfied at the power she held in the moment. “So, what do you say, Molly? Can you cover for him tonight?” Molly wasn’t sure how to answer. The last thing on her mind was wanting to work. She already felt scared as it was. And with the detective coming by earlier, she was worried about what it all meant. She felt vulnerable at work. Being out in any public place right now felt unsafe.
But especially one that you have to stay in for hours while anyone could come through the doors.
Anyone.
That was too much for her to handle.
Plus, there was more to the story that Molly desperately wanted to tell Alex. More to her connection with the case. Alex didn’t know it, but Molly was the last one to see Amy before she went missing on Sunday.
12
Another Early Exit
Saturday, December 18 – 12:39 P.M.
“She can’t.” Alex stepped in for Molly. He knew how intimidating Christine could be. “Molly asked if I would…look out for her tonight.”
“Look out for her?” Christine asked. “Is she unsafe? Is there something I don’t know about?”
Alex stared for a moment, almost expecting Christine to tack on a ‘just kidding’ or ‘Oh, right. The murder.’ But she didn’t. She just stared with an oblivious arm cross, waiting for an answer to satisfy her.
“I think we are all a little unsafe until they have the suspect in hand.” Alex paused. “Don’t you think?”
“I think this whole thing is blown completely out of proportion. We don’t know if that girl was even killed by someone else. She came up missing and then was found dead five days later. For all we know, it could have been a freak accident. Or a suicide-”
Christine’s own words caught her off guard, and she abruptly stopped herself. The left side of her brain was offended by what the right side of her brain had just said. She stood there, in silence. Molly stared at her, jaw dropped. Christine tr
ied to recover. “I’m just saying, we don’t know. The town is freaking out. And we don’t even know if she was attacked.”
“Yes, we do.” Alex immediately refuted her. “She was tortured and killed and thrown into a bush in the park. I don’t mean to be disrespectful to you, but you’re wrong. Amy was murdered. And the guy is still out there. So, I don’t think it is right to make Molly work because Ken…isn’t available.” Alex wanted to say more, to blame her for it, but he showed the slightest bit of discretion.
Christine’s lack of response showed her embarrassment. It was the first Molly had seen her express any type of regret. Part of her frustrated. The other part, satisfied. “I’m sorry for what I said,” Christine said. “I really am. Molly, no need to come in later today. Peter and I can cover it.”
Molly mustered up a nod between her held-back tears.
Christine let out a long sigh as she gazed out at the snow. “This thing is really hitting the town hard, huh? Maybe it’s affecting me too and I don’t even realize it. I don’t know…” Christine trailed off, forgetting she was in the middle of a conversation. “I do know that you should feel safe, Molly.”
“Thanks.” Molly didn’t buy it. Maybe it was all the emotion, but Molly was becoming more skeptical toward everyone. She’d always been one to defend Christine in the past. Mainly because she felt sorry for her. She knew what it was like to feel out of place. Molly committed to being the one employee that always sided with Christine and gave her the benefit of the doubt.
“Tell you what.” Christine looked up at Alex. “Why don’t you take off early? The snow is getting thick. And there’s no point in paying for two employees right now.” She looked out at the empty store for supporting evidence of her claim.
“...really?” Alex said, looking over at Molly. She nodded.
“Yes.” Christine forced a smile, wiping away the brief moment of authenticity.