Finding Tessa by Jaime Hendricks (best ereader for comics .TXT) 📗

left for a meeting, so Jace and Candy were alone in the house again. Jace was beside himself when he entered the office. It was in complete disarray, with papers strewn everywhere. He needed to start the cleaning-up process somewhere, and the first thing he grabbed was his monthly expense folder. A receipt fell out, one that he didn’t remember.

It was from last Thursday. The day Tessa went missing.

It was for about a hundred and twenty dollars, and it was from the electronics store in town. After a close inspection, Jace pocketed the receipt and got in the car. Fuck the ankle bracelet—let them come and get him. Speeding down the driveway, the monitor vibrated the second he left his property. He didn’t have long. It took him three minutes to get to town, and like God wanted him to solve the mystery, there was a parking spot on Main Street right in front of the electronics store. He parked and ran in, not knowing how much time he had until the cops hauled his ass back to prison for leaving his home.

“Good morning, how can I help you?” the skinny, nerdy kid asked, then looked at him with narrow eyes. “Hey, aren’t you—”

“Yes, I’m Jace Montgomery. Yes, my wife is missing, and yes, they’ve accused me of murdering my coworker.” Nothing like getting the facts out of the way. They both knew exactly who he was. “I found something that can help me, and I need your help finding my wife. And in clearing my name.” He didn’t have time for pleasantries and small talk.

The kid’s eyes shifted nervously, and he took a few slow steps backward and put up his hands defensively. “I—I don’t know what you’re looking for,” he stuttered.

“This.” Jace held up the receipt. “My wife was in here the day she went missing. What did she buy?”

“I’m—I’m s-s-sorry, I can’t help you.” The kid looked like he was about to shit his pants.

Jace softened and looked at his name tag. “Look, Ralph. I didn’t kill anyone. I have to find her. I think this might help me discover what happened. Please, can you look it up?” Jace was desperate. “Please? Her name was Tessa. About five-six, dark hair. Beautiful.” He said it with tears in his eyes.

“Right. I remember,” Ralph said. He pointed to the other end of the store. “She wanted one of those.”

Jace swiveled his head to the wall, and there was a display of recording devices lined up like toy soldiers. He walked over and his eyes scanned top to bottom.

“What are these? Which one? Why?” He asked the questions like Ralph knew Tessa personally.

Ralph moved cautiously, and his index finger shifted over the wall until he found it. “This one. This is what she bought.”

Jace knew it instantly. It was the same device Bella Johnson—Maribel Lopez—used for the interview.

It was Tessa’s. Jace knew it. This Maribel character had Tessa.

“Did she say why she wanted it?”

“No. She asked to record stuff. I remember commenting that she didn’t have an iPhone.”

Jace was perplexed. What would Tessa want to record?

“Is there anything else you remember?” Jace’s head swung to the door, looking for the inevitable blinking lights. Ticktock. “Please. I need to find my wife. I think I know who has her. Her life is probably at stake, along with my freedom. And I need to know where she is. What did she record?”

“I don’t know.” Ralph seemed somewhat on his side now. “But if she set it up, it should be in the Moon.”

“The Moon?” Was this kid on crack?

“Yeah, the Moon.” He put on his salesman hat, and his voice changed. “This particular device has a design flaw, where the record and delete button are close together. See?” He pointed at it through the plastic, and Jace remembered Bella/Maribel mentioning the same thing. “So, if she set up the account, it backed up to the Moon. It’s the low-rent version of the iPhone iCloud.”

Bingo! “You’re telling me there could be a recording of what she was doing that day?”

“Yes. If she set up the account online.”

His desperation came back tenfold. “Can you please, please find out which one she got from this receipt? Does it have a PIN or anything? How can I access it?”

“You’d have to look on the computer and sign in. It asks for a password when you set it up. It needs to be a combination of capital letters and lowercase letters and numbers and one symbol. Eight digits total.”

Jace was fucked, and he knew it. He’d never be able to figure that out.

And then, Ralph saved him.

“There’s a specific number associated with the one she bought. We have to scan the back and they’re all different. If you’re really innocent, then bring it to the police. They should be able to get a warrant to search it.”

“Ralph, I think I love you. Can you please give me that number?”

He looked unsure. “They can come in and get it if they have a warrant.”

Jace’s face fell, and tears brimmed his lids. “I don’t know how long my wife has, and I’m trying to prove my innocence. Please!”

Jace watched as Ralph tossed the idea around in his brain like a ping-pong ball, then game, set, match. “Okay. Hang on.”

As Ralph wrote down the info, it started. The sirens blared, first low, then louder as they got closer. They were coming for him.

“Ralph, please hurry. They’re coming. I need you to show this to them. Please.”

A screech stopped the car diagonal in front of the door, and Solomon stepped out and whipped open the door.

“Well, well,” Solomon said to Jace, while dangling handcuffs from his forefinger. “Just the person I wanted to see. Put your arms behind your back, Mr. Montgomery.”

Jace’s eyes pleaded with Ralph, and he finally pushed a piece of paper toward him on the counter.

“I don’t have time for this, Solomon.” Jace held up the receipt and the slip of paper where Ralph had the device’s access