Joey left his gun on the dresser before heading out. He had thought about bringing it. But why bring a gun to a funeral? Was that even legal, he wondered.

He had bought this gun with his friends during the weekend of Joey's 21st birthday party. It had made them feel...

She was unsure whether this would end well. But she had to look.

The computer ran Windows. Elena had only used Apple since college. She found it charming how a subset of boomers only used  windows . Tolerated it's terrible user experience. Using the computer took her back to freshman year....

The only person at  Bloomingfoods who enjoyed listening to Stephen was Marc.

Now he was gone. Nobody was there to listen to Stephen. But the funny thing was... Stephen wasn't talking anymore. Said no more than the average customer. Paid. Left.

Another funny thing. He had stopped coming in as much as...

Take me home, Denver. Take me home. Where I belong.

Marc Love repeated this to different tunes. There was nothing else for him to do. He even wanted his captor to come back. Enjoyed his presence better than being down here alone.

Take me home, Denver. Take me home. Where I belong.

He...

Elena did nothing but work and work on the case after that.

In fact, even a work she would perform her duties mindlessly. Her brain was thinking about the case. 

She had more than a binder now. Needed a place to herself. Decided to move out. Candace didn't understand. She understood...

There was an open door. Leading to a darkness. The only light a reading lamp. In there was a 5 x 7 picture of a kid staring blankly into the camera.

There was an open can of  blue paint with the softest brush Elena had ever seen. Horse hair she imagined...

The weird feeling never left. There was nothing to do. They eventually had to leave. Couldn't stay forever.

At the store they finally got Jerry to call the police. Two men showed up. Were unhelpful.

Elena wanted to go back to the apartment in the night after her shift. But was too...

The address was only six minutes away. They could've walked. But Jerry might've gotten upset had he seen them taking too much time. They arrived at a dark brick building perched on a hill. The front had an ornamental reservoir wall of stone.

"This it?"

"No. It's a unit in the building...

Jerry gently itched the stubble on his jaw.

Elena and Kevin awaited a reply. None came Jerry kept touching the stubble on his face. Elena held her breath. Then she couldn't hold herself.

"I think we need to do something. Whether that's call the police or go to his house personally I...

"Maybe people won't notice that I'm missing. After all... how often does a customer need to come to be considered a regular?"

Marc said nothing.

"Come on. Take a guess."

"I don't know. Once a week?"

"I didn't come in for a full three weeks last year. I broke my leg and stayed in...