Caught on Camera

Heather, Ashley and Zack entered the clothing store, looking closer at the merchandise they spied through the wide storefront windows. The stock was all very stylish and trendy, some of it a little out there in terms fashion, none of it really casual, and not the type of clothing either Heather or Ashley would wear, and neither could see Jennifer White, the ranger, dressed in this type of pseudo-runway clothing. But, they also knew that if Kurt had come to this shop, he hadn’t come for the clothes up at the front. He came for the lingerie at the back.

The shop floor was dead, except for a middle aged woman behind the counter with red, frizzy hair and a sour look upon her face. It was clear that if Kurt had come here, he wasn't here anymore, but that didn’t mean that no one hadn’t seen him and might be able to point the trio in the direction he went when he left, if by some miracle his better judgement caught up to him and he decided that lingerie wasn’t a good thank you gift for saving someone’s life.

Heather approached the counter and the middle aged woman, smiling pleasantly as she asked, “Excuse me, we’re looking for a friend of ours, a blonde guy, about yay high.” She gestured at Kurt’s head height. “We think he may have come in here. Do you remember seeing someone like that?”

The woman looked Heather up and down as she answered, shaking her head slowly. “No, sorry, honey, but I was in the office for a while. Perhaps Tracy saw him.” She called on Tracy and a young blonde stick of a thing appeared from around the corner leading towards the changing rooms, looking sheepish and red faced. “Tracy, did you happen to see a blonde boy in the shop earlier?”

Tracy nodded, swallowing hard. “Um, yeah, he and that girl were the ones who stole that bodystocking lingerie.”

Heather blinked. “Stole?”

“Girl?” Ashley echoed suspiciously. “What girl?”

“He and a brown haired girl came into the store, and after she tried on a fishnet bodystocking, they exited through the staff door without paying,” The older woman explained, looking accusingly at the three teens in her shop now. “Your friend is in deep trouble.”

“That can’t be Kurt. I know he’s a little morally loose, but stealing?” Zack frowned, looking at Heather who nodded to confirm the strangeness of her cousin's behaviour. “Did you both see them?”

“Well, no, I was in the office at the time. Tracy was supposed to be minding the shop floor,” The middle aged woman said with a pointed look towards her employee. “But, we have the security footage of them.”

“And they entered together?” Zack asked, wracking his brain to think of who this brunette could be. None of the girls at the cabin really fitted that description, and besides, they were all present and accounted for.

Tracy shook her head. “No, he entered first, then she did. But, they both left through the staff door.”

Ashley fidgeted with her hair, looking at the floor, her face furrowed in thought. “She went to the changing room and put on the lingerie? What about the clothes she wore into the store?”

“She left those here,” Tracy replied, disappearing for a moment and returning with the clothes in question, a red t-shirt, a skirt and black underwear. “But there was no phone or purse or any identification. Just the clothes.”

“Either she took them with her, or she didn’t bring them in the first place,” The manger added, pursing her lips that they were the ones being interrogated, rather than questioning the teens. “But that only further proves they came here with the intent of stealing.”

“What kind of person doesn’t carry personal belongings?” Ashley pondered aloud, ignoring the managers summation that it implicated Kurt, who none of the three really believed to be involved. Especially not Ashley. Kurt had trusted her this morning when she’d been accused of planting the **** on Lisa; it seemed only right and fair that she give him the same benefit of the doubt.

“The kind of person with an accomplice,” Zack said, the girls nodding along with his assessment.

“So, you admit that your friend was involved?” The manager replied triumphantly, all but saying ‘aha’.

“No, we think that he was tricked, but that the woman had help from someone else,” Heather said firmly. “You said you have security footage? Can we see it?”

“Hold on. This is a crime. If you know who these people are, we have to call the police,” The manager argued, folding her arms across her chest. “I can’t just take your word for it that he was being tricked. If I show you the footage and you erase it, that’s all our evidence gone.”

Ashley snorted. “How paranoid are you? This isn’t a grand conspiracy against your shop. We’re just looking for our friend. If we can see the footage and recognise the other woman, then you can call the cops on her. She’s the real criminal here.”

“It needn’t even come to that,” Heather smiled, reaching into her pocket and producing a bank card. “You haven’t closed for the day, so I assume the total take for the day hasn’t been counted yet, right?” The Manager gave Heather a tight nod, and the dark-haired cheer captain placed her card on the counter with a smack. “Charge the stole items to my account. In fact, triple it, and then show us the footage.”

“You…you’re bribing us?” The Manager was taken aback, looking to Tracy, as if the wide-eyed teen would know what to do.

“No, I’m paying for the lingerie. In which case, it’s no longer stolen. Better late than never, right?” Heather said, arching an eyebrow. “And, maybe you accidentally overcharged me, and I never noticed. It happens.”

The manager stared at Heather, the dark haired girl holding her gaze, a confident smile still painted upon her face. Zack and Ashley stood silently beside her, sure that if anyone could convince the woman, it would be the iron will of Heather Ravers, but apprehensive all the same. Some people can’t be bought.

This frizzy, red-haired middle-aged woman was not one of those people. Gulping, she took the card and charged Heather for triple the price of the fishnet bodystocking, and then, after handing the card back, gestured for them to follow her. “This way,” she croaked, leading them through the staff only door, down the hall a little way, and then into a small side room with a desk and a label on the door reading ‘office’.

Inside, the manager took a seat and clicked through a few programs on the computer, bringing up the security footage on the two television screens above the monitor. One showed the store front, and the front door, while the other was pointed down the corridor towards the changing rooms. Rewinding the footage, the teens saw themselves enter the shop, walking backwards out towards the street, other people coming and going, some using the changing rooms, some leaving with bags of new clothes, until finally the came upon Kurt and the brunette in the changing rooms.

“She left the door open!” Ashley noted, surprised, as the manager played the footage, showing the brunette enter the changing room at the end of the hall, intentionally leave the door ajar and begin to strip. Then, just at the very bottom of the screen, Kurt popped up, looking down the hall, watching her as she removed her clothes.

“I can’t really see,” Zack grumbled, squinting at the screen.

“Can’t see who it is…” Ashley teased, smirking at the boy she called her boyfriend only a day ago. “…or can’t see her getting naked?”

“Who it is!” Zack answered quickly, straightening up and laughing nervously, as Ashley continued to shoot him a knowing, side glance.

“Wait, she’s coming out,” Heather said, leaning closer as she watched Kurt connect the clasps at the back of the outfit, and then taking his hand in hers, she led him out of the changing rooms. “Go back and pause as she’s leaving.”

The Manager rewound the clip slightly, frame by frame, until Kurt and the brunette reappeared, having walked down the corridor towards the camera enough for their faces to have become clearer. All three recognised the brunette, walking hand in hand with Kurt. Zack through Taylor, Ashley through Hannah, and Heather, simply as the most popular girl in school, she happened to know a lot of the older crowed who had now left their school.

“Kendra!” They said in unison.