GREY

I knew humanity was responsible for a lot of great innovations, but riding through Browning Heights definitely made me the most grateful for GPS.

The winding roads half overrun with patches of festering grass were intermingled with gaping potholes and cracked asphalt, but Google Maps didn't disappoint; finding the eponymous Auntie Nae's Kitchen was a breeze.

And stationed just across the street, lined perfectly with even bricks of alternating rose and amber hues, stood the only building that looked out of place from the rest—and the only reason I'd agreed to Brayden's request:

Browning Heights Pharmacy.

I gulped as the tinted glass windows shimmered back at me, the neon sign above the entrance flashing only two letters in glows of pink and blue: Rx.

Double checking my phone, I steeled myself and trundled forward. This is it—only place in the city that sells those towels Cody had.

Twisting behind me, I swept both eyes over my shoulder before pushing wide the front door's metaled frame of glass lined with black security bars. I glanced around, doing my best to nod at the few patrons scattering the aisles, then sidled toward the back of the store, where a sign overhanging the product racks read Home & Bath.

"Grey?"

I sprang from the ground and spun, heart slamming inside my chest as I landed again—as my eyes rose to a familiar face with long black braids. "...TaKylar?"

"Thought that was you," she said, giving a cute smile. "Never guessed I'd run into you at a drugstore—let alone in Browning."

"Well, I...I'm kinda looking for something." I lifted my left hand, palming my neck. "Ever heard of FlexDry? It's a brand of towels my buddy uses."

"FlexDry? Yeah, they're in the sports section." Her eyebrows knitted together. "Your friend comes all the way out here for towels?"

"Yeah, sorta. It's a long story." I rocked back on my heels, eyes peering sideways as I scanned the store before landing on a rotating camera angled above the shopping aisles. "Hey, this'll sound weird, but...do you know if that camera's working?"

TaKylar tilted her head. "Grey, what's up with you? Why you so pressed?"

"Huh? I'm not, I..." I sighed. "Look, I just really need to see that footage. Any chance you know the guy who owns this store?"

TaKylar giggled. "The guy who owns this store is Mrs. Georgia." She stepped closer. "And yeah, I know her. But...what's goin' on here? Seriously."

I lowered my voice. "I think this dude that I know might've had something to do with DeWayne Cartrell's death."

Her mouth dropped open. "What!?"

"Shh!" I hissed. "There's a guy on my team—I saw him carrying this bag of bloody towels the same day that cops pulled DeWayne's body out of the shower." My eyes swept back over my shoulder again. "That's why I came here. I checked online, and this is the only place that sells FlexDry towels, which is the brand he uses. Or at least, it's the brand he had in his bag that day."

TaKylar crossed her arms. "Okay, but why you need to see those camera tapes? It's not like he murdered DeWayne here and waltzed up the aisles with his body."

"Well, I've been thinking maybe he wasn't acting alone. Maybe he was helping somebody else...and maybe whoever it was came here with him." I shoved a hand into my pocket, retrieving my phone. "He was late to school that day; he said he was helping his sister with something, but he didn't say what. And if I can prove he was really just out here buying towels, then that contradicts his story."

TaKylar smirked. "Soundin' like one of those true-crime detectives right now, Grey." She peeked around the corner of the aisle. "Alright, Mrs. Georgia's out on a break."

"Awesome. Let's get the footage and—"

"Whoa, whoa, slow down." She stood straight in front of me and then gripped my hoodie with both hands, pulling up the hood to cover my head. "You gotta stay outta sight. Ain't exactly like you fit in around here." Her fingers pulled the drawstrings tight, fabric constricting across my face.

"Hey, easy! That hurts."

"You want those tapes, don't you?" She grabbed my hand and pulled me forward. "Follow me."

I could barely see anything even right in front of my face, TaKylar's tugging grasp my only guide as we sailed toward the locked door marked Employees Only that let out to an office adjoining the cashier station.

TaKylar slid a single key into the lock, twisted once, and pulled me inside. I did my best to hazard a glance behind me, but I couldn't even make out any other shoppers this time. "Did everybody just...leave?" I whispered.

"Now's not a busy time of day for the pharmacy. Mosta' the people who were here prob'ly had to get back to their jobs." She rifled through a drawer filled with index cards as I loosened the hood TaKylar had tautened around my head.

"What're you looking for?" I asked.

"Password." She kept shuffling her hand around the cards in the desk. "Mrs. Georgia keeps it in here somewhere...found it!" TaKylar held up a square card with an eight-digit code printed across it.

"Nice," I mused as she turned to the Windows computer situated on a metal stand welded into the wall.

In moments, the homepage filled the screen, bathing it in fluorescent blue as pixilated icons appeared to decorate the monitor's every inch.

Zooming the mouse to the right, TaKylar double-clicked on a single folder marked Security and began scrolling its contents.

"There!" I practically screamed as she navigated to the file for the Monday prior.

Clicking it open, TaKylar maximized the video and turned to me. "Anywhere you wanna go? Start of the day, middle of the afternoon?"

"Seven a.m.," I answered. The same time he said he was helping his sister.

She dragged the video seeker about one-third of the way through, until the clock pictured on the pharmacy wall ticked into place, then began dragging at a slower pace.

I narrowed my eyes, honing into the monotonous pacing of customers flitting between aisles, reaching for packaged goods and stocking them in shopping carts. Up and down the aisles, faces blank and thoughts elsewhere, they trotted in and out, each one replacing the next with determined absentmindedness before—

"It's him!" I nearly slammed my hand onto the computer's trackpad to pause it.

Frozen mid-frame as he strode through the front door, the image of Cody Ashford glittered across the screen.

"Is that...blood?" TaKylar whispered, my eyes darting in an instant to Cody's forearms, both of them streaked with trails of bright red liquid that traced to the edges of his knuckles.

I pressed play, the screen's timestamp marching on as Cody beelined past the first four aisles before turning right. Though he stepped out of the camera's view, it wasn't long before he emerged once again—this time, swiping at his arms with towels of purest cotton white.

"He knew where to find those towels." I shook my head, felt TaKylar's eyes on me. "This wasn't the first time he came here."

I sighed as the video swept forward, as Cody lumbered to the counter and slapped down a hulking wad of bills. He nodded once and ambled to the exit, leaving the cashier to examine what might've been the biggest tip she'd ever received in her life.

"Well, that's definitely enough to get somebody to look the other way," I mused.

"It's overkill," TaKylar said. "Store owners see a lot worse around here."

I gulped. "Oh...wow." I scratched at the side of my neck. "I'm sorry."

"It is what it is." She rewound the recording and twisted her head to me. "You want a copy?"