Near Miss

Chapter Eleven: Restaurant

It was Rhiannon's fourth day on the case. Although she'd been spending the vast majority of time on classes and schoolwork, she could never seem to concentrate properly, as if she was trying to solve the mystery even while she worked. Despite countless reminders that she needed to manage her time properly and that she'd get back to the mystery tomorrow, she wasn't able to completely put it away. Possible clues and suspicious incidents flitted across her mind from dawn to dusk: the ring Sonia had found in the empty lot, Malachi's missing RV, the suspiciously slow ambulance, the other Lindquists, the person in the car.

She hadn't realized until now just how much she had missed this.

When the waitress came by, Rhiannon held up a hand. "I'd like a decaffeinated milkshake, and do you have that lactose-free?"

The waitress's eyes dropped from her order pad to her customer. "Sorry, what?"

Rhiannon stared back, cocking her head. "I'd like to talk to Yvette. Is she here?"

"Yvette?" The waitress frowned. "Who's that?"

Rhiannon threw up her hands. "Isn't she your boss?"

"Oh!" the waitress realized. Then she added, as if it was a proper explanation: "Sorry, I just started a couple weeks ago."

"You do know who Yvette is, right?" Rhiannon said cautiously.

"Yes, of course. Why do you want to talk to her? Is something wrong?"

"No, no, nothing with the restaurant. The food is..." Rhiannon trailed off, trying to think of an appropriate word. "Interesting," she said eventually. "I just want to talk to her, it's no big deal."

The waitress glanced toward the kitchen. "Okay, then, I'll- I'll ask her to come out."

"Great!" Rhiannon gave a large, rather false-seeming smile. Rather uncertainly, the waitress stepped away.

Rhiannon didn't know very much about Yvette, only that she was Malachi's boss. She might be able to provide a bit of information, at least. She'd known Malachi for... a little while? Some amount of time? She would be able to tell her his shift details, his particular quirks, and maybe even anything that had changed on the night he disappeared.

And, more importantly, she was the last lead Rhiannon had.

She knew there had to be some way to get ahold of other information about Malachi. He must have had friends, family, a life beyond his RV and his work. But Rhiannon wasn't willing to go to the police station quite yet- not until she had explored all the evidence. In short, she didn't want to have to deal with Greene again.

"Rhiannon? Is that you?"

Rhiannon spun around in her seat. "Eirie?"

"It is you!" Eirie darted over from the counter. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm trying to get ahold of Yvette," Rhiannon shrugged.

Eirie's brow furrowed. "Why?"

"I just want to ask her a few questions," Rhiannon said offhandedly. "She might know something about Malachi."

"Why do you care about that?" Eirie looked almost baffled at Rhiannon's explanation. "Didn't you already complain to the police?"

"Oh, that's right!" Rhiannon realized. "Yeah, I didn't tell you. I'm working on the case now."

"What case? What are you talking about?"

"Well, I went to the police station, just like I said I was going to," Rhiannon explained, "and the detective was a jerk about it. He clearly didn't believe me when I said you were innocent."