King of My Heart || Steve Harrington

Chapter 19 - The Case of the Missing Lifeguard

Summer POV

Rain is on the forecast for today so Steve thankfully offered to stop by the house to pick me up and take me to work so I didn't have to ride my bike.

I meet him outside and climb into the front seat, smiling over at him as I shove my bag and my rain jacket down against the side of my leg "Thanks for picking me up."

He lifts his hand off the steering wheel, shifting back in his seat as he returns with a smile of his own and stammers "Yeah, yeah– of– of course, any time."

Once we get to the mall we unlock the front gate and head into Scoops, working through the opening checklist and getting everything ready for when the mall opens.

Robin shows up almost an hour into our shift and she grabs her headphones out of her backpack and sets them on the back counter while we wait for Dustin to arrive with the tape recorder.

Once Dustin gets to Scoops we make our plan for the day– he hands the tape recorder to Robin so that she and I can continue listening to the recording and see if there's any other clues or part of the code to translate.

While we stay at the ice cream parlor to do that Steve and Dustin head out for a stake out of sorts, trying to see if they can see anything out of the ordinary or any evil Russians that stand out among the mall patrons.

I've got the headphones on and I'm listening to the recording again while Robin wipes down some tables. I hear the bell ring on the front counter a few times before I look over my shoulder and see Erica and her friends here once again.

I smile at her and spin around to face her, dropping the headphones down to rest around my neck "Yes, Erica?"

She smiles a little forced smile and brightly announces "I'd like to try the peanut butter chocolate swirl, please."

I snort and shake my head softly at her "No, I'm sorry but no more samples today."

Her face falls as she asks "Why not?" and Robin walks back behind the counter, chiming in "Because you have been in here the last few days, including this morning, sampling flavors."

Erica swings her offended eyes from Robin and back at me and I raise my brows once with my words "You're abusing our company policy which is to allow someone to try one or two flavors to make a decision"

"I am trying to make a decision" Erica counters and I'm quick to laugh once and throw back at her "You've tried every flavor twice– you know which ones you like."

Erica throws me a frustrated look and looks around "Where's the sailor man?"

Robin chuckles and I shake my head at Erica as I answer her "Sorry, but Harrington can't help you today– he's busy."

"Busy with what?" she asks and I share a look with Robin who smiles and answers "Spycraft."

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Steve POV

Dustin and I head towards the center of the food court where the seating area is surrounded by an outline of planters that are filled with fake plants. We head to the back left of the bench area so we'll be able to see everyone walking by from the front main entrance of the mall as well as the escalators.

Dustin lifts up the binoculars that he brought and hands them over to me. I grab them and toss the strap behind my neck before I lift the binoculars up so I can look through them. I slowly move from side to side so I can look at everyone I can see around us down on the first floor as well as up above us on the second floor.