The Fugitive Grandma

Chapter 41 - Stakeout

Throughout the day, in her trusty copper-colored Buick, Millie circled the fields of strip malls on both sides of Magnolia Street, passing Great American multiple times from every angle. The sun set behind a tangle of billboards and neon fast-food logos as she finally pulled into a parking space.

The security guard stood by the doorway next to the queue of shopping carts and a rack of Penny Saver coupon books. The guard’s crossed arms rested just above his belt holster, touching the two-way radio phone and Browning semiautomatic pistol. She pushed a cart past him through the glass sliding doors.

It was Wednesday evening, nearly forty-eight hours since Stella and Johnny turned up on Millie’s back porch. Since then, Millie had made six separate trips to case the supermarket where she used to work.

If anybody asked her why she kept returning to the store, Millie would say that she was making a Waldorf salad and kept forgetting one of the key ingredients.

It was a flimsy story, and Millie had no skill at bluffing, but Stella gave her some details and helped her rehearse so the explanation would sound strangely plausible coming from a scatterbrained lady such as herself.

It certainly was more believable than the real reason she kept coming back to the store: to conduct reconnaissance for the heist that Johnny and Stella were crafting as they hid in Millie’s guest bedroom.

Millie felt the chill of the air-conditioning as she entered Great American. The second guard stood inside, leaning against piles of jumbo bags of mesquite charcoal on sale. The bull-necked guard wore the same pistol belt as his partner outside and fidgeted with a pack of cigarettes in the chest pocket of his uniform. He seemed eager to take his break. Millie had observed that it was routine for him to join the other guard for a smoke in the parking lot at the top of every hour.

Millie’s research was to supplement what she and Stella already knew about the store from their days as Caruso’s employees. She needed to know what changes Lowry had made to the facility since Great American took over management.

She picked up some raisins for her imaginary Waldorf salad. Then she pushed her cart from the north side of the store to the refrigerated meats section. Beyond the freezers, she found the employee door that led to the back of the store.

Parking her cart next to a case of frozen pork chops, Millie did a double take to make sure there were no employees in sight. Then she ducked through the door into the employees-only section. In the planning sessions of the past two days, Millie and Stella drew maps of the store and confirmed the details of the building they remembered from their working days.

Down the dark corridor was a small room that housed the switches and circuit breakers for the entire store. The room had clear labels indicating circuits for different parts of the store: the produce refrigerator, overhead floor lights, the automatic entrance doors, and the security cameras in the checkout area.

Millie noted the location of the switches for the lights, entrance doors, and security camera. Then she went back out to the main shopping area and tossed a packet of frozen pork chops in her cart.

Near the south end corner of the supermarket, the pharmacy was bustling as customers swarmed around a promotions table offering free blood tests and protein bars for any purchase of two or more prescriptions. The table was cluttered with foam board posters and marketing pamphlets.

GREAT AMERICAN AND LIFEGEN: PARTNERS FOR A HEALTHIER WORLD

Men and women stood in line next to a tub of chocolate peanut butter-flavored diet snacks, waiting to have blood drawn by an on-site nurse.

Behind the counter, Tiffany, Marco, and two other young pharmacy technicians were scrambling furiously to handle customer demand, dashing back and forth between the register and the shelves of drugs. Millie jotted down additional notes as she observed the pharmacy, since it was the centerpiece of Stella’s plan.