Stand In The Rain

Forty Nine

Back at the mall, they weren't any closer to figuring out what was going on, but there was a new problem: except for Charlotte, Quinlan, and one of the other store patrons, the rest of the adults in the room were getting restless.

Besides the employees, they were in the company of a fry cook, an office clerk, and a student, all of whom had come to the toy store that morning for reasons of their own.

The student, a girl in her mid-teens with fair skin, freckles, extremely curly brown hair and big brown eyes framed with rimless oval-shaped glasses. She was dressed in some kind of club or leagues uniform of a white long-sleeved shirt, a tan vest covered in patches, matching shorts, white knee-high socks and brown snow boots (they were suffering from a long-lasting winter). A long snow jacket, gloves, a scarf, and a backpack were on the floor, near to where she stood.

"What do you all do?" she asked JJ and her posse.

Quinlan answered first, motioning between herself and her twin. "I'm Quinlan, and this is my sister, Charlotte. We're nannies."

"For one of the kids you came in with?"

Charlotte touched the top of their young charge's head. "This is Jack."

A little shy, Jack just buried his face in his nanny's side.

The girl cast a look at JJ and Emily. "What about you two?"

JJ answered the girl's question with a question. "What did you say your name was, again?"

"Sunday. Are you or your companion law enforcement? Statistics would say yes."

"We're both law enforcement, actually. My name is JJ, and my girlfriend's name is Emily. We both work for the Behavioral Analysis Unit for the FBI at Quantico."

Sunday was taken aback. "Really?"

"Really." JJ said as she and Emily pulled out their badges and showed them to her for proof before pocketing them again. "We're even on the same team."

Emily raised an eyebrow at Sunday. "Why so pensive, and how old are you?"

"I'm sixteen," she confessed. "And I've always been like this in a tense position. I'm also the oldest in my family because I've got three younger siblings—I'm used to being the peacemaker or the buffer."

Emily eyed Sunday's vest and noticed that the patches were merit badges.

"Are you a Girl Scout, Sunday?"

She nodded. "I'm a Senior Girl Scout, and I've been in the program since kindergarten."

"What were you doing today before you came here?"

"I was in a meeting at our building downtown because it's an in-service day for the teachers at school. I came shopping today to get a present for one of my siblings because it's almost his birthday."

Chatting with Sunday reminded Emily of her time with Polly in New York. She liked the teenager, and she was already acting as a peacemaker between the other store occupants and JJ, Emily, and their crowd since nobody else would.

"Sunday," Emily finally said. "I don't know how long we're all going to be in here, but I'm sure that the rest of our team from the FBI has figured out by now that something's wrong. Until they come, would you be willing to help JJ and I out?"