A handful of people passed Andrew as he leant against a thick brick pillar. He continued to talk into his phone, half-watching the two young women chat with each other. Eventually, Sienna spun around and started walking along the pathway that ran around the giant car park. The complex comprised the cinema, a couple of restaurants, half-a-dozen large electrical outlets and a few fast-food chains. In the far corner, Andrew could see a small blue hatchback racing along before handbrake-turning to the delight of the handful of young people standing around watching. Other than that, the area was surprisingly quiet, with a smattering of vehicles manoeuvring around the car park and even fewer people meandering along the walkways.
Andrew pocketed his phone and walked towards his car, entering the driver’s side without taking his eyes from the two females who were now around a hundred metres away. From the direction they were heading in, the pair seemed to be returning to the bus stop on the main road. He started the engine and began to crawl towards the exit when the women moved off the pathway and started crossing the car park towards a burger place. Andrew eased his car forward, before edging into the separate parking area that served the restaurant. He watched Sienna and her friend enter the restaurant, still chatting to each other, and then reversed his vehicle into a space that ensured he could see most of the inside of the building.
Sitting up straighter to get a better view, Andrew watched the women sit at a table without approaching the counter. The investigator was wondering what they might be up to when he heard a screeching noise. He turned to see a small blue car racing into the car park, its wheels squealing from the harshness of the turn. For a moment, Andrew didn’t think it would stop before cannoning into a bollard, but the vehicle skidded to a halt mere centimetres before colliding with it. All four doors opened in unison and Andrew could hear thumping music blaring before it stopped abruptly. Three young men and a female stepped out of the car. Andrew could see they were all in their late teens or early twenties, the woman wearing a pink tracksuit very similar to Sienna’s in style. One of the men pulled up his jeans so they were covering the lower third of his backside, allowing his white boxer shorts to hang over the top, as another focused on straightening a baseball cap.
It was faced with groups like this that Andrew felt his age. Being in his mid-thirties he wasn’t that old but the types of young people he saw around were so alien to those of his own youth that he couldn’t comprehend how much things had changed in what felt like a relatively short period of time.
The group of four slouched their way towards the restaurant, bumping through the door at the front, before Andrew watched Sienna and the other girl stand up. Sienna kissed the female on the cheek and then hugged each of the three men individually. Andrew watched the final one squeeze her bottom, for which he received a playful slap.
Sitting up further, Andrew reached into the footwell of the seat behind and picked up his camera. He had never had much of an interest in photography but it was a necessary part of his job. As such, and with money not being a big issue, he had bought the third most expensive one from the biggest camera shop in the Arndale Centre. He figured the one that cost the most was probably overpriced, with the next one down inferior to the first. He guessed the third one would probably have most of the same functions as the first but likely be better than the second, albeit with a lesser-known brand name. It wasn’t the most scientific of theories but, either way, he was happy with what he ended up with.
The six young people approached the serving counter and Andrew snapped multiple photographs as they turned with their food to walk back to the table. He focused especially on the males, wondering if any of them – particularly the bottom-squeezer – was the person he was being paid to find. In the fifteen minutes it took them to finish eating, the sun had dipped towards the tops of the trees on the far side of the car park.
One of the males whispered something in Sienna’s ear, making her laugh, while the third fed her chips as she sucked his fingers seductively just a few moments later. Andrew took photos of it all, barely managing to capture everything before the light faded too much.
By the time he had finished, all three of the young men had enjoyed some sort of potentially erotic interaction with Sienna. Andrew wondered how Harley would take it if he could see the way his daughter acted around the young men.
It had been hard to judge in the cinema when she was with only her friend but the investigator could see she exuded sexuality, despite her age. There was an absolute confidence about the way she treated the males and, despite her unflattering attire, all three of them were clearly entranced by her at the expense of the other girls. Andrew didn’t need to see her around other men to know she would have this effect on pretty much anyone, especially the young, inexperienced ones. He watched the way she smiled at them and the way she flicked her blonde hair to one side each time she was halfway through a conversation. Everything about her movement appeared so natural and yet, at the same time, there was something that didn’t feel quite right.
Apart from the flirtatious hair flicks, Sienna touched her face a lot, almost as a way of self-reassurance. It was very subtle but Andrew also noticed that she barely ate anything. Aside from the chips she had been fed, most of her food was played with and then discarded back into the brown paper bag it had come from, in such a way that you wouldn’t know she was doing it unless you were watching her closely.
The six young people left the fast-food restaurant together, and Andrew watched a weary-looking cleaner shake his head at the mess left on their table. At first, he thought they were heading for the car but the group continued past it, walking in the direction of the cinema. Unsure of the best way to follow them with the light fading quickly, Andrew started the ignition and drove on slowly to the main part of the car park with his headlights switched off. He weaved in and out of the parked vehicles, keeping his revs low and watching the young adults skirt around the outside of the area. Andrew pulled into a space and left the engine idling. He used the viewfinder of the camera to zoom in on the group and could see Sienna holding hands with one of the men. The light wasn’t clear enough to be sure but Andrew thought it was the bottom-squeezer.
From where he was sitting, Andrew had a view of the entire complex. More people had appeared since he had left the cinema and couples were steadily streaming into nearby restaurants.
For a few moments Andrew lost sight of the six people as they disappeared behind a thick pillar that was similar to the one he had leant on outside the cinema. As two of the girls at the front emerged on the other side, the investigator felt a moment of panic as Sienna didn’t appear. He shunted over to the passenger seat to see if he could get a better view but there was still no sign of her. Andrew reached across and turned off the engine, stepping out of the car and walking in an arc across the car park in an effort to see her again.
Two of the other men were following the women closely but none of them were looking backwards. As he moved quickly, Andrew heard a car’s wheels squeal and then the sound of a horn. Bright lights illuminated him in the rapidly increasing darkness as he realised he had walked straight across the road in front of a car. Before drawing any more attention to himself, Andrew stepped out of the vehicle’s way and slid between two parked cars. From where he was, he should have been able to see fully behind the post but it was too dark. The other four people from the group were now close to the front of the cinema, at least fifty metres away from where Sienna had dropped out of his view.