Closing her eyes, Elle let the feeling of love and dread wash over her. The letter spelled it all out, regardless of sequences. Elle had already gotten one source talking about vampires, now this letter says it ht. She folded up the paper and stuffed it in her pocket, picked up the items o a time, and then repced them ba the locker where they’d been safe for at least a year. Wanting to keep the USB drive close to her, Elle affixed the drive to one of her neckces and tucked it down her shirt.
Elle closed the locker door and using the rusted lock, s closed once more. “Rest in peace, Angie. These things are yours, not mine. If we’d been married then I would feel better about having them. As it is, those items were things you wao present to me, but couldn’t.” Elle cmped her hand over her heart, “Maybe one day in whatever afterlife there is, you will get the opportunity.” Elle put the stool bad looked at the locker like it was a living being once more. “Right now, you have given me something to watd something to iigate. Which I will do for you my little angel.”
Holding onto the little device around her neck, Elle waved goodbye to the folks who were all around in the ter. Greetings with lots of ‘Be well Elle, We miss you Elle, and e back when you Elle’ the FBI agent mao eke out a smile and half promise she’d be ba due time.
On her car, Elle drove to an abandoned lot to clear her head and think of where and how she should read the tents of the drive. Taking the neckce off, and flipping the little drive around in her fingers, Elle came up with a few options. Library, typically they be used to print things off if the librarian s the device for viruses or malware before. The only downside is that a library is public access and sometimes buffer what each user has been watg or reading.
-oo risky.-
Quickly ruling out the library, Elle moved to the item on her list. Her phone. It rivate, she had the ability to use a cord for version so the phone could read the line, but she wasn’t a hundred pert sure that the phone wasn’t being tapped. sequently this ruled out her apartment and her own known personal devices as a whole.
-Still too risky. My personal effects are subject to FBI scrutiny if necessary as a dition of w for the bureau.-
Elle looked around the empty parking lot and noticed a seldom-used strip mall that had a thrift store as its anchor t in ers. “That’s it.” Elle muttered to herself and started the engine of her vehicle and drove over to the ‘Handy Rose and Dandy Thrift Store’. It all made seo her. Unlike purchasiems that required an i e as well as a formal identification, older pieces of scrubbed equipment had no such requirements, often had USB ports and didn’t need access to the i to work. Thinking briefly, Elle figured that the item might need a memory or sim card to work but that was easy to e by.
Slipping the neckce ba pce, Elle ehe huge store and headed for the eleics se then began to look around. Most of the items were just used junk from the early ies that were missing parts and could only be used for parts to fix the same older type unit. Digging around further, Elle spotted ohing that could possibly help her, an older iPad. Elle checked and saw that the sim was intad the unit could power up just fine. She happily grabbed the unit and k could be charged with almost a of chargers still on the market.
“I don’t see a pri this. How much?” Elle inquired to the gentleman behind the ter.
“Hang o me look in the binder here, that’s been on the shelf for about a year. I think a guy was hiding it until he could buy it.” He thumbed through the price guide. “Ah, here it is. Fifty dolrs. No warranty. I have no clue how that older one works. So I doubt there is a manual arouo expin it.”
Opening her purse, Elle quickly ted out the cash for the device. “No big deal, I know how to use it just fine. I assume cash is still good?” She ughed pyfully.
“Very much so. With cash, I don’t o see ID.” He found a small box to pce the iPad into and ha to Elle, “Thanks for ing in. Enjoy your tablet.” He keyed in the prid smiled.
Elle headed out of the gss doors and waved once more, “Thank you again, have a nice day.”
Hopping bato her unmarked police cruiser, Elle dropped the small satchel of supplies in the passenger side seat. “Alright, now then. Where to view this out of the way eyes?” Giving some thought to the matter along with the fact she was rather hungry, Elle found her way to a fairly busy diner on the edge of the Virginia Beach city limits.
Named ‘Bubba’s Breakfast and Brunch’, Elle pulled into ay parking slot and made her way inside. “Good m Ma’am.” a polite young dy behind a podium offered. “bsp; I get you seated?”
Permeating her senses, Elle smelled the various breakfast fare such as eggs and ba, but yered just below that was the st of pumpkin and amon. “Everything smells wonderful. Do I smell pumpkin pancakes?”
“Yes, Limited time or until we run out.” The hostess grabbed a menu and a set of utensils rolled in a cloth napkin. “I get the feeling you want to be out of the crowd, yet see everything and view outside.”
Elle nodded and followed the bopping young dy to the back of the restaurant where ay two-person table faced both the inner diner and the evergreen trees outside. “I study here all the time. I get you something to drink? A Bloody Mary to start si is a brunch menu?”
“Sure, lots of salt too. I don’t think one drink will hurt before I start my day. Thank you.” Elle took the menu hao her and focused on the ohing she’d been smelling since she entered. tent to order the seasonal fanfare, Elle pulled out the tablet and the USB device, eg them via the jack at the bottom port of the iPad.
When the s turned on a wasn’t very bright, Elle khe reasoablet had been given to the thrift store. She adjusted the settings a toud mao get enough of a picture that she could see items like in a moonlight. Opening the file from the USB drive, Elle found a single movie file and clicked on it.
