He saw her out of the corner of his eye, and turned his head in her direction ever so slightly, and saw her look quickly back and forth. Then she slipped the wad of cash into her sweater pocket. She closed the register back up and strode way, down the aisle of the grocery store, toward the back.
He waited a minute, then closed down his own register, and followed. "If they ask me later where I was, I'll say I was in the bathroom." Jerard thought to himself.
He headed out back, and entered the back storage area, and climbed the stairs to the crew room. He caught a glimpse of her heading into the girl's changing room. He glanced around, but he was alone, the normally busy break area now empty, as it was after ten, and the grocery store was on a skeleton crew. It had been a slow, boring night.
"But it's about to get real interesting..." Jerard said to himself as he stepped up to the door of the bathroom. He knocked, and heard movement inside.
"What?" came Claudia's voice. There was a slight tremor to her tone, Jerard thought.
"Claudia, it's me Jerard. Can I talk to you for a sec?" he asked, putting his hand against the door, getting ready to move fast.
"Ah... what, did I, uh, forget to clean my checkout?" she asked back through the door.
"No, you had a call, and I took the message." he said.
"Oh! Good!" she replied, sounding vastly relived. She opened the door, and Jerard saw right away she had removed her sweater. It hung from a hook on the far wall. He pushed past her and darted forward. Before Claudia even new what was happening he was across the bathroom, and snatched it off the wall.
"What the fuck! That's mine!" she shouted, but his hand was in the pocket and he hauled out the money he had watched her steal.
"Care to explain this?" he demanded, and seeing her shocked and fearful look, said "Don't bother lying, I saw you take it out of Mia's till. I'm taking this right to the manager."
"No, please, I can... I can explain! I didn't mean to-" she stopped at his dubious expression, "Oh, no, you can't tell! Let me put it back, I will! Please, I'll get fired, and I can't loose this job. My parents'll kick me out! Jerard, please!"
Jerard made to leave, and Claudia blocked his way. "What are you doing? I can't just ignore it. I could get fired too, if your spotted putting it back." Jerard reached for the door.
"Please, you keep it!" she said.
"Hah, no way!" he shot back. Then he paused, as if to think about it.
"Well... I could put it back myself. I'm counting up tills tonight. No one would notice." he suggested. Hope bloomed in Claudia's eyes.
"But you'd owe me. Big." he said.
"Oh, yes, yes!" said Claudia jubilantly, "Anything, whatever!" She turned to leave.
She was half way out the door when she heard him say "Wait now."
