'I felt the disturbance in electric signals around me, so it's obvious that the camera is active and fully functional. But maybe George hasn't checked the footage yet?'
'Or perhaps, the cameras have motion detection at a certain range?'
Rudy looked at the time on his phone and muttered, "It's 7: 57 PM."
'The store from where Alice bought the swimming suit closes at 8 PM. I have to get there as soon as possible, or I might not find a clue.'
Rudy walked out of the gate as a normal person would and hid behind the tree to get away from the sights of any passerby who might be watching him.
Then, he teleported near the convenience store where Rebecca worked and soared into the sky above the clouds.
Rudy had been to that store in his past life, and he knew the exact address, so, fortunately, he wasn't going to waste time searching the shop.
Rudy landed on the alley near the supermarket and activated his see-through ability to check the surroundings.
'Hmm. It's Sunday, so I expected the place to be crowded, but it's not as crowded as I thought it would be.'
Rudy casually walked out of the alley and blended into the many passersby and customers in the supermarket.
He then rushed his way out of the market and entered the shopping mall.
'The supermarket won the case against the shopping mall, if I recall correctly.'
The only way to enter the shopping mall was to pass through the supermarket. And since supermarkets also had things that were sold in the mall, their sales were affected.
The mall tried to sue the supermarket, thinking they would win the case since they were the first one to exist. But the supermarket won the case instead, and the mall's complaint was considered invalid.
'There were a lot of controversies about the case, and it was a mess. But that's none of my concern.'
Rudy made his way into the shopping mall and took the stairs to the higher floors instead of taking the stairs.
After reaching the correct floor, Rudy entered the shop from where Alice had bought her swimsuit.
"Excuse me, Sir. But we are about to close," the employee in the shop said.
"Yeah, you can go ahead and close it. I am here to…" Rudy uttered as he glanced around the corner of the shop to check if the store had cameras installed or not; since that could help him immensely and make everything easy.
Fortunately, they had cameras in every corner of the store.
Rudy ignored the employees and walked to the counter, where the live feed of the cameras was shown.
"I want to check the footage of Friday," Rudy said to the man sitting in front of the monitor.
"Who are you? Are you the police? Can you show me an ID proof?" the man at the counter asked with a confused look on his face.
"No, I am not. I am just here to see the footage of the day before yesterday," Rudy replied as he gained access to the system.
"I am sorry, but we can't show you that. It's the matter of—!" The man at the counter fell off his chair as he saw the screen moving on its own.
"What's happening?!" he panicked.
'Alice said she came here after school ended— at around 6 PM. So...'
Rudy fast-forwarded the footage and stopped when he saw Alice entering the store with George. He once again fast-forwarded and saw the entire footage until Alice and George left the store.
'Hmm. The swimsuit wasn't tampered with. But maybe it was a defective piece?' Rudy wondered.
Rudy felt bad after looking at the employees who were freaking out, so he grabbed a random female swimsuit and swiped Maria's card.
"Can I have the receipt, please?" he asked in a calm voice.
The man at the counter slowly moved his trembling hand and handed the receipt to Rudy.
"Thanks."
Rudy was about to leave, but the female employee standing beside him gave a plastic bag to Rudy.
"Here."
"...!"
Rudy placed the swimsuit in the bag and left the store. But not before deleting the footage of him entering and leaving the store.
Rudy noticed most of the stores in the mall had closed, and the ones open were about to close soon.
'This is the only shopping mall in this town, so it has all the advantages. They won't have to worry about giving offers, as they know the customers are going to come to the mall anyway.'
'Or so was their plan. But the supermarket started, and it gave the same stuff at a much cheaper price compared to the mall. No wonder they sued the market.'
Rudy wanted to teleport directly to his room, as he was at curfew time.
'Mom warned me this morning that I have to be home before seven. And in my room before eight…'
"I don't know if she was serious about that or not, but I am past 8 PM. And since it's Monday tomorrow, she might leave for her night shift before I get home…" Rudy muttered.
If Rudy walked his way out of the mall, and then the supermarket, it would take him more than ten minutes. And the chances of him greeting Rebecca would become less as the time passed.
However, Rudy couldn't teleport even if he wanted to.
"There are cameras everywhere. Even if I go to the washroom and teleport from there. I am sure the man or woman sitting in front of the monitor would be staring at the screen and waiting for me to come out," Rudy scoffed.
"And if I don't come out, they will send someone to check-up, only to find it was empty. Then… it will become a big deal…."
Even though Rudy had the power to do anything he wanted, there were times when he was helpless. However, Rudy was Rudy, and his mind worked differently than everyone else.
Rudy glanced around to see the washroom sign and walked towards it.