It's Tuesday night and Bain is in town. Nick gets to work in jeans, any collared shirt and his name tag, usually in brown leather shoes. He could go a tad more casual but likes the extra cut above expectation, and keeps him ahead of some of the other part timers.
Recently there had been a tad more shrink in the books and Nick was the only one there who Bain had told, besides the sole full-timer Jim who was the defacto manager, but not officially, just the one who could be there most and who Bain trusted. Nick was in line to become manager but had not been able to make the commitment, and if things worked out with the campus soon he could avoid it cleanly.
So Bain has not filled the manager here but keeps close, and tonight he had one of his hunches. He'd asked Nick to stick in the back and they would watch the floor from the two-way window that was creatively worked into a display at the rear of the store, yet offered close to 90 degrees or so of view.
Things were typically slow for midweek but that's usually the prime pickin's for these types. Nick had only seen one shoplifter, and it was by chance, and was able to get the plate called in. They were outside city limits so you call the sheriff and they usually have a car within a half mile of here to respond. Whenever someone came in they would wait a few minutes to see if they were gonna play the field or stand at the counter and wait for help, so after a minute ten seconds (as not to chime with anyone's internal clock) Nick would emerge and engage.
Around 8:30 the first visit in about 50 minutes happened in, tall middle-aged fellow who walked with a purpose, and seemed to be after something specific.
Nick confirms in a whisper, "he's kinda familiar."
They gave him a couple minutes and he never looked around. Then a woman walks in, then appears to look toward the back for a clerk, and then stands at the counter, checks her watch after a little bit.
Bain whispers, "alright, on my mark go see what she wants, I'll stay on this one."
Nick casually walks out, asks the man if he needs any help, answers a question about meters, then heads to the counter. Turns out she needs a battery for something specific, not sure the size, so they start down that road.
The man heads out and Nick thanks him for stopping by, the man acknowledges, and Nick turns back to the woman. No sooner than he leaves the door here comes Bain running out, "got 'im, call it in."
The standing policy is to not apprehend but to call it in with as much detail as possible, plate, car description and definitely a personal description and, if possible, where they are headed on foot.
Nick excuses himself and dials the sheriff.
The woman, fidgets for a few seconds, looks around, then says, "I can see you're busy, I'll stop another time."
Bain comes back, "he's headed toward the Ponderosa."
Nick starts the report, "Hi this is Nick at Radio Shack, we need to report a shoplifter, headed toward the Ponderosa...yes, he's wearing a..."
Bain leans in, grabs the handset and and continues the sentence, then motions Nick to watch the woman who is leaving. He gets near the door and sees her getting into a car, then sneaks out and gets behind a pillar. She pulls out as to turn facing the other way, and he has no problem getting the plate.
Back in the store Bain is listening, "Red Dodge, TFH 559."
Bain reports this, "get a heading if you can."
Nick steps back out and sees her circling the Pondo. Back in to report this. Nick heads back out and sees the squad car heading in, then another.
About 20 minutes later a deputy steps through the door, holding a $40 test meter. "Does this belong to you by any chance?"
Bain steps up in his proudest moment, "Why yes it does, thank you so much officer, great work as always, do you need a statement?"
So they head toward the back. Later on Nick learns the clowns had tried to ditch it in the bushes outside Ponderosa and had a prior record, and Bain figures they pull this shit to spice up their sex life.
Nick gets home about 25 till 10, showers, turns on TNG but ends up copying a slow Morse code contact around 3.553 MHz, he can tell they are using straight keys and just chat away without a care.