Sapphire P.O.V.
"I haven't been in contact with her for a while now so I can't you tell you where she is right now, but I can tell you where she worked after she quit this place" Annabelle says. "Yes! That will help me a lot" I told her. "Well after she quit, she told me her dream was to live in Las Angeles and get job there."
She paused to take a breath then continues "I warn her that it will not be easy to find a job there, but she was stubborn and was determined to go" she sighed. "She assures me that she knows that and has a plan set out. Her plan was that she would work at this popular brand called-" she pause her eyebrows creased in a frown trying to remember the name of the brand.
"Ah! It was called H&M" she suddenly exclaimed startling Beth and I. Then she continues "After she got the job, she plans to work from the bottom and climb her way to become the manager.
Once she has enough money she will quit and start her own fashion line. I tried to keep a look out for it and have yet to see it to this day" she says her voice was fill with worry. "Don't worry Annabelle, I will update you if I manage to find her," I assured her. She looks at me gratefully. "Thank you" she says.
"No, I should be the one thanking you for your time and giving me directions to find my sister" I said to her my voice full of gratitude. After that we exchange phone numbers and said our goodbyes then Beth and I left the store. "Well, what are we going to do know? There are like 20 H&M shops back at home! Do you want to search every single shop?" Beth questions me.
I stopped walking thinking about what Beth said and I just realize that problem! Here I am happy that I found a clue about my sister, that I completely forgot to analyze the current situation. Thank goodness Beth came with me.
I ponder that problem and decide that I had no choice but to check every single H&M shop until I find the right one. I can only hope to find the right shop earlier. "There's no helping it I have to check every single shop until I find the right one and if I'm lucky, the first few shops we check will the right one" I told Beth. "We have to check each store" Beth corrected me.
I look at her gratefully and hug her thanking her for taking her free time to accompany me on my quest to find my missing sister. "But thankfully your sister chose to settle down near our place as it will make it easier to find her," Beth says in relief. I just nodded my head in agreement at that and then we got in the car and this time Beth is the one driving the car. Then we drove back home.
As Beth was driving, she starts telling me jokes, she heard from her colleague to help alleviate our boredom during the tedious drive. Before I know it, a few hours has passed, and we reach back home at Las Angeles and found the first store that we are going to check out and it is huge.
Beth parks the car in the one car park left, lucky! As she switch off the engine, I took a deep breath before getting out of the car. Together Beth and I walk inside the H&M shop.
Inside the shop was quite cold, so I rub my arms for warmth. "Well now that we are here, we need to talk to the manager of this place. The manager should know all the employees" Beth told me as we walk deeper into the shop. I just nodded at her, and we went looking around the shop for a salesclerk so that we can ask to talk to the manager.
After about a few minutes of searching we finally found one. It is a lady salesclerk, and she is in the process of hanging store clothes on the rack. I felt bad disturbing her when she is working but I need her help, so I went up to her and ask politely "excuse me, I'm terribly sorry for disturbing you while you are so busy, but could you help me with something?".
She jumps when she heard my voice from behind her and turns around quickly. I'm surprise she didn't get whiplash. She regains her composure and smiles at me and says "oh no worries you aren't disturbing anything. So, what can I help you with?"
"Sorry for startling you. I would like to speak with your manager please" I told her. "Why would you want to speak with the manager? Does something displeases you in this store" the salesclerk asks looking worried. "No! It's not that" I assured her smiling.
"I'm looking for someone who may have worked here before and I'm hoping the manager can help me" I explain to her. Her expression relaxes and her smile return to her face. "Oh! Ok I will take you to the manager now please follow me" she says gesturing for us to follow her.
We walk deeper into the store until we reach the cash register. The salesclerk lady stops and calls a lady in a black pencil skirt and a pink blouse that looks like she is in her late 30s, that is checking something by the cash register. The salesclerk introduce the lady as the manager and we did the normal polite greeting then I thank the salesclerk for her help after that she left leaving only Beth, me and the manager.
"You wanted to speak to me about something?" the manager asks. "Yes! I was wondering if you happen to have had an employee by the name of Ruby Evans these past few years" I ask her. Hoping with all my heart that she says yes.
My hope got crushed when she answers. "I'm sorry ma'am but I have never had an employee by the name Ruby Evans, and I have been a manager here for 10 years" she says in a gentle tone. "Oh" was all I could say in disappointment, but I should have known not to have much hope when this is only the first shop that I searched. I guess I just wanted to find her as soon as possible.
"Thank you so much for your time and we're sorry if we bothered you or anything. We will be leaving now" Beth told the manager as I am still depressed. "No worries! Come visit the store again sometime and drive safely" she says in a friendly manner and wave goodbye as Beth had to pull me out of the store and head to the car.
"Come on! Pull yourself together! That was only the first store we still have more shops to check" Beth scolded me. "You're right sorry! I guess I was hoping too much. Let's go check the next store" I said getting my act together and keep being hopeful that I will find her in the next few stores.
So far, we have check 5 stores and all of them said the same thing. They have never had an employee by the name of Ruby Evans, and I was about to lose all hope when we enter the sixth shop. Only Beth was being optimistic about finding clues about my sister's whereabouts, as I'm just frustrated and expecting the same thing to happen again but boy was I wrong.
We did the same thing we did in the other stores, finding a salesclerk and asking whether we can speak to the manager about something. The salesclerk agreed and took Beth and I to the manager's office at the back of the shop.
The salesclerk knocks on the door and waits for a few seconds until we can hear someone in the office say to come in. The salesclerk enters first and said something to the manager then after a minute the salesclerk told Beth and I to enter.
When Beth and I enter the office, the salesclerk went out closing the door softly. Leaving Beth and I in the office with the manager. "You wanted to discuss something with me" she says politely. "Yes! I would like to know if you ever had an employee by the name of Ruby Evans and if she ever said anything about where she is going next" I said repeating the same thing I said at the other shops that I memorize it by heart by now.
"And why do want to know? Even if she was an employee, I can't tell anything about her as it is confidential" she told her voice turn serious. "My name is Sapphire Evans and the reason I am asking about her is because she is my older sister and I have not seen her since she ran away from home a few years ago" I inform her.
She examines my face then ask for my ID card, so I search around my handbag until I found my wallet then I took out my ID card from the wallet and handed it to her. I was sweating a little as she checks my ID.
After a minute or two she hands me back my ID card and open one of the desk drawers on her right and pulls out a light brown file. My heart is beating loudly like a drum as she sets the file on her desk. She opens the file and the first thing I see is Ruby's smiling face in a photo. My heart clenched when I saw her smiling in the photo. How long has it been since I last saw her smile like that I wonder.
"This is all there is about Miss Ruby Evans. It seems that she quit here about four years ago and she only worked here for about a month" the manager told me. "F-four years ago" I stutter shocked. I'm four years too late.
"Yes, four years. She quit after she got engage to someone she met recently if I recall correctly. I am not sure who she was engaged to, as she never informed me. So, I have no clue as to her whereabouts now," the manager informs me. I already know the engagement part, but it seems like I must hire a private detective to help me locate her now.
After that I thanked the manager for her help and left the shop. As Beth was driving us home, she asks what I wanted to do now, and I told her that I will hire a private detective to help locate Ruby. She looks at me with a that's a great idea look and that we should have done that from the beginning instead of running around like headless flies.
We reached home safely about 40 minutes later and since it's so late at night now, once we entered the house Beth, and I went to our respective rooms to rest after the long day. I was too tired to do anything, but I forced myself to undress and take a quick shower before I go to sleep.
As I lay down on my bed after the shower, I am thankful that tomorrow is a Saturday so I can rest the whole weekend and recuperate from today's exhaustion.
Nothing happens during the weekend as all Beth and I did was lounge around the house and before I knew it, I woke up to the sound of my alarm ringing on a Monday morning. I quickly switch the alarm off and fall back to bed. I stay in bed for about a minute before I force myself to wake up and get ready for work. I finished getting ready within half an hour and went to the kitchen to get some cereal for breakfast.
After I finish eating my breakfast, I realized that Beth has already gone to work so I grab my stuff that I needed and walk out of the house making sure I lock the front door then walk to my car. Then I start the engine and drove off to the office building. I reach the office in about twenty minutes.
I park at the employee's parking space then switch off the engine, got out of the car and made my way to the lobby. Saying the normal greeting to Sarah then walk towards the lift. I am lucky today as I manage to enter to lift before it was closed. I breathe a sigh of relief.
After two minutes the lift reaches my floor, and I got out. I walk briskly to my desk and check if my boss's meeting is in order. Once I'm ready with it I took the tablet and made my way to his office. I steel my nerves as I knock on the door and wait for a minute until I heard him say,
"Come in."