It felt odd sitting at this desk—not the one he’d used—in this strange chair with different furnishings surrounding him.
Including a framed picture of them on their wedding day sitting on the corner of her desk, both of them smiling.
He gently laid it on its face, unable to look at it right now.
“When did the woman arrive?”he quietly asked.
“Only a few minutes after Jacinta.In fact, she’d left her office door standing open, which is unusual.Normally, she spends the first ten or fifteen minutes with it closed after she arrives.Once she opens it, then she’s ready for us to speak with her or pass calls through.That is always what she does, so I thought that slightly unusual.”
“Best guess?”
“No more than fifteen minutes,” she said.
“And then they closed the door?”he asked.
“Yes.Jacinta told me to hold all calls unless it was you.”
He swiveled the chair around and stared at the nighttime vista spreading out around him.The city at night was always beautiful, although he did his best not to stay that late when Miranda was younger.He didn’t truly get to appreciate this view until after she left for university.Then, he would frequently sit with a glass of tequila or brandy or something and sip while taking it in, because he had no reason to hurry home, and the staff worked around his schedule without a child to take into consideration.
“Please go wait at your desk, Emilita,” he quietly said.“Stop by the bathroom and freshen up.”
“Do you want me to call anyone, sir?”
He shook his head.“Not right now.”
He sensed her exit the office and then heard the washroom door open and shut seconds later, followed by the muffled sounds of her crying.
No, Emilita was blameless in this, of that he felt certain.
Moments later, he heard footsteps approaching and someone knocked on the doorframe.“Sir?”The security tech.
He turned.“Yes?”
He stepped into the office, his laptop in hand.“Security gave me today’s footage, but there was a glitch in the system.There is nothing from 6:00 this morning until 12:00 noon.”
Abundio froze.“What was that?”
The man looked agitated.“I don’t understand it, either.They think it was a hard drive or backup power source issue.”
“There is no video whatsoever?Fromanycamera?”
“Correct, sir.Even the parking garage cameras were impacted.They didn’t even realize it until just now, when I went downstairs and asked for the footage.It’s all just… gone.The system shut down at 6:00 am and restarted at 12:00 pm.There’s no data that can be recovered.It’s not like it was deleted; it’s as if the system was completely shut down for six hours.”
“What about our office cameras?”
He looked grim.“See for yourself, sir.”He brought the laptop over with the feeds queued up, four of them.
Abundio leaned forward as the tech hitplay.The woman wore a black baseball cap and a black hoodie, the hood up and over the cap and casting her face in deep shadows.She wore large sunglasses and blue jeans, making it impossible to tell anything about her other than her approximate height and build.She walked down the hall, turning the corner, then there was a flash around her face as she passed a dimly lit corner.
“Stop.What was that?”he asked, pointing.
The tech paused the feed and rolled it back.“She’s wearing what they call a ‘camera-shy hoodie.’”He paused the feed on the flash that obscured the woman’s face.
“What the fuck does that mean?”he barked.
“Our cameras in the office run infrared sensors for nighttime view.Normally, a hoodie like that is only good at night or in the dark.It’s ineffective in daylight or well-lit rooms.In that one space there, the lighting isn’t as bright, and our camera adjusts with IR settings?—”
“And caught that flash.”
