I looked up at Declan’s low whistle. Brax looked startled and slightly bemused. No one made a move to grab the USB from me.
“How did you manage to get that?” Brax asked softly.
I grinned. “Told you I had to thank you for your well-timed entrance at the club. It distracted them long enough for me to download the feeds, which someone had been kind enough to pull up for me before I escaped.”
“You’re kind of crazy,” Sondra said, grinning wolfishly. “I like it.”
“I’m so glad. Now I can die happy.”
Clay reached for the USB and I pulled it back.
“One condition. I watch too.”
I needed to see what was on there. I didn’t know exactly what I was looking for or if it even mattered to this case, but I wasn’t going to let the chance pass me by.
“We were counting on it,” Clay said, reaching and slowly taking the USB from me.
I let him.
Declan left and returned quickly with a computer. It only took a few moments to pull the first feed up. I’d like to say we found a huge clue that enabled us to immediately deduce who the murderer was. In reality, none of us knew what we were looking for, just that the vampires seemed to think something important had gone down at their club. Hours and hours of staring at a computer screen commenced, threatening to rob me of what little sanity I had left.
By the end of the first hour, I was thoroughly disgusted at today’s average twenty something. If the amount of drugs, sex and sheer stupidity I saw in those videos was the normal mode of behavior, our society was screwed. There were several fights, a couple make out sessions between both guy/girl couples and girl/girl couples.
By the third hour, I wanted to wash my brain out with soap. Vampires, I learned, were not shy when it came to feeding and having sex with their victims. Many of them also didn’t care if they had an audience. I felt like we were watching a silent porno and couldn’t help shifting uncomfortably.
At some point we moved to the living room, where Declan linked the computer with the TV to play the security feeds on. The surroundings were more comfortable than the hard chairs from the kitchen at least.
My stomach gurgled. I reached for the popcorn Sondra had made, grabbing a handful and popping it into my mouth. I hoped it would curb some of the hunger I was feeling, because the mug of blood had long since congealed. I was afraid asking for another would encourage Sondra to offer up her wrist again, and I didn’t want another awkward chase around the kitchen.
“This is pointless. We don’t even know what we’re looking for,” Sondra complained. It was the fourth time she’d said something to that effect.
From where he lounged on the couch with his feet propped up on the coffee table, Brax said, “We may not recognize it now, but something we see here might make sense when put in context with something else.”
Sondra groaned. I felt her pain. There were hours and hours of footage. It covered nearly a week’s span. Even eliminating the daylight hours, that was a lot of time, especially since there were multiple cameras and multiple angles. It could take weeks. I didn’t think I had that kind of time.
Just then something caught my attention. I tensed but didn’t move, not wanting to give anything away to the others.
A familiar figure walked across the screen, stopping at several tables before taking a seat at the bar next to a young man. The guy looked like he’d been a nerd at some point but had grown out of it in his later years.
The quality of the video was decent but not good enough to make out too many details on the guy.
The woman though. I knew her. I thought. It looked sort of like Angela. But that was ridiculous. What would a witch be doing at a vampire club?
The two figures on the screen stood and went into the back room. I looked at the bottom right where that camera’s feed should have been. There was nothing. The room still looked empty. I glanced back at the other feed. The two weren’t there either. They weren’t on any of the other camera feeds either. Now, wasn’t that interesting?
Clay yawned and stretched, nearly knocking me in the face. “I’m so tired I don’t think I can see straight anymore. We’re going to have to take a break, maybe let one of the computer guys look at these and break the feeds into separate screens.”
Brax unfolded his long-limbed body from where he’d been reclining.
“Tell them to make a few copies. I want several eyes on each in case one of us picks up something the others missed.”
I stayed where I was in my armchair as the others stood and stretched.
“Show our guest up to her room,” he told Sondra.
I grimaced. There were still a couple hours until dawn. I’d hoped they’d leave me to review the disks on my own. I wanted to get a better look at the Angela look alike to see if I was right. That was unlikely to happen if they stashed me in a locked room somewhere.
“I won’t go to sleep for a few more hours. I could stay and review the video until then,” I said. It didn’t hurt to try.
