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In the video, a grown woman stood in line to have her picture taken with the Easter Bunny. She didn't have any kids with her. Other parents in line held onto their children's hands and kept them from wandering. This woman was clearly by herself.
She was an attractive blonde in her late 20s with a svelte figure. Easy to look at, and I don't think Cody would have minded having her on his lap.
The line progressed, and she finally got her shot.
She sat in the bunny’s lap, smiled, and took an exuberant picture with the rabbit.
Maybe she just wanted a funny post for social media. She took a selfie or two, then left. The blonde walked away from the bunny. As she strolled through the mall, it looked like she placed something in one of the plant boxes. She didn’t make a big deal out of it. It was casual. Sly.
It looked like a small Easter egg.
She kept walking.
That's when I saw him.
The man in the long-sleeve surf T-shirt with the wave logo. He followed her, keeping his distance. I don’t think he saw her dump the egg in the plant box, hidden under a few leaves.
The whole thing was kind of bizarre.
The blonde circled back around, and so did the shooter. I don't know if the blonde was aware she was being followed.
Darryl pulled up different angles, and we were able to track her movements all the way back to the parking garage.
The man in the surf T-shirt still followed her. Wearing a ball cap, sunglasses, and surgical mask, I never got a good look at his face.
They exited into the parking garage through the very same door, then stepped out of frame. It was a few minutes later when the assailant walked back into the mall to carry out his deadly plan.
That bad feeling twisted in my gut.
I told Darryl to export all the footage and send it to me.
JD and I hustled out of the security office and raced through the mall to the parking garage. I told Jack to see if he could find what the blonde had dumped into the plant box.
JD took off, and I followed in their footsteps, exiting into the garage through the same route.
Dread filled me.
My eyes scanned the parking garage. Rows of parked cars. The mall was packed. In my gut, I knew what I was looking for.
It didn't take long to find it.
The blonde woman sat in a white SUV, parked in a spot in the far corner. With the grill to the wall, and tinted windows on the sides and the rear, it would have been easy for a casual observer not to notice. Several cars passed by, unaware of the horrors in the SUV.
As I drew closer, speckles on the front windshield told a chilling story.
I moved alongside the vehicle to the driver's door. It was the same blonde woman who'd taken the photo with the bunny. There was no doubt about it. She’d been shot twice. The bullets had drilled through the back of the seat. The copper minions of death had exited her chest, staining her shirt with crimson. Blood splattered the windshield.
I frowned and called the sheriff. "Looks like we've got a double.”
He groaned, and I updated him with the details.
It didn’t take long for first responders to swarm the area. JD joined the party. Dietrich snapped photos, and the forensic team went to work. They found two 9mm shell casings on the floorboard in the back seat.
Brenda snapped on a fresh pair of gloves and examined the body.
“Who is she?” the sheriff asked.
