“Dark footage with no visible features of the perp? Piece of cake,” Grant jokingly retorts. “We’ll be knocking down his front door by noon.”
SSA Chase side eyes him, and it makes my balls shrivel a little.
My head quirks to the side, and I creep closer to the monitor. “Do we think he was alone this time? None of the others have been solo jobs.”
Chase crosses her arms, scowling at the photo like it pissed in her cereal. “Since we don’t have a witness yet, your guess is as good as mine.”
Something catches my notice at the bottom edge of the screen. “Is that his shadow?”
In the lower left corner of the photo, there’s an inky spot resembling a silhouette. Despite the dark of night, muted light shines from inside the house onto the porch.
A few agents gather behind me, all of us scrutinizing the image.
With a few taps of the screen, SSA Chase pulls up the video footage to replace the still shot. We watch it a few times. It seems the silhouette is in motion,similarto the perp.
McBride offers his thoughts. “If that’s a shadow, it ain’t his. That’s for dang sure. The angle is all wrong. The light would need to be aiming toward the house for his shadow to fall that way.”
From behind me, Romero poses a theory. “Maybe someone over there is shining a flashlight toward him. An accomplice following him or coming into the yard from a different location.”
With a roll of my eyes, I quip, “Nothing says stealthily approaching a home where you’re about to murder someone like shining a fucking bright flashlight at your partner.”
“Fair,” Romero concedes. “I blame this ungodly hour for that remark. I want it stricken from the record.”
That gets a laugh out of me. On the inside.
Outwardly, I keep my focus on the screen. “Considering the bulk of hoodie guy, I seriously doubt this ishisshadow.”
“Could be the female unsub instead of a shadow,” Chase suggests, her eyes narrowed to slits. “Or a smaller male.”
She only lets us sit with our musings for a beat, then she’s back at it. “Hemsley and Carson, you’re staying here in the rig to work the tech angle while the rest of us hit the field to hunt for leads. Myself included.”
Special Agent Bianca Carson returns to her seat at the table, opening her laptop immediately. She’s another take-no-shit agent whom I’ve grown to respect immensely since joining the task force.
“Carson, dive into our vic and his girlfriend. Banks, credit cards, recent purchases, social media, friends, family. Check their phone records, GPS logs from their vehicles. The works.”
“Already on it,” Bianca replies crisply.
Chase swipes her gaze to Hemsley. “As I said earlier, you’re gonna find everything you can about our suspect from this video footage. I know it’s not much to go on, but I want his height, clothing brands, skin color, arm length, fucking shoe size. Compare your findings against what we have on the assailants from the other scenes. We need to know for certain if this is the same guy. If he is, then we can rule out Riddick for the other jobs. And while you’re at it, try to identify the anomaly in the corner of the screen. I think Hayes is right that it’s the accomplice. As the rest of us feed you leads from our field work today, you’ll be on point to coordinate.”
“I’ll see what other footage I can find from the area,” Hemsley adds. “This isn’t some off-the-beaten-path house, so there’s gotta be something I can use.”
Chase checks her phone, her face softening with a pleased grin. “Interesting timing on this message.” She returns her attention to Hemsley. “Good news. Local PD is sending additional footage our way. They’ve been canvassing the neighborhood. Sounds like there’s a metric fuck ton of video from the surrounding homes this time. You’ll have plenty to keep you busy.”
“Oh, good. I didn’t feel like babysitting him today,” Carson mutters, mostly to herself. I suppose she was unable to resist the opportunity to take a shot at her nemesis.
To the entire group, SSA Chase decrees, “I’m buying a case of top-shelf rum to the first person who gets me a license plate number.”
“Let’s just hope the unsubs drove to the house.” Despite her snark, Carson’s already head down and diving into her task.
“Hoodie guy and his little shadow had to get there somehow,” Hemsley counters as he settles in front of his laptop in the seat beside Carson. “If you’re going to murder someone, you need to be able to make a quick getaway.”
No surprise he’s the first to speak after Carson. Hemsley lives to ruffle her feathers. I’d consider him the unofficial devil’s advocate to anything Bianca says.
Andrews is constantly saying how those two need to fuck it out of their systems so we can get a break from their antagonism. On cue, Andrews shoots a knowing look at me, then his eyes flicker toward Hemsley and Carson. I take a swig from my water bottle to hide my grin. My mentor isn’t wrong about them.
Our leader jumps in, cutting off the commentary. “Agents Romero and Fowler, you’ll start at the victim’s employer. It’s an auto body shop two miles away. I want you there when they open at seven. Find something helpful to do in the meantime.”
“Got it,” Fowler responds through a yawn. I have to wonder if he’s gonna nap in the parking lot.
