The pit inside Mary’s stomach began turning into an abyss. How could any of this get any more insane?
‘There are four more photos I’d like to show you before we move on,’ Kendall said, retrieving the four new images from the same envelope and placing them on the table, once again, in a single row. ‘These are a bit of a conundrum to us, and we were wondering if maybe you can help us out.’
Mary’s confused stare moved to the four new photos on the table, while Choi’s analytical eyes moved back to her. She blinked, frowned, bit her bottom lip, then blinked again.
The first photo on the far left was a photo of a CD case – Luke Jenkins’ CD – the same CD that he’d handed her back in Nashville… the same CD that she’d listened to tens of times.
The second photo was also of Luke’s CD case, but the case was open, and it had been picked apart – disk tray pulled from the back cover. In between the disk tray, which was dark in color, and the back cover, Mary could see what looked to be a computer chip, attached to a small, round battery. With the disk tray in place – clicked onto the back cover – the chip and battery would be completely hidden away.
‘What is this?’ Mary asked, pointing at the chip.
‘It’s a GPS tracker,’ Choi told her.
Mary’s eyes shot to him. ‘A what?’
‘A GPS tracker,’ he told her again before explaining. ‘It pings out a location signal every few seconds, or minutes… it depends on how it’s programmed. It sends out the exact location of that CD case twenty-four seven.’ Choi shrugged at his partner. ‘It must be a one-of-a-kind CD.’
The abyss inside Mary’s stomach turned into a supermassive black hole, the color draining from her skin.
The next photo along seemed completely random. It showed a page, which had been torn from a newspaper and folded four times.
Mary stared at it for several long seconds before shaking her head and moving on to the last image, which was a picture of the courthouse in Woburn, Massachusetts, where Nelson’s trial had taken place over two years ago.
Inside Mary’s head, thoughts began colliding against each other.
‘Can you help us understand any of this?’ Kendall asked.
Mary pursed her lips, shrugged, then shook her head. ‘Unfortunately, I can’t.’
‘You can’t?’ Choi asked. ‘Or you won’t?’
‘I can’t,’ Mary lied. ‘I don’t know what any of this means.’
Choi held her stare for longer than he needed to. ‘Of course you don’t.’
‘If you don’t know, you don’t know,’ Kendall said, pushing the four conundrum photos to one side before retrieving the same ten photographs that were on the table just moments earlier – Antonia, Gabriela, Jonas, Brian, Tyler, Richard, Carol, Rachel, Kathy, and the couple that Mary had failed to recognize. He, once again, arranged them in two rows, before adding Luke, Natálie and Betsy to the group.
‘Are you sure you don’t know who these two are?’ Kendall tried again, indicating the couple on the photo that Mary hadn’t recognized.
‘No, I don…’ Mary paused. The familiarity of their faces was still playing in her mind. Maybe it was the look in the lady’s eyes, or the gentleman’s ears, which clearly stood out. Mary took a second to search her memory one more time. It took her a little longer than with Natálie, but she did, eventually, remember them.
‘Oh my god!’ Mary said, her head jerking back from the surprise, her eyes round and wide. ‘I’ve seen them before… yes. I never met them, but I’ve seen them before.’
‘Can you remember where?’ Kendall asked.
‘At an art exhibition,’ Mary revealed. ‘On the same night that I met Quaddra for the first time. They were there, looking at this painting that was nothing more than just a canvas painted black. We were standing right behind them.’
‘And you’re sure that that’s them?’ Choi again.
‘Yes, that’s them.’
‘So,’ Kendall said, nodding at the table. ‘You have crossed paths with everyone in these photographs in the past what? Two years?’
Mary drew in a deep breath as she studied the photos on the table one last time. ‘Give or take… yes.’
Choi ran a hand over his mouth, as if he was smoothing an imaginary goatee. ‘And you’re insisting on saying that you’re not on any medication?’
‘I’m not on any medication.’ Frustration came through in Mary’s voice and in her eyes. ‘Why? Did Quaddra tell you that I was?’
