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.“Tell her I’ll always cherish the time we spent watching Jaunting Jamison, and if she’s ever in trouble, the Boden original she has in her front yard will come in handy.”Talk about cryptic! Leah was convinced Brett had finally lost it.Why in the world would he cherish watching some old black and white television program with Cara?Leah softened, hoping it would help to settle Brett’s agitated state.“Let me call someone for you.”Brett exhaled with frustration and pushed her away.“Just do it, Leah.It’s important.” He turned and tugged open the door.“Please don’t go.Let me help you.”Brett nervously jeered back and peered out the shop window.Fear radiated from his eyes.He rushed back to Leah and grabbed her arms.“Promise me you’ll tell her,” he begged.Leah looked into his distressed eyes and couldn’t deny him.“Of course I will.”Brett gave her a jittery hug and raced out the door.~~~**~~~Hunter Henderson shot up in his uncomfortable black task chair and took notice of the images flashing before his eyes.He pounded on the keyboard.“Hey, hey, hey!” he shouted.“I think I found something.” In frustration he banged the keys harder.“Why in the hell can’t I ever rewind this blasted thing? Crandall, get over here!”Blurry eyed from the nonstop, mind numbing search through the hours and hours of the recorded feed of Cara’s living room, Hunter’s plea barely registered with David.They had been at it so long that even the occasional peep show had lost its appeal.He eased his eyes closed and relished the relief they so desperately sought.His head turned towards the ruckus being created on the other side of the room and mumbled, “What?”“Open your god-damned eyes and get the fuck over here!”David blinked and tried to shake off some of his weariness.He scrubbed his face and rolled his head from side to side, trying to stretch out some of the kinks in his neck which threatened to knot up and spasm.“What are you hollering about?”Hunter slapped the side of the monitor.“I think I just saw the person who stashed the phony evidence.” He grabbed the display with both hands and choked it.“But this stupid thing won’t let me back up.”David rolled his eyes.“Slapping the monitor around isn’t going to help.” He got up and moved behind his partner.“Watch and learn.” He leaned over Hunter’s back and placed his fingers on the mouse.The curser moved to the upper right hand corner of the screen and the commands to pause, stop, rewind, and fast-forward magically appeared.“See how easy it is when you talk nicely to it.”Hunter growled and brushed David’s hand away.“Fuck off.I’m not in the mood.”David could relate.They had been at it for twelve hours straight, and there wasn’t enough coffee in the world that would help them push through their fatigue.Hunter scrolled back through the footage.He went so fast David missed what he was looking for.Hunter cursed knowing he had backtracked too far and let the feed go forward at its own pace.Two minutes later, David yawned and began to believe Hunter was hallucinating.Suddenly, the form of a man stepped out of Cara’s bedroom.The time stamp on the feed indicated that it was two o’clock in the morning.In the middle of the night someone had broken in and was now lurking in the shadows.He was dressed in black, a hoodie hid his face, and dark gloves covered his hands.David and Hunter watched the figure pull a manila envelope out from behind his back and walk just out of the camera’s field of vision.For the next few minutes all they saw was a glimpse of his back or an elbow as he worked to hide the evidence.David tapped the screen.“You’ve been in Cara’s apartment, what’s in that section of her home?”“The kitchen.That side of the counter holds a trash compactor and some drawers.I think he just pulled one of those things out and tape the envelope to either the back side of the compactor or maybe underneath a drawer.Do you remember the exact location where they found the evidence?”At the moment, David was finding it hard to remember his name, let alone the small details of the case.Hunter rewound the feed and the two searched each frame more diligently.This time when the perp passed through the living room another clue emerged.David smiled.“Look at his arm.There’s a roll of duct tape on it.See how the silver shimmered when it caught the light shining through the window.Back it up further.We need to know if Cara was home.”Hunter did as he was told and at seven thirty the previous evening they got an eyeful of Cara’s cleavage as she pulled the door open and shut it behind her.She had not returned home before her house was invaded.“I can’t believe I missed that the first time around.” Hunter joked.“We’re both tired.Why don’t we catch a few hours of sleep and pick it up again when we’re more refreshed.”Hunter shook his head.“You do what you want, but I’m forging on.I don’t understand how this Cloud thing works, and I’m afraid this information will vanish into thin air.”David walked over to the dark blue backpack he carried when he was on a case.He unzipped the front pocket and pulled out a thumb drive and tossed it to his weary cohort.“Back it up on this.”Hunter turned the portable storage device over and smirked, “Do you think a hundred and twenty-eight gigs will be enough?”David zipped the compartment closed and patted the backpack lovingly.“There are four more of those babies in here if it’s not.”“What are you, a flippin’ boy scout?”David couldn’t help but grin.His previous partner had called him the exact same thing on numerous occasions.The fact that Woody Hooten was now crippled and in a wheelchair was a heavy cross, which David was forced to bear [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]