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The man’s jaw dropped. He stabbed a finger at the sketch Patrick, the boy in Truro, had helped develop. “You know what? If this didn’t have a mustache, and maybe longer hair, it could almost look like the lady’sbrother!”
* * *
“There. That’s her. Him.”Ethan, Nyle and the officers who’d manned the video cameras were in a conference room at the police department. A TV and video equipment had been carried in and hooked up so they could watch the feed from each of the cameras. They were fast-forwarding through most of it, slowing it only when something of interest cameup.
Like a woman in a flowered dress and largehat.
“Matches the description Rogers gave us.” Joe Rogers, the man they’d flushed out of the Dumpster. Meechum had gotten a hit on his prints. A vagrant, with a few bumps for public intox. Exactly the type of person who would jump at the chance to make a few bucks with no questionsasked.
“She didn’t come to the park alone,” pointed out the officer who’d operated that camera. “She was with another couple, which is why I didn’t think anything of it. They walked in together, and she stuck with them, at least in thisframe.”
Ethan stole a look at the clock on the wall. He was glad he’d had Nyle run the debriefing after the vigil before joining them. They were going to be here half the night as it was. The last time Ethan had checked his phone, he’d found a text from Alexa. She’d headed back to the hotel hours ago. Had been gone when Nyle had checked in the equipment back at the RCMP headquarters. It was just as well. Maybe one of them would get a few hours’ sleeptonight.
“Okay, let’s look at the next one.” It was a laborious process. They were going through all the films, watching enough on each to piece together the UNSUB’s progress from the moment he entered the park. Ethan noted how he inched closer and closer to the front, as if in search of a better view. Each time he changed position he was careful to attach himself to someone nearby. He’d known that a single attendee would draw more attention than one in a group, although once the park had gotten congested, it was hard to tell thedifference.
An hour later, Ethan jabbed a finger at the screen. “And there he is after the firecrackers went off.” The crowd was scattering, but the UNSUB was moving with a single-minded focus toward Alexa’s stand-in.
“You can see the limp now,” Nylemurmured.
“Not enough to slow him down much, but it’s there,” Ethan agreed. Patrick had proven to be their most observant witness so far. “What’s that? In his hand?” Without breaking stride, the UNSUB had reached into the purse he carried and taken somethingout.
“Let me see if I can enlarge it.” The officer running the film paused it, backed up to the spot Ethan had indicated and zoomed in. The larger image was fuzzy. But there was no mistaking something long and narrow extending from the offender’s closedhand.
“A needle.” Ethan sat back in his chair, half-stunned. Had the UNSUB thought he’d have a chance at Alexa in a park full of cops? “Resume the film.” He watched the offender approach Lavoie and the uniforms. Saw the trio break apart, drawing their weapons and facing the crowd. Ethan bit back a curse when the figure in the long flowered dress stopped. The UNSUB abruptly changed course and attached himself to a passel of vigil-goers and was lost in themob.
He scrubbed both hands over his face. The offender had gotten close enough to see that they’d used a female decoy. It was all too easy to imagine a far different scene if Alexa had been at the park. If the two uniforms on either side of her had broken rank, as they had in the film. Leaving her exposed for a few instants. He still didn’t understand, even in that scenario, how the UNSUB had hoped to get her away from the area without being observed. But it hammered home to him just how far adrift the man was from his usualbehavior.
And his unpredictability just heightened thedanger.
“Let’s pick him up from his exit.” The videos were changed and they tracked the man being jostled in the throng as he made his way back toward the other end of the park. They weren’t able to get a full-figure shot until he veered toward the opposite end, head tipped down as if in a purposeful effort to avoid the camera the nearby plainclothes officer held. He reached into his purse with a now-empty hand. Withdrew… Ethan squinted. Car keys? He watched until the offender cut away from the park and walked quickly down thestreet.
“Back up to where we saw him take the keys out of the purse,” Ethan ordered. Once the officer had obeyed, he said, “Zoom inthere.”
A key was held pointed outward. Ready for use. Had the man been parked nearby? That was the area where Rogers had said he’d beenapproached.
“Looks like an insignia on the keychain,” Nyle observed. He was closer to the screen than Ethan was. “Can you enhance just thatarea?”
“Getting beyond my technical skills,” the officer replied, but he attempted to do so. He got down and pressed his face almost against the screen to peer at it. “Can’t quite make it out, but the shape of it…does it remind anyone else of the CarsNow rentallogo?”