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There’s a light knock on the door, and after a moment, it opens a few inches, but Diane doesn’t walk in, only her voice enters the room. “Just want to let you know the chief is looking for you two.”

“Thank you. We’ll be out in a minute.”

When the door closes, I wipe an errant tear from Ava's face, then rub the wetness from my face.

She smiles. “What a pair we make.”

“Yeah, don’t we.” I pull my sunglasses from my shirt pocket and, for once, the reason I wear them is not the color of my eyes.

Chapter55

Avalon

Jake knockson the glass pane of Chief Malone’s open office door.

The chief looks up and does a double take. My face is red and puffy, and sunglasses hide the redness in Jake’s eyes. Nothing can hide the weariness in his voice.

“Did you want to see us, Chief?”

“Yes, come in and close the door.”

We sit across from him, the cluttered desk between us.

“We got another video. This one is from the parking lot. And it’s so short it was nearly missed.” He taps his keyboard and turns the monitor toward us. Jake and I lean in. The grainy video is no longer than a couple of seconds. It shows a light-colored SUV leaving the parking lot. That’s it.

I stand to inspect the now frozen image on his screen. “What makes you think this is related?”

Malone points to the timestamp on the corner of the screen. “The timestamp. This was eleven minutes after the video of him leaving your apartment. That’s enough time to go down four flights of stairs and walk to the back of the parking lot. Moving nice and slow so as to not call attention and making sure no one was watching. But more importantly, it was also the only vehicle to leave the parking lot until hours later.”

Jake stands next to me. “Do you know the make and model of the vehicle?”

“We think it’s a Chevy Tahoe, probably white or light gray. I have a tech working on the video to see if they can get a clearer picture.”

Jake points at the screen. “The kid who stole the necklace said he took it from a white SUV. How much do you want to bet it’s the same one?”

I drop back into the chair. “Is there anything else that can be done to track the SUV?”

“We’re working on that right now. Checking on security cameras from around the area. Unfortunately, with half of the area being on the beach, our options are limited. This guy knows the area well enough to evade the cameras.”

I nod.

“Is there anything else, Chief?” Jake asks.

“No, I’ll let you know if anything else comes in. We have eyes and ears on the streets.”

“Okay. We’ll be in my office. There’s something else we want to check, but it’s too soon to talk about it. I’ll update you if we find anything.”

We go back to Jake’s office, where he grabs a set of keys from a drawer, then we walk to the back of the building where the hum of the air conditioner and our footsteps are the only sounds. Jake unlocks the only door and flips on the lights. Inside are two caged areas with floor-to-ceiling bars. Inside the cages are metal lockers. Cameras are in place above the door and in the corners.

“What’s this place?”

“This is where we keep the evidence for cold cases and where we keep extra guns and ammunition.”

“I guess that explains the cameras.”

Opening the cage on the left, Jake stops near the far wall and kneels down. He unlocks the bottom drawer and retrieves a small, dark plastic bag. “This is the only thing recovered.” Keeping the bag, he relocks everything, and we return to his office.

Jake and I sit on opposite sides of his desk. “Give me a minute to center myself.” Eyes closed and slow, even breathing, I disconnect from everything else to clear my mind and open my senses.