Page 14 of Enigma (Pros and Cons Mysteries #6)

T he hospital’s security office was cramped and smelled like stale coffee.

Olive and Jason sat in uncomfortable plastic chairs while Security Chief Art Wheeler scrolled through surveillance footage on multiple monitors.

They’d already explained to Wheeler that they were professional investigators, which the man actually seemed impressed by. Some people didn’t take private investigators seriously, a stereotype Olive hated.

Olive leaned forward, watching as a grainy figure appeared in the hallway outside Lloyd’s room. Even with the poor image quality, she could make out Lloyd walking steadily down the hallway. He was fully dressed in street clothes and moving under his own power.

“He doesn’t look like he was being forced.” Jason’s words sounded casual, but his voice was tight with worry.

Wheeler continued to advance the footage frame by frame.

Olive’s breath caught when she saw a woman approach Lloyd in the hallway, linking her arm through his in what could have been a supportive gesture or subtle control.

She was approximately the same height and build as Nancy, with similar graying brown hair.

But the camera angle made it impossible to see her face clearly, and a black jacket now covered her clothing.

Could that be Nancy?

Or could it be the woman who’d tried to kill Lloyd at his house?

Right now, it could be either.

Olive leaned closer. “Can you enhance this?”

“This is as good as it gets with our system.” Wheeler offered an apologetic frown. “But I can tell you that whoever she is, she knew exactly where the cameras were. Look.”

He switched to a different angle, showing the same corridor from the opposite direction. The woman had positioned herself so that Lloyd’s body blocked most of her from view, and when she did step into the clear, she kept her head turned away from the lens.

“That almost looks like a professional move,” Olive murmured.

“Most people don’t think about camera placement when they’re just helping someone leave a hospital. But this woman . . .” Wheeler shook his head. “She mapped our blind spots.”

Jason shifted, still staring at the screen. “What about the parking garage?”

Wheeler switched to another monitor, showing the hospital’s parking structure. “Here they are.”

The footage showed Lloyd and the woman walking toward a dark sedan. Again, the woman seemed to know exactly how to position herself to avoid clear identification.

Olive squinted, trying to get a better look at the plate. She could only make out the first three letters.

Determination caused Olive’s spine to go straight.

She knew one thing for sure.

Lloyd Stewart was in grave danger, even if he didn’t know it yet.

Wheeler switched to the final piece of footage. “There’s more.”

The screen showed Lloyd getting into the passenger seat of the sedan. But instead of the woman forcing him in or restraining him, Lloyd appeared to be having a conversation with her. At one point, he even seemed to nod in agreement.

“It’s almost like . . . he went willingly.” Jason’s voice sounded low and quiet as his jaw twitched.

“Looks that way. Though there are plenty of ways to coerce someone that don’t show up on camera,” Wheeler pointed out. “Threats against family members, for instance.”

The implication hung heavy in the air.

Olive watched Jason’s jaw tighten as he processed the possibility that his father had been threatened using Jason as leverage.

Jason stood up abruptly, running his hands through his hair. “We need to call the police and file a missing person report. We need to officially get the cops involved.”

Wheeler nodded. “I’ll take care of that, though they’ll probably want to talk to you.”

“Of course.” Jason stood and gave him a business card. “Anything you need, call me.”

“Will do. What are you going to do now?”

“I’m going to look for my father myself,” Jason said.

“Be careful.”

As they left the security office with their stack of printed surveillance photos, Olive couldn’t shake the bad feeling in her gut.

“It feels like we’re being fed a careful story,” she told Jason as they walked back toward the hospital’s main entrance.

“What do you mean?” He glanced at her.

Olive’s nerves prickled with unease. “Maybe someone wants us to follow a specific trail.”

“Interesting theory.”

“And not to sound dramatic, but the question is whether that trail leads to Lloyd or into a trap.”