Page 40 of Three Girls Gone (Detective Amanda Steele #14)

THIRTY-FOUR

Amanda listened to the doorbell melody finish and was about to ring it again when a petite woman wearing a T-shirt and yoga pants opened the door. She was enveloped in a cloud of strong rose-scented perfume. She looked past Amanda to Trent.

“Detective Stenson?” she asked.

“I am, and this is Detective Steele. Tessa Keirns?”

“Yes.” Tessa stepped back to let them inside. “You said you were interested in watching footage from my doorbell cam?” Tessa said, and for the first time showed a bit of hesitation.

“That’s right,” Trent told her. “Does your device just record around the time the doorbell is rung or is it triggered by a motion sensor?”

“The latter, and it’s too sensitive if you ask me.”

That ever-crippling hope was making further inroads. “What is its reach? Would it catch movement across the street, for example?”

“It does. Hence too sensitive. I want to know if someone’s on my porch, not if a neighbor’s walking by with their dog, you know?”

“I get that,” Amanda said. “But that sensitivity could be important here. Could we see whatever footage you have for the wee hours of this morning?”

“Sure. I have the app on my tablet, through here.” Tessa led them to the living room and grabbed it from an end table. She opened the cover, tapped on the screen, and wriggled her finger around. A few seconds later, she handed the tablet over to Trent.

He held it so that Amanda could see the screen.

“You just have to hit the play button there,” Tessa said to them, leaning across Trent’s arm to point out where to click.

“Thanks.” Trent pushed the button.

At two AM, a dark-clad figure walked partway through the lane next to the Maynards’ house. It was too dark to make out much of anything else. Digital techs might make more of it by zooming in and cleaning up the pixels.

The figure hopped the chain-link fence and went into the Maynards’ backyard.

“Did that guy just…?” Tessa had creeped in behind them and must have caught sight of the screen.

Trent pulled the tablet to himself. A matter of too little, too late, though.

“Are you guys investigating a break-in? Should I be worried about my safety? I noticed the cops down the street.” Tessa was breathing heavier, and her cheeks paled. “I live here alone.”

“We don’t believe there’s any reason for you to be concerned,” Amanda assured her.

“Okay? I don’t understand. But usually when one robbery happens in a neighborhood, more follow.”

Trent glanced at Amanda, and she nodded.

“Do you know the family who lives in that house?” he asked Tessa, pointing at the Maynards’ place on the screen.

“No. That might make me sound like a bad person. It’s just life is so busy. ”

Amanda smiled at her. “It’s understandable, and you’re not the only person who doesn’t know their neighbors.”

“I know the ones on each side of me. Well, just on a first-name basis and to say hi when we see each other.”

“You’re doing better than most people,” Trent told her. “But that house is home to a family of three, including a seven-year-old girl, Eloise. She was taken from her bed last night.”

Tessa gasped. “That poor girl. Is she okay?”

“We’re not sure. That’s why we need to get to her as soon as possible,” Amanda said, urgency in her voice.

“Yeah, of course. And that’s why you want to look at my video. Is it helping? Is that the man who took her?” Tessa pointed toward her tablet nested in Trent’s hands.

“We believe so. Now, we need to look at some more footage. I assume the camera was triggered a bit after this?” Amanda said, looking at Tessa.

“Let me see.” She put her hands out for the tablet, and Trent passed it over. She fussed with it for a moment. “A few more times after that from the looks of it.”

They watched a racoon race across the street and a piece of trash blowing down the sidewalk. But they struck gold on the third video. The time stamp was 2:27 AM.

It showed the dark-clad figure again, but this time he was carrying a limp Eloise in his arms.

“Is she—?” Tessa clamped a hand over her mouth.

“Ma’am, it might be best if you leave this to me and Detective Stenson,” Amanda said, drilling her with her eyes.

“Ah, sure.” Tessa backed up to the couch and sat down.

Trent, who had paused the video at Tessa’s interruption, resumed the playback. On screen, the dark-clad figure hustled down the sidewalk toward the pass-through. He ducked down there and disappeared out of sight.

Once the video cut out, Trent looked at Amanda.

They’d caught him in the act, and that revelation packed an emotional punch.

This strange man had just helped himself to the Maynards’ sweet daughter.

As a mother, Amanda was triggered. She would sacrifice everything to see this through and stop this guy.

They needed a digital copy of this video to take with them and to forward on to Digital Crimes, but one other thing stood out to her.

“Tessa,” Amanda said, turning to face the woman on the couch.

“Could we get a copy of all the videos shot in the last twenty-four hours?”

Tessa pushed off the couch and came over to them. “I’m sure I can figure out a way to share all the files.”

“Thank you,” Amanda said.

“If I could?” Tessa held out a hand for the tablet, and Trent passed it over to her. She studied the screen, her brow bunching down in focus. “Ah, here it is. Where should I send it?”

Amanda rattled off her email address.

Tessa pecked at the screen as Amanda spoke, and soon after said, “Done. Did you receive it?”

Amanda pulled out her phone and checked her email app. One filtered in from Tessa. She opened it and counted the attachments. “Twenty videos?”

“Yeah, but they’re short. Only ninety seconds each.”

That didn’t sound as overwhelming as it could be. “This is wonderful, Ms.Keirns. Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it. I hope you find the girl.”

“We’re going to do all we can,” Amanda said, and she and Trent left Tessa with a card and a request that she keep all that footage backed up somewhere, despite Amanda now having a copy.

Trent slid behind the wheel. “He knew what he was doing. There was no hesitation about jumping the fence.”

“I noticed that too. He had in mind where he was going to enter the home.”

“So he must have scoped things out before he came to take Eloise,” Trent put in .

She nodded and smiled at him. “Exactly.”

“That’s why you asked for that extra footage from earlier?”

“Yep. If there’s video of him when the sun was still up, we just might get a clear shot of his face.”

“We can hope.”

“Yes, we can.” She was making peace with hope.

“Back to Central?” Trent asked, looking over at her.

“Yes. We’re going to watch all these videos and get anything we need over to Digital Crimes.”

“Sounds like a plan. We also have the school video to watch.”

Malone called her phone, just as Trent was pulling away from the curb, and she answered on hands-free.

“Where are you guys right now?” he asked, getting right to the point.

“Heading back to Central.”

“Good. Time to talk. Chief Buchanan’s called a meeting.”

That statement felt like a looming thundercloud. “Trent and I just got a huge lead. We’ll be there in under ten.” She ended the call and looked at Trent with pressed lips.

“Wonder what he wants.”

“I don’t know what his agenda is, but at least we’re going in with something to offer him.” She hoped it would make him happy because she didn’t have the bandwidth to defend herself and Trent to the police chief.