Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
Sylvie loaded the camera footage on the screen.
“We’ve compiled the feeds from all the streets surrounding West Oaks PD from the morning that Dominic Crane arrived in custody.
Max has some serious connections with the city departments.
Unfortunately, the quality is all over the place.
I’ve already spent several hours looking over the feeds, as well as running them through some of our analyzers, looking for factors that are out of place. ”
“You have software that does that?”
Though maybe Aurora shouldn’t have been surprised.
Max had always loved gadgets and computers.
She remembered one Christmas when she bought him a remote control car, and he fitted it out with a camera and microphone to spy on Lana’s neighbors.
He had ended up on the good side of the law, for the most part, but her brother definitely had a devious side. She had to give him that.
“Oh, you have no idea. These algorithms are scary, they’re so good at predicting things.
And the stuff we’ve got is nothing to the real code that people like the NSA or the FSB have going.
” Sylvie was shaking her head, and Aurora got the sense that she was more disappointed she didn’t have access to such sophisticated software, than angry that governments had such power at their fingertips.
“The problem is,” Sylvie went on, “that neither my eyes nor the algorithm could identify anything with all the chaos going on that day. Here, look at this.”
She opened one recording and scrolled forward to a certain timestamp. “See? There you are.”
Aurora saw herself on the steps of the police headquarters, craning her neck to look across the street. “You knew just where to find this image.”
“I have a good memory. I told you, I’ve already been spending too long staring at these recordings. But anyway, you seem to be looking for someone right here. Is that when you saw the man you thought was watching you?”
“Yes, that’s right when I first saw him, I think. The police car with Crane in the back had just passed by. And I kept having a strange feeling, like eyes were on me. Then I turned and saw him.”
She remembered how their gazes had met. He’d been too far away for her to see the color of his irises, but she’d had the inexplicable impression that his eyes were ice blue.
“His hair was kind of in between brown and blond. He looked like guys I’ve seen a million times before and, also, somehow completely unique. It was the strangest thing.”
“Interesting. Some people have those kinds of faces. The government actually recruits them as operatives because they can move unnoticed. But he also wasn’t behaving like anyone else in the crowd. Which you picked up on. That’s impressive.”
“I don’t know. Maybe it’s just that trademark Bennett paranoia.” Aurora tried to shrug off the terror that crept up her spine. Whenever she stopped and really pondered the fact that there were mobsters—murderers—searching for her right now, she felt like she was going to have a panic attack.
“And you pegged Devon as a bodyguard the minute you met him, right? Or so I heard.”
“Yeah. I guess.”
Sylvie seemed to sense her anxiety and put a comforting hand on Aurora’s arm. “We can take a break if you want. I know how difficult this can be. Just say the word.”
“No, I’m fine. Let’s keep going.”
“Okay, I’m going to show you the feeds from the other side of the street from approximately the same time. Tell me when you see the guy.”
Aurora studied the videos one by one. It was a painstaking process, reviewing the various angles and trying to take in so many details at once. All those faces, cars passing, most of it in black and white.
Then her eyes landed on a man with medium hair and a medium build. Both handsome and unremarkable. And she knew.
She pointed at the screen. “That’s him. He’s the one.” She’d definitely seen him that day outside the police headquarters.
But there was something else about him, too. A recognition that tugged at her memory. What was it? Why did she feel that she knew him from some other place?
If she did, that might help explain why she’d noticed him in that crowd. But where could it have been?
She tried to remember, but it wouldn’t come, and she chewed the inside of her cheek in frustration.
Sylvie did something with the computer, capturing a zoomed-in image of the man’s face. “Great job. I’ll get this out to Max right away, and hopefully, we can track this guy down.”
“But we don’t know for sure that he had anything to do with Dominic Crane, or those men who came after me.”
Devon stepped into the doorway of the bedroom, leaning against the frame.
“We can’t take anything for granted in this investigation,” he said.
“Sylvie is right. We need to follow every possible lead. And speaking of, I just found something else that I want to look into. A black Escalade that drove past Aurora’s building a couple of times, both the day before and the morning of the attack.
My gut says there’s something not right about this guy.
Think you could help me out, Sylvie? Maybe you’ve seen this SUV on one of the other feeds?
It has damage to the grill, kind of distinctive. ”
Devon brought his laptop over to the dining table and set it down. He showed them the black Escalade, running through the two different recordings of the vehicle outside of her building.
More chills ran through her. She hated the idea that someone had been tracking her, watching her, when she’d had no clue.
It was one thing for a secret bodyguard like Devon.
She’d been annoyed and even hurt that he’d lied to her.
But the realization that these creeps had been keeping track of her for hours, maybe even days…
Maybe ever since the night she’d witnessed Wolfson’s murder?
It was too much to take. She felt her chest tightening, her lungs struggling to breathe.
She crossed her arms, hands balling into fists.
“I’ll see what I can find.” Sylvie’s fingers started flying over the keyboard faster than Aurora could even track. Various windows opened and closed, the feeds racing forward and back. She had no idea how Sylvie could make sense of it.
“One of you want to whip up some food?” Sylvie asked. “This might take a while.”
Aurora went into the kitchen. Devon followed close behind her. “You doing okay with all this?”
“Sure.”
She appreciated that he’d asked, except his voice sounded all wrong. He was being rough and formal, like he was really just some bodyguard. Like they hadn’t been getting to know each other and agreed the evening before to be friends.
She had known he was upset at her for taking things out of the friend zone once again last night. But apparently, he no longer even wanted that.
She felt him watching her with those hazel eyes, waiting patiently for her to say more.
Her body was so aware of him. The way his bulky muscles shifted, the angle of his chin.
His scent was like catnip to her lady parts, making her tingle in all sorts of frustratingly pleasurable ways.
If he didn’t appreciate her “throwing herself” at him, as he’d accused her of doing, then maybe the guy should get a clue and step back.
She got bread and sandwich supplies from the refrigerator. Finally, Devon walked away.
Aurora made a ham and cheese sandwich for Sylvie, who accepted the food without taking her eyes off the computer screen. She took a bite, and then shouted, covering her mouth at the last minute before crumbs sprayed onto the computer.
“I’ve got it!” She switched around the windows. “This is another angle of the SUV going past Aurora’s building. Like Devon already found.”
Sylvie showed them a head-on picture of a black Escalade, driving down Ocean Lane in the late morning the day of the attack. That was the same time Aurora had left her building.
“But now, I’ve found where he goes next.” Sylvie tracked the car as it drove around several detours that had been set up as a perimeter around the police building in anticipation of Crane’s arrival.
Sylvie pulled up the next feed, following the Escalade from one camera to another. It parked at a curb, and the driver got out. He had medium-brown hair, an average build. Aurora held her breath.
Turn around, she thought. Even though she was already sure she knew what she’d see.
On the video, the man shut the door. Walked over to the meter and plugged several coins inside. Then jogged across the road, facing directly into the camera.
Sylvie whistled. “Well, well. The plot has definitely thickened.”
It was the same man. But unlike when she had seen him outside the police department, he was wearing a dark blazer.
All at once, the memory flashed into her mind.
The strobe lights flashing over the dance floor, light glinting in the champagne flutes. The devil horns and angel wings floating through the crowd. She could hear the thumping music, the heat of all those bodies rising in the air…
The “Angels and Demons” party at The Lighthouse Club. Before Brandon Wolfson had been murdered.
She remembered his eyes. Ice blue.
“He was at the party the night Brandon died.”