Chapter 23
“Who are we looking at?” Carlita asked.
“Cyclone Courtney,” Dernice said.
“I’ve seen pictures of her.” Carlita squinted her eyes and studied the still figure on the screen, her back to the camera as she entered Sonny Skidz’s hospital room. “I never considered the possibility Courtney might be behind Sonny’s demise.”
“Consider it now.” Elvira leaned back in her chair. “Looks like we caught his killer.”
“Not so fast. Courtney wasn’t at the party.”
“Carlita is right. She wasn’t there.”
“Which means she wasn’t the person who put rat poison in my fettuccine, although she could have visited him in the hospital and taken him out.”
“I guess we’re back to square one.” Elvira started to click away.
Carlita stopped her. “Hang on. I think we should watch until we get to the part where you and I show up.”
“The longer we’re logged in, the greater the chance of me getting busted.”
“A deal is a deal. Besides, it can’t be much longer.”
“I’ll keep going.” Elvira heaved a heavy sigh and hit the play button.
The trio continued watching as the time ticked past. Ten minutes. Twelve.
A hooded figure, carrying a small grocery bag, appeared. Looking in both directions, they strolled past Sonny’s room and disappeared. Seconds later they reappeared and slipped into his room.
“Did you see that?” Dernice said. “Someone walked past his room, turned around, came back and went in.”
“I’ll hit the replay.” Elvira replayed the footage of the stranger passing by the camera. Sure enough, they returned a short time later. With their head down, they entered the room.
Hospital staff and employees strode past. According to the video’s minute counter, a full sixty seconds went by. No one entered or exited his room.
At the one minute and forty-five second mark, the hooded visitor emerged. With a quick check in both directions, they took off, moving at a fast clip in the opposite direction of the nurse’s station.
The recording continued. A couple, part of the biker group who, according to Dernice, weren’t at the party, entered his room.
Carlita and Elvira appeared on the screen. They started down the hall, turned around and walked off.
“This must be when they told us we would have to wait for the other visitors to leave,” Elvira said.
Carlita wandered down the corridor. “I was looking for the restroom. You won’t see me again until we go into Sonny’s room.”
The couple exited and strolled out of sight. Less than a minute later, Elvira and Carlita, accompanied by the hospital employee, walked past the camera and were allowed into Sonny’s room.
It wasn’t long before Carlita ran out and toward the nurse’s station. Elvira was close behind.
“This is when Sonny said he wasn’t feeling well.”
Things moved fast as several hospital workers rushed into his room. The commotion abruptly ended, and the employees exited.
“He was gone within a matter of minutes,” Dernice said. “Not long after the hooded figure went in there and you two showed up.”
“I want to take another look at the visitor,” Carlita said.
Elvira pointedly tapped the top of her watch. “Every second I’m in here increases my chances of getting caught.”
“It won’t take long.”
“Make it quick.” Elvira slid the bar back until the exact moment the hooded figure appeared. Frame by frame, she paused and zoomed in so they could take a closer look. “This is about as slow-mo as I can go.”
Removing her cell phone from her pocket. Carlita snapped photos of the computer screen and the mysterious hooded visitor.
They reached the end, and Elvira abruptly clicked out of the program. “We were in there way too long. Hopefully, the IT guys took an extended coffee break and didn’t notice any suspicious activity.”
“Thank you for your help,” Carlita said.
Dernice tapped the side of her forehead. “Smart thinking to take still photos of the possible perp. Can you send me copies?”
“I would love to.” Carlita forwarded the photos to both Dernice’s and Elvira’s email accounts.
Starting with the first one, the group of four studied them, searching for clues about the visitor’s identity.
Elvira lingered longer on one of the frames, when the mystery person first arrived.
“What do you see?” Dernice asked.
“I’m kind of picking up on the way this person walks.”
“With one foot in front of the other,” Carlita joked.
“Haha. You’re hilarious. It’s their steps.”
“They’re moving fast, like they’re in a hurry,” Dernice said.
“Because they don’t want to get caught.” Elvira zoomed in on the photo. “If the police are investigating this as a homicide, I’m sure they’ve gone over these same recordings, searching for clues and are already assembling a list of visitors.”
“It stands to reason,” Carlita agreed. “Which is why it’s only a matter of time before they show up at Ravello’s.”
“When they come looking for me again, I’m gonna tell them about the motorcycle accident.”
“Creed was hurt, not Sonny,” Elvira reminded her sister. “Facts are facts.”
“Sonny told Reese the brakes on his bike were not working properly,” Carlita said.
“Which could be a nothingburger.” Elvira turned. “You do realize the fettuccine is potential evidence. If you don’t hand it over to the cops and they find out about it, you could be charged with attempted obstruction of justice.”
“Elvira is right,” Pete said. “I believe you should pick up the samples and hold on to them for the authorities.”
“I told the health department inspector they had been disposed of,” Carlita said.
“Which is true. On the flip side, you failed to mention you had taken samples to a lab to be tested, but now that you know the fettuccine was tainted, it’s potential evidence.” Elvira reminded her she had zero motive.
“I’m not worried about being charged with Sonny’s death.
I am worried about it being leaked to the local news, having it ruin my business and/or having the city shut Ravello’s down.
” Carlita told them she’d already decided to pick up the food and store it in the fridge.
When the cops showed up, she would turn it over to them.
“Or reach out to them first,” Pete suggested. “Being proactive might be a better idea.”
“True.”
“Back to attempting to identify this person.” Elvira continued clicking through the photos. “I think it’s a woman.”
“Because…”
“The way they walk. If you pay attention, you can see they move quickly. Men plod along.”
“Plod along?” Pete echoed.
“Like this.” Elvira slid out of her chair and walked across the office, her legs stiff and straight and her arms out by her side.
“You look like a robot,” Dernice chuckled. “Men don’t walk like robots.”
“Sure, they do.”
“Pete doesn’t walk like that,” Carlita motioned to her husband. “Show her.”
Pete strode past the desk.
“He does seem a little stiff,” Dernice said. “But not like a robot.”
“All I’m saying is this person walks like a chick.” Elvira returned to her chair and clicked on the next photo.
“Hang on.” Dernice stopped her. “Go back.”
Her sister pulled up the previous photo. “I see something.”
Carlita leaned in. “The mystery person’s arm.”
“Keep going. We might get a better angle.”
Elvira clicked through the photos. One…two…three.
“Stop!” Carlita and Dernice yelled in unison.
“Right there.” Dernice tapped the screen. “This, right here, is our first clue.”