20. Chapter 20
Chapter 20
I try to take one day at a time, but sometimes several days attack me at once.
Pacing in the hallway outside Magnolia’s hospital room, Ezra held his cell up to his ear. “What do you mean it’s gone?”
“I don’t know another way to say it, Ezra,” Berlin said. “There’s no freaking footage and it’s not that it was erased. The security cameras were turned off sometime around eight o’clock this morning.”
“I thought you hacked the system.”
She sighed, very clearly annoyed with him. “I did. And from about eight thirty onward, I have a record of everything on my end. But I can’t recover something that was never recorded.”
He bit back a curse, curbed his temper. This wasn’t her fault, and if there was something to be found, Berlin would find it. “You’re right, I’m sorry—”
“You don’t have to apologize. Of course you’re worried.”
“Is there any way to—”
“To find out who was in the office at the time the security was turned off? Yes. According to the keycards used, almost everyone, which sucks for us. Only two people got in around eight thirty so they’re off the list of potentials who messed with security, but not off the list completely.”
As two nurses in scrubs rushed down the hallway, he backed up against the wall. “What about Austin Jameson?” he murmured.
“I can’t know when he arrived for sure, but the side door opened from the inside about eight fifteen. I have no way of knowing if it was him, but no one else used their card so it had to be someone letting him in. And without recordings, I have no idea if he’s even the one who brought the brownies.”
Ezra had only been able to ask Kendra and Charles about the food before heading to the hospital with Magnolia, and neither of them remembered if someone had brought the brownies in separately or if they’d been part of the giant gift basket they’d received from a client last week.
“I’m cross-referencing some traffic cameras to see if I can nail down when Jameson arrived. If I can find out his VIN—which I’m still working on—I’ll just hack his vehicle and get his records that way.”
“Thank you.” Once they disconnected, he tucked his phone away, worried that they’d been looking at this situation all wrong.
It was possible Samuel Perry had somehow broken in to her place, but given his track record Ezra didn’t think he was that smart. And how would he have known about her allergy?
Mulling over what he knew so far, he stepped back into the room just as Magnolia’s doctor was finishing up. Magnolia’s expression was tense, but her doctor simply nodded and left.
“What’s wrong…other than the obvious?” he asked, stepping forward as she picked up her purse.
“I just got a call from Lucas’s school. He’s been called to the principal’s office for fighting and might be suspended.”