Chapter 29 #2
He looked again. “Yes, I see the date. What about it?”
He switched to another video.
“So, this is the video from the supposed break-in taken by the same camera.”
Benjamin nodded. He watched as Santiago came out of the walk-in closet, the jewels in his hand.
“Now look at the date again.”
He did and shrugged. “Not sure what you mean. The date’s right at the same spot as on the other video.”
“True. But look at the format.”
He looked at it again when he finally understood what Sebastian was getting at.
“Oh, my God!”
“Exactly. The date on this video shows as day-month-year like the Europeans do. Whereas on the video of you and Catalina, the date shows as month-day-year like we do in the US. Yet it’s supposed to be the same camera, the same system. That’s what made me look a little closer.”
“And?”
“There were a few more, albeit tiny, inconsistencies. If you look at the leg of the chair next to the window, you’ll see that it doesn’t match the leg on the authentic video.”
Again, he switched back and forth between the two videos. Sebastian was right. The legs of the chair didn’t match perfectly.
“Why didn’t they find this during the trial?” Benjamin murmured to himself.
“It’s not in the prosecution’s interest to look so closely. They wouldn’t discredit their own evidence. That’s the defense’s job.”
“The defense didn’t have any money to get their own expert witness.”
“That explains it.” He tapped on the video that was instrumental in convicting Santiago. “This video was made using AI. Admittedly, it’s very good. But not perfect. If I could compare it to the actual room where it was taken, I guarantee you I can find other flaws.”
“You’re the best, Sebastian. I could hug you! With this piece of evidence, he can appeal his conviction. And with what Delilah found about the Prestons’ finances, we have a motive for why they framed him.”
“Always happy to help,” Sebastian said with a grin. He rose. “I’ll send you a detailed report with my findings to use for the appeal.”
Benjamin got up and slapped Sebastian on the shoulder. “I can’t tell you how much this means to me and Catalina.”
“Where is she? I thought she was here with you.”
“Unfortunately, there was a little incident.”
“An incident?”
“Ross bit her, and I’m afraid now she knows we’re vampires.”
Sebastian grimaced. “She did a runner?”
“Yep.”
“I’m sure you can smooth things over with her. It would be a shame if you didn’t.”
“I’m giving her a few hours to cool off.”
“Don’t wait too long.”
“I won’t.”
“See you later,” Sebastian said and left.
Benjamin pulled his phone from his pocket.
With the evidence he now had, the faked video and the financial motive, they had enough to get the Prestons, not only for falsifying evidence and lying to the police, but also for insurance fraud.
But he couldn’t risk that the Prestons somehow figured out that their scheme had been uncovered.
It was best to have somebody keep an eye on them, just in case they decided to leave town.
It would take him a day or two to get all the evidence in the right hands so the Prestons would get arrested and Santiago would get a new trial, an appeal, or whatever was the speediest way of getting him exonerated.
He tapped on a number, and the call was answered almost instantly.
“Hey, bro,” Ethan said.
“You busy?”
“Kinda.”
He heard the music in the background.
“Partying isn’t busy,” Benjamin said. “I need a favor. Can you and Lydia, if she’s free, go and keep an eye on the Preston house?”
“What’s this about?”
“I can prove that the Prestons falsified evidence to get Santiago Vargas convicted for grand theft. They framed him.”
There was a brief pause before Ethan answered, “The jewelry heist? Are you kidding me?”
“No. And another thing. Catalina, my girlfriend, she’s his sister.”
A chuckle came through the line. “I know. That news is making the rounds at Scanguards as we speak.”
“Who blabbed?”
“No idea. But considering you’ve been asking half the staff for favors to help you dig up shit, it could be anybody. Besides, you could’ve told me about it earlier. I would have helped.”
“Well, you can help me now. Catalina ran off when she found out that I’m a vampire. She doesn’t know yet that I’ve found evidence exonerating her brother.”
“Hold it,” Ethan interrupted. “How did she find out?”
“Ross bit her.”
Ethan erupted in laughter.
“Hey, that’s not funny!”
“Bro, you got hamstrung by a four-year-old!”
“Yeah, well, that was bad luck.”
“It sure is. Okay, what do you need me to do?”
“I’ve got Vanessa keeping an eye on Catalina’s flat.
But I need eyes on the Prestons. We can’t risk them suddenly leaving town.
It’ll take me a day or two to present the evidence to the D.A.
I’ll work with Anita on that. In the meantime, I need to know where the Prestons are at all times. Can you do that?”
“Sure thing. I’ll take Lydia, and we’ll get a second team to relieve us sometime tomorrow.”
“Thanks, bro. I owe you.”
“Anytime.”
He disconnected the call and scrolled to Anita’s number when his phone rang again.
“Just the person I wanted to speak to,” he said to Anita.
“Oh yeah? I got bad news. Catalina was picked up by the police and arrested.”
“Fuck! Where are they holding her?”
“The San Francisco Jail on 7th Street.”
“I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
“Don’t! There’s nothing you can do right now. She’ll have to wait to be arraigned by a judge tomorrow when the court opens. Before that, you can’t get her out. Since she has no priors, she’ll get bail. Once I know more, I’ll let you know, and then you can come down and bail her out.”
“I can’t let her stay in jail overnight,” he protested.
“You have no choice. I’ll arrange for her to be in a single cell rather than in a holding cell with other inmates,” Anita promised.
He sighed. This wouldn’t have happened if he’d told her earlier that he was a vampire. Then she wouldn’t have freaked out and run off in the middle of the night. Now he knew why her blood trail had gone cold: the police had picked her up and put her in a patrol car.
“Alright,” he finally relented.