Chapter 7
In the car, Tina shared a thought. “I wonder if a person’s height can be determined by the length of their leg bone.”
“I think so, but I don’t know if that’s something Dave would normally measure or not.”
“But it’s the only body part he has. I’m going to call him and ask. Leah may be off a little as far as Beth’s actual height, and we don’t have the clout or credentials to access Beth’s driver’s license to see her height and weight.”
“I know who does, though.”
Tina grinned. “Who, the FBI?”
“Yep, and I know just the person to call. Besides that, the FBI may have knowledge of recent cases where only body parts but never a complete body was found.”
“Can we do that? Make the call, I mean, or do we have to clear that with Greenburg first?”
“Don’t know, but it’s probably better to tell him instead of going over his head. For now, though, as long as we’re in this neck of the woods, let’s check out possible cameras at West Greenfield and Twenty-Third Street.”
With traffic lights turning red at every block, it took them ten minutes to reach that location fourteen blocks west of Leah and Beth’s apartment.
Bill parked at the back of the gas station’s lot, and they walked around to the front. Cameras were mounted at each corner of the building and above the door. All of the cameras faced the gas pumps and street.
“Do you really think the ladies conduct business right there in front of the gas station?”
Bill shrugged. “According to Leah, yes, but there are other storefronts a little farther down too. Those spots are less populated at night, I’d imagine, unless the gas station closes before midnight.
” He pointed at the cameras. “Let’s go ask if those are dummy cameras or real ones that will show us what we need to see. ”
Tina pointed her chin at the sign on the door showing the hours. The gas station was open until midnight Monday through Saturday and until ten p.m. on Sunday. “Guess that answers that.”
Once inside, they walked up to the counter and exposed the badges on their lanyards, then Bill asked the clerk if the cameras worked.
“Yes, they record twenty-four seven, sir.”
Tina liked the young lady already. She was polite.
Bill continued. “Is there someone here that can show us Saturday night’s footage? A manager, maybe?”
“Sure. I’ll text Frank since I’m not supposed to leave the counter. He’s the owner.”
Seconds later, a middle-aged man appeared from the back and asked if he could help them.
“We’d like to see your camera footage from Saturday night,” Bill said. “Police investigation.”
Frank rolled his eyes. “There is definitely a lot of activity that goes on in this neighborhood. That’s why we have the cameras recording nonstop.”
“That’s what we were hoping to hear,” Tina said.
He waved them back. “Right this way.”
Bill explained that they were looking for footage from between nine thirty and ten thirty.
Frank set up the date and time then stepped away.
Tina pulled out her cell phone to record the footage if they saw Beth. First, she took another look at what Beth was wearing that night.
“She has on a slinky white top, short black skirt, and knee-high boots. Shouldn’t be hard to spot her walking up to a white car and talking to the driver through the passenger window.”
Bill groaned. “There are a number of problems I see right out of the gate. It’s nighttime, the pumps and vehicles getting gas obscure the footage, and the fact that the cameras are a hundred feet from the street doesn’t help.”
“We can only do so much.”
Bill gave Tina a glance. “And Leah did say they work in front of the gas station, right?”
“Yep. More light to show off their wares.”
“Okay, let’s see what we get.”
Bill tapped Start, and the footage began. Seeing the street before the gas station and after it wasn’t a problem, but where the white vehicle stopped could be.
“I’ll pause the footage as soon as a white vehicle comes into frame,” he said.
“So it would obviously be coming from the east and driving west. Otherwise, it would be across the street.”
“Exactly, so keep your eyes peeled.”
Nine forty-five, then nine-fifty came and went. Tina gave the computer’s clock a quick glance then returned her focus to the footage. “There! A white sedan just came into the frame.”
“Got it. We need to see if it stops,” Bill said.
“We’ll know if we don’t see it on the right side of the screen continuing on.”
“Nothing. It had to have stopped. Wait a minute, we’re looking at the center camera footage. The right camera is what we need.”
Tina stood. “Hang on. I’ll get Frank.”
Seconds later, Tina was back with Frank at her side.
“Can you queue up the west camera?” Bill asked. “The gas pumps in front of the center camera block the view of the street.”
“Not a problem.” With a few taps on the keyboard, Frank had the west camera ready to go.
“Thanks a lot. We shouldn’t be too long.” Bill waited until Frank left before talking. “Okay, the white car is visible, and a woman with long blond hair and dressed the way Leah described Beth is heading to the passenger window. What time does the car come into view, Tina?”
“Three minutes after ten. Back it up, and I’ll record everything from when the sedan comes into frame until Beth climbs in and they leave together.”
Bill inched the footage back until the front bumper barely showed. He tapped the pause arrow until Tina had her phone set to video and was ready to record. She gave him a nod, and he pressed Play.
The car was there only a short four minutes. It was likely that the john and Beth were negotiating services and price.
Tina let out the breath she had been holding. “So she agreed to whatever they negotiated, got in, and was killed that night.”
“Possibly, but Dave Mann has to confirm Beth’s identity with the DNA from the bone marrow first. We’ll drop off the toothbrush Leah gave us to his office so he can have the forensic lab conduct a comparison of the toothbrush DNA to the DNA he extracted from the leg.
It’s the only way to know for sure if that leg belonged to Beth. ”
Tina groaned. “We have a tough case ahead of us if we can’t make out the car, see the person driving it, or get a license plate number, but by taking advantage of your friendship with Lorenzo and the FBI’s resources, we might catch a break.
Let’s head in and update Greenburg, then you can make your call. ”