She thought ofthe blood staining the floor, and the young woman dead by the doorway. The slitin her side, her right kidney missing, just like the other two.
Adele continuedto stare at the furniture store, her eyes tracing the glass windows. There hadto be a clue she was missing. Some break in the case. Adele refused to believethe killer would get away with it.
Then shestiffened.
Her eyes zeroedin on the furniture store. More specifically, on the two security camerasplaced in the top of the window, facing the street.
“Please berecording. Please be recording,” she muttered to herself. She heard footstepsbehind her, and Robert’s voice called out, “Adele, are you—” He paused, andAdele heard him quicken his stride. “What is it?” he asked, recognizing thelook on her face. “Is everything okay?”
Adele didn’tpoint. She just stared, and she knew Robert was good enough to spot the camerason his own.
She waited for afew moments before Robert also froze next to her. “Oh,” he said. “You thinkthey’re on?”
Adele’s mouthfelt suddenly dry. “Half the time they’re just for show.”
Robert began totug at her arm, pulling her past the officers behind the caution tape. “I guesswe can find out,” he said. His eyes were narrowed now, calculating. Adele likedit when he got like this. Very little escaped his attention.
Adele fell intostep, following after Robert, ducking beneath the caution tape. The twoofficers bid farewell with quick nods. Adele glanced up the stairs in the directionof Agent Paige. She could just see the bottom of the older woman’s feet, whereshe continued to stand by the window.
Adele didn’tcall out, though. Some relationships couldn’t be repaired if both parties weren’twilling. This partnership was a liability.
“Shall I fetchher?” Robert asked softly.
Adeleacknowledged her shorter partner, but shook her head once. “Give her some time.”
Robert nodded.And the two of them took the stairs, moving out the front of the building andheading over to the furniture store with the security cameras.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
They sat inRobert’s office, both staring at the computer behind Adele’s desk this time.Initially, they had tried accessing the files from Robert’s computer, butsomehow, he had managed to download a virus. On the other side of the room, atall IT operator with long, rock star hair pulled back in a ponytail wastapping away at Robert’s keyboard, trying to clean the hard drive. For Adele’spart, she examined the security footage on her laptop again. She stood,allowing Robert to sit in her chair, both their backs to the window.
Agent Paige hadcome with them at the discovery of new evidence. She lounged in the doorway,seemingly loath to enter the room. This suited Adele just fine. The more distancebetween them, the better as far as she was concerned.
They watched thevideo again, then again.
“You think it’shim?” Robert queried, then answered his own question. “Has to be. Fits our timeframe perfectly.” He pointed at the screen, tracking the figure as they playedthe video clip on loop.
The only figurebesides an elderly couple exiting the building in the allotted time frame was aman in uniform. He carried a toolbox in his right hand, which swung mildly witheach stride. He seemed of average height, but had a cap over his head. He hadlonger hair, though not quite as long as the tech working on Robert’s computer.Besides the hair, they couldn’t make out anything about his face beneath thebrim of the hat. The man also wore gloves.
The grainy footageplayed again on loop. The video almost seemed to taunt them as the toolboxswung nonchalantly by his waist. Adele watched as he entered the apartment.Then the tape fast-forwarded, and about an hour later, judging by thetimestamp, he exited the building. Still carrying the toolbox, still with hishat over his face, his head hung low, his gloves on. “Anything?” Adele asked,quietly. Robert continued to frown, studying the screen.
“Nothing,” hesaid, “I don’t see anything.”
“Hang on, playit again,” Adele said.
For the fourthtime, Robert restarted the clip, and they both watched.
Yellow hat,average height, longish hair. No visible features, no reflection in the glass.No one else entering or coming from the building except for an elderly couple.
“Nothing,”Adele echoed Robert’s word. “Come on,” she said through clenched teeth. “Therehas to be something… there’s always something.”
Robert continuedto stare. “One hour he was in there. That’s long enough to talk his way in,kill her, cut out her kidney. But he had to move fast.”
She didn’t evenbother glancing up, but Adele could see Paige out of the corner of her eyeshaking her head.
“Why thetoolbox?” Robert cut her off, frowning. “If all he needed was a knife, to getthe kidney, to kill her. Why the toolbox?” She watched as her old mentor jabbeda finger at the screen, pointing adamantly. “See, see I knew it. He switchedhands.”
Adele hesitated,“Excuse me?”
Robert jammedhis finger against the screen again. “He switched hands. The toolbox. When he’sentering, he’s carrying it in his right hand. But look, look.” He waited,pausing for the video to repeat its loop and come back around to the part wherethe killer exited the building. “Look; left hand. He enters right hand. Exitsleft hand.”
“Okay, I’ll giveyou that,” Adele said, “he switched hands with the toolbox. So what?”
“Everyone has apreferred carrying hand. Just watch anyone carrying groceries in from thestore. Every single person has a preferred carrying hand. He preferred carryingthe toolbox in his right hand when he entered the building. But then comingout, he’s holding it in his left hand.”
“So,” Adelesaid, “now, he wants to treat it delicately. When he leaves, he’s taking morecare with the toolbox. Look, he’s not even swinging it as much.”
They played theimage again, and both of them nodded in turn. Adele heard a shifting sound, anda creak of the floorboard; she noticed Agent Paige now moving further into theroom, as if lured by the curiosity of it all.
“It’s thekidney,” said Adele, nodding once in certainty. “He has the kidney in thattoolbox.”
Robert shifted. “Sohe is right-handed, and he has the kidney in that toolbox. What’s thesignificance of that? You don’t think he eats it…” Robert trailed off, allowingthe horrible
