A woman answered with the name of the bank and a cheerful tone. “My name is Marci. How can I help you today?”
“This is an odd request and one you’re probably going to have to forward to your supervisor. I’m looking into seeing if I can access a local branch’s security cameras. I realize that today is Sunday, but banks often have security guards do patrol. Is there any way I can speak to them and potentially have them give me access?”
“I’m sorry. What did you say your name was, and who do you work for?”
“Sorry, miss. My name is…Tom, and I work for”—shit. I couldn’t lie and say I was a police officer, but I quickly remembered what Olivia had told me the day before about having to do all the legwork because their investigator was tied up on other cases—“a law firm actually.” And I gave them Olivia’s firm’s name.
I crossed my fingers that if anyone called her work, she would answer since it was a weekend and vouch for me.
“Let me see what I can do. Hold, please.”
“Thank you.”
40
Olivia
I looked up from my computer to see Tommy walk into my office. I checked the clock on the corner of my screen. “You’re early.”
“I need you to see something.” His demeanor was serious, so I knew something was up.
“Okay,” I said, pulling my laptop closed.
“Leave that open.”
I lifted the lid back up.
“Do you mind if I sit?”
“Give me a second.” I closed down anything that had privileged information on it. “What’s going on?” I asked as I stood.
He slipped into my chair, which was pretty impressive for someone his size. He’d told me that I was graceful, but I thought he was. Although I would never use that word to describe him to his face.
“You’ll see in a second.” He plugged his phone into my computer. He pressed a few folders and opened a video.
It was black and white and taken at night.
I leaned forward. “Is that my house?”
“Yes.”
I watched a car pull up and someone get out. They grabbed a plastic garbage bag from the trunk. “Is the dead cat in there?” I asked. “How did you get this?”
“Your neighbor. He was very nice and let me scan through his security footage.” He pointed to the screen. “Do you recognize the person? Or the car?”
I studied the video, but the person, who did appear to be female, was covered in black from head to toe, except for their face. But she never lifted her head enough to be fully caught on the camera. “It looks like a white woman, but that’s all I’ve got.”
“Same here,” he said.
As for the car, it was a dark four-door sedan. “I don’t know about the vehicle either. I’m really bad at identifying cars.”
“It’s a Mercedes.”
“I’m sorry, but that’s not much help.”
One of my partners drove a Mercedes, but I really didn’t think he was the one threatening me. Especially since he was a man and this appeared to be a woman on the screen.
Tommy ended the video and pulled up another one. This one was from a different location.
“Where’s this?”
“It’s the street in front of the bank by your house. I figured since it was the direction the woman drove away, there was a chance she was caught on other cameras, too.”
“But it’s Sunday.”
He grinned at me. “I called them, told them I was an investigator for your firm, and they were happy to help.”
My jaw dropped. “You’re a genius.”
He laughed.
“I’m serious. That was very smart of you.”
“Thanks. Now, focus on the windshield.”
I watched as the car drove past the bank. “It’s too fast.”
“Let me slow it down for you.”
Tommy played the video in slow-motion. While the bank had better cameras than my neighbor, it was hard to see.
“Once more, please.”
“You got it.”
I leaned back and then into the screen again. “It almost looks like…”
“Who?”
“This is going to sound crazy.”
“Just tell me.”
“It looks like Miranda Scott, Annabelle’s mom, but…”
“But what?”
I had to think of how to put it into words. “She’s…so high-class. Like, the times I’ve seen her outside court, she never drives. She always has a driver. She won’t even touch the door handle to let herself in. But she picked up roadkill off the side of the highway? It just doesn’t fit.”
“Desperate people do desperate things when they feel like they’re backed into a corner.”
I shook my head. “But she doesn’t even acknowledge my existence. Her husband has made it clear he hates me. Miranda Scott acts like I don’t even exist.”
“It doesn’t mean she doesn’t know about you.”
I supposed he was right, but…
“I can’t say for certain that it’s her when I’m not positive. That would make me no better than the Scotts—accusing someone of a crime without evidence.”
Tommy put his arm around my waist, pulling me close to him, and smiled.
“Why do you look so happy?”
“I have a license plate number.”
I gasped. I had been looking so closely at the driver that I didn’t think to look at the plate. “Why didn’t you just say that?”
“I wanted to know what you thought first. Besides, who knows when the police will question her? If there was a chance you knew the person, I thought it was best to keep an eye out.”
I lifted a shoulder. “I guess.”
“What do you need to do to finish up here? Because I was thinking we’d take a little trip to the police station.”
41
Tommy
It had been two days since Olivia and I had taken my findings to the police. They hadn’t been impressed with the two of us showing up at first, but after I’d explained what I had found, their mood had changed.
Now, if I could just get them to call us back with an update so I knew Olivia was safe, I could relax a little. I could tell she was getting antsy, too.
She’d
