Page 75 of Shadow of Fear
Nick shook his head. “Wasn’t built in and wasn’t retrofitted with a remote ID module, so definitely flying on the downlow. Makes me mad. We just had a medical helicopter that couldn’t land due to a drone flying illegally in the area. The patient died.”
“That’s horrible.” Kinsley offered a quick prayer for the family suffering a needless loss.
“There’s a reason the FAA has rules in place.” Nick cleared his throat. “Time for some good news. I was able to remove the camera’s memory card. It was intact, and I recovered the video.”
“Not like video of our compound helps.” Dev didn’t bother to hide his skepticism.
Nick didn’t appear to let it bother him. “There was a small snippet of an urban area recorded prior to the cabin footage. Looks like apartment buildings. I’ve isolated a good image to upload to the internet to search for the location, but I’m also going to send it to you to review. Maybe you’ll know what the footage is of.”
“Can you send it right away?” Kinsley asked.
“I’ll fire it off to you as soon as we get off the phone.” He leaned back and put his hands behind his head. “And on a different subject, I’ll also send you the enlarged photo of the jewelry from your apartment. I wasn’t able to do a lot to enhance it, but itisclearer and you might be able to see what you’re looking for. That’s all I have. Sorry I didn’t have great news, but it’s better than nothing.”
“You’re right.” Kinsley smiled at him. “Thanks so much for your help, Nick.”
“I’ll let you know as soon as I hear anything from the manufacturer or if my algorithm turns up something actionable.” He snapped forward in his seat, and the call ended.
Kinsley turned to look at Dev. “We’ll just have to pray what he sends us will turn out to be helpful.”
Her phone dinged a text, and the photo from Nick came through. She opened it while Dev was still standing behind her.
She looked at the screen and gasped. “It’s my apartment complex.”
Dev punched the back of her chair. “Look at the time and date.”
She checked the photo, then flashed a look back at him. “He filmed this after the break-in.”
“It’s the morning you were at the apartment meeting Stewart.” He clutched her chair. “If you zoom in, I’ll bet you’ll find our cars in the parking lot.”
She didn’t want to zoom, but she did, enlarging the image. Just like he’d said, their cars were in the parking lot, and the detective had just arrived.
“He could’ve been scared off by Stewart’s arrival,” Dev said.
She turned her chair to look at him, pulling his hands free from the chair. “What do you think he might’ve been planning to do if the detective hadn’t arrived when he did?”
“I don’t even want to think about it.” His facial muscles tightened. “Thank God Stewart showed up.”
Her phone dinged again, and the text held the photo of her jewelry that Nick had enhanced. She opened it on the screen, and the gold pendant had been enlarged. It was an oblong piece, about an inch long, with writing engraved on the side facing up.
Dev leaned over her shoulder. “Can you make out the writing?”
“No, but likely if we could, it would give away our suspect’s name or maybe the name of someone close to him or he wouldn’t have come back for it.”
“You’re probably right.” He moved back to the other side of the table.
“I was hoping the picture would tell us something,” she said. “But it wasn’t all bad news tonight. We’ll just have to pray that Nick finds something else.”
“I’ll let Nick know the image is of your apartment,” Dev said, disappointment lingering in his gaze.
She got up to pace for a while. Not only to work out her disappointment, but she’d been sitting for far too long. Sitting. Sitting. Sitting. All she’d been able to do while she had to rely on others to figure out who was trying to kill her.
She went to the door and peeked out the tiny window. The only thing she was allowed to look out as the other curtains were pulled tight. If she stayed for any length of time, Dev would ask her to step away from the door. She remained in place long enough to see the sun drop below the horizon, but it was barely noticeable in the heavy smoke clogging the outside air.
She’d experienced bad air quality in Portland from the winds blowing in wildfire smoke, but nothing as bad as this. Poor Abby and now Hayden, standing duty on the porch. They wore a respirator, but still, it wasn’t a pleasant job. She wished she could take their place, but if she could, they wouldn’t need to be here. She owed so many people. Perhaps owed them her life. A debt that could never be repaid. Sure, she could try, or even pay for their services, but that wouldn’t begin to cover it.
Thank you. For your protection. For sending these men and this woman. Watch over them and keep them safe.
Dev came up behind her. “You’re deep in thought.”
