Page 62 of Lost Lake
“I’ll zoom in to see if there’s any front-end damage.”
The photo enlarged, and Gabe searched for any sign of damage. “I don’t see anything, but the camera angle blocks the vehicle’s right side. Could have damage that we can’t see.”
“Agreed.” Jude looked up. “The photos are clean. No dates or markings to tell when they were taken.”
“Maybe they were shot before the ravine crash,” Gabe said. “Looks like a person in the driver seat. See if you can focus better on him.”
Jude played with his mouse and computer keys, sharpening the picture. “There’s a guy there, all right. Looks like he’s holding binoculars.”
Wishing they could make out more of the guy’s face, Gabe rested his arms on the chair back and propped his chin on them. “You think this guy is watching the daycare and Mason was watching him?”
“Looks like it.” Jude rubbed his jaw. “But why?”
“The six-million-dollar question.” Gabe peered at the photo. “Can you make out the license plate?”
“First four characters. 974M.”
“That’s what I see too.” Gabe grabbed his phone and called El.
“Gabe,” she answered, far too alert to suggest she’d been asleep.
He put her on speaker. “You see the email from Sierra?”
“Just heading into the office to run the van’s plates. We can only make out four digits, how about you?”
“Same, but they’re enough to generate results that we should be able to narrow down through process of elimination.”
Why in the world would she waste time driving to her office? “Can’t you do it from your car?”
“More efficient to be at my desk to print out a list of potential candidates. Then I can use the computer to start narrowing them down.”
“Can I help?”
“Sure.”
The answer came far faster than Gabe had expected. “Jude is here with me. Mind if I bring him too?”
“That might be helpful.”
“Be there in fifteen.” Gabe ended the call and looked at his buddy. “You in?”
Jude grinned. “Thought you’d never ask.”
Gabe shot to his feet. “On our way out, we need to get Hayden searching for a connection between Mason and the daycare.”
“Agreed.” Jude clicked the mouse a few times then stood. “I might be okay as the team’s technical backup, but he can run circles around me.”
Gabe didn’t disagree with that statement. He charged for the door, beating Jude. Together they raced to Hayden’s room. Gabe pounded on the door until his teammate answered.
Hayden rubbed his eyes. “Do either of you know what time it is?”
“Yeah. Two a.m.,” Gabe replied. “Your usual prime work time.”
“Why’re you sleeping anyway?” Jude asked.
“Long day.”
“Got enough in your tank to run one of your famous algorithms?” Gabe explained their discovery. “Not only run the van’s plates but look for a connection between Mason and the daycare.”
