Page 155 of Hidden Tide
“Agent Marquez, this camera has been disconnected.”
We all stare at the monitor.
“That’s impossible,” Hazel says. “We just watched him through it.”
The officer examines the cable.
“It didn’t come loose. It was cut.”
“When?” Marquez asks.
“I can’t determine that.”
I look toward Hazel’s phone. “Check the time on the recording.”
She pulls away from me and opens the security application. Her hands shake as she moves through the menus.
“The live feed is still offline.”
“Go to stored recordings,” Ivy says.
Hazel taps the screen.
A list appears.
The last video from her bedroom is marked with today’s date.
She opens the file and enlarges the information beneath it.
Her face loses what little color remains.
“This was recorded at three seventeen this afternoon.”
Hours ago.
Simon wasn’t inside her apartment when the camera came online.
He made us watch a recording.
“The movement at the rear window,” Ward says. “Someone must have triggered it remotely.”
“Or an accomplice was inside the courtyard,” Ben adds.
Marquez lifts the radio again.
“Search the rear courtyard and every unlocked utility area. The suspect may have someone nearby controlling the security system.”
“He’s gone,” I say.
Marquez turns toward me.
“He’s been gone for hours.”
She doesn’t argue.
On the body-camera feed, officers continue searching Hazel’s apartment.
An evidence technician enters the bedroom and begins photographing everything before touching it.
