IRENE - BLACKBIRD book 6

8. play it again

They worked in a focused silence, taking turns to keep the coffee flowing. Brock ended up making a whole bottle of herbs tea to keep at hand on the table, because his system wasn't coffee-proof as theirs.

Gillian found Irene's car on the traffic feeds, a glimpse from the first camera outside the gas station, and she was able to follow the car on the feeds from the next two cameras.

She kept her voice low and her eyes on the tablet to say, "Sir, d'you have camera B-254? I have only up to B-253."

Brock paused the feed he was checking and went back to the list of files. "B-254?" He took a quick look at the list and frowned. "I've got from B-255 on."

Gillian did the same—check the list and frown. "I've got up to B-253," she repeated, and looked up across the table. "T, can you send me the feed from camera B-254?"

A moment later, the girl joined the check-and-frown club. "I don't have it."

"Maybe it's out of order," said Brock. "Let's see the next camera. I've got that one. What's the timeframe?"

Gillian checked her tablet. "Seven... forty-three."

"Forty-three," he repeated under his breath. "Let me see..."

She was brave enough to keep her eyes on him while he watched the feed and nailed her mind to what they were doing. He shook his head.

"A white Gol, right?" he asked.

"Yes."

"No white Gol from seven forty to eight p.m."

The others paused their work and paid attention. She went back on her feed and stopped it to show Brock Irene's car driving down the fast lane. Aldana took the picture of the gas station from the board and handed it to them. Gillian checked it and gave it to Brock.

"Here. Same model, same plate."

Brock nodded, giving her his tablet for her to check. Gillian did and scowled. "Nothing! She's gone!"

"Let me see." Ron stood up to turn on the TV. "Give me your tablet, Reg. T, send me here the first camera you have after Reg's last."

He enabled the TV Bluetooth and used the large screen to play the feeds from the tablet. Soon he paused it.

"Here she is, like Reg said." He pointed at the small white car on the screen.

"Print the caption," said Russell.

Ron did and switched files. "So this is camera... B-255. Let's say Brockner's right and 254 is off. How much distance between cameras? Three-hundred yards?"

"Make it five-hundred," said Aldana.

"So half a mile from 253 to 255. There's some traffic but no jams. So let's be very generous and say it took her what... five minutes to drive by 255? So we should see her about seven... forty-eight."

He searched for the seven-thirty mark and played the video.

"Don't fast-forward," said Brock. "Maybe that's why I missed it."

They spent the next thirty minutes watching the feed on normal speed. When the timestamp read eight p.m., Ron stopped the video.

"Brockner's right, guys. Irene never made it to 255."

"T, give us satellite of that part of the road," asked Aldana.

When the image showed on screen, they zoomed in to make sure no secondary roads or onramps left the Interstate. None did. Meanwhile, Russell grabbed Gillian's tablet and replayed both feeds.

"Hey, guys, look at this," he said.

He played the first feed on the TV again.

"There, that's Irene, right?" he said. "Now pay attention." He paused the video a minute later. "What d'you see?"

"A bunch of cars," grunted Ron.

"And a tow truck," said Brock.

Russell nodded. "Exactly. And it ain't towing no car, right? It's free. Now watch this." He switched files and played the second video.

"There!" gasped Aldana a few minutes later.

Russell paused the feed, for all of them to see the tow truck driving past the camera.

"It's got a car!" said Tanya.

"A white car!" said Gillian.

"Play it again, Sam," said Ron, standing before the TV with his arms folded and a serious frown.

Russell did, until Ron signaled him to pause it once more. Ron looked around and called, "Fred!"