Killer View by Roy Johansen

Author:Roy Johansen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2022-02-02T00:00:00+00:00

Jessie texted Wheeler from the police department’s underground parking garage, and he was waiting for them when they emerged from the elevator near the fourth-floor A/V lab.

Wheeler smiled. “Have you been camping out downstairs, waiting for my calls? I just texted you.”

“We were in the neighborhood.” She gestured to Brice. “My associate, Rick Desmond. Detective Wheeler.”

“Desmond.” Wheeler shook his hand as he glanced at Jessie. “Since when do you work with an associate? The only person I’ve ever seen you working with is Kendra Michaels.”

“Ms. Mercado and I seldom work together,” Brice said quickly. “I run a video production house a few blocks from here. She thought I might like to take a look at whatever you found.” He smiled. “I hope you don’t mind. I have a good deal of experience enhancing video, but your people are the experts.”

“They are.” His gaze narrowed on Brice’s face. “You look familiar. Have we run into each other before?”

Brice shook his head. “I don’t think so.” He smiled. “I sometimes give seminars for law-enforcement officers in the Bay Area, but not in L.A.”

“Seminars? Then you must be an expert, too.”

Brice made a face. “That’s what they call me. I know my job. Silicon Valley keeps bringing out new technology, and we just have to keep up with it. Your techs work miracles sharpening fuzzy videos every day.”

Brice was in fine form, Jessie thought. He was exuding competence, charm, and modesty. She almost believed in him herself. But he might get into deep trouble if anyone decided to test that competence. She said quickly, “And I’d like to see that traffic cam video right now, if you don’t mind. What did your people find?”

“I’ll show you.” He opened the door to the A/V lab and gestured to a console where a tech was seated in front of a large monitor. Wheeler patted the tech on the shoulder. “Run it again, Larry.”

Larry rotated a wheel on the console and then pressed the PLAY button.

Wheeler spoke over the assembled traffic cam clips of Ferris’s car on the city streets. “I’ve already sent you the route he took just before the car disappears. This morning, we discovered something else. It’s a three-point-eight-mile trip but for a few blocks of it…there’s someone else in the car with him.”

“Really?” Jessie stepped closer to the monitor.

“Yes. Larry caught it after a bit of digital sharpening.”

“Here,” Larry said as his fingers flew across the keyboard. “I’ll put the clips on a loop.”

Jessie watched as three clips played back-to-back. The zoomed-in images were blurry, but they clearly showed someone in the seat next to Ferris.

“We think it’s a woman, but the image is too soft to make any kind of positive ID,” Wheeler said. “It appears that he picked up the person and dropped her off just a few blocks later.”

Larry pressed a button to freeze the picture. The passenger image looked like mush.

Wheeler shook his head. “See? It difficult to make out anything.”

“Can you isolate the blocks where he picked her up?” Jessie said.

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