Private Affair(57)
“We’re just to your right,” Shane said, gesturing. “We’re all registered under assumed names.”
“Because?” Olivia asked.
“Because the guy who attacked you knows that Max works for Rockfort Security. He knew who I was. He knew that stealing my phone would be a good way to con Max.”
“Unfortunately,” Olivia agreed.
“We’re all staying in Columbia until we solve this damn thing,” Shane said.
“Even if Hamilton is checking up on us?” Max asked.
“No question,” Jack answered.
He had brought in a laptop, and Max looked at the machine. “The tape from the surveillance camera is on there?”
“Yeah. It was networked to the laptop at Olivia’s house.”
“Does Hamilton have access to all your notes?” she asked.
Max laughed. “If he wants to spend hours trying to figure out the password.”
Jack set the machine on the coffee table, and they all squeezed onto the sofa.
Shane queued up the tape, found the current date, and began to play, scrolling the morning and early afternoon.
When he got to the afternoon, he slowed. First they all saw Max come out of the house and head for his car.
Nobody said anything, but he kept his gaze fixed on the screen, unwilling to look at anyone else in the room and feeling like a grub under a rock. If he had stayed at Olivia’s where he was supposed to be, none of this would have happened. Well, Claire would have showed up, but the perp wouldn’t have attacked with Max in the house, since he would have gone to a lot of trouble to get rid of him.
Again Shane sped up the tape, but not as fast as before. He slowed it down again when a car came bouncing up the rutted gravel road.
“That’s Claire,” Olivia murmured.
The car lurched to a stop in front of the house, and a woman got out. Her skin was pale, her hair was a mess, and her eyes were wide.
Jack paused the picture for a moment, and they all gazed at the distraught woman. “She looks like she’s been holed up in her house. And finally got forced out.”
“We don’t know exactly what happened,” Max interjected. “I’d like to go over there, but Hamilton is going to make sure we don’t get inside.”
“Or arrest us if we do,” Jack added.
Jack started the tape again, and Claire hurried up to the front porch and disappeared under the overhang.
“She banged on the door, and I let her in,” Olivia said.
“Let’s see what else happens outside,” Shane said.
They kept their eyes on the screen as the view of the outside stayed static for several seconds.
“Okay,” Max finally said. “I see something flickering at the left-hand edge of the picture.”
“Too bad we can’t change the view,” Jack muttered.
The flickering continued, and finally a man walked into the frame. He was wearing a dark shirt and pants, and his head was covered with a knit cap. He was also wearing leather gloves. The clothing covered almost anything that could have identified him, and he had already put on the gas mask and was adjusting it as he walked.
Max made an angry sound as the guy stood for several moments watching the house, then started walking again. He had a knapsack slung over one shoulder, and as they watched, he reached inside and pulled out a canister.
“I guess that’s the smoke bomb,” Olivia whispered, her voice high and reedy.
He hefted it in his hand, then heaved it toward a window, where it crashed through. Seconds later, he rushed forward and looked inside.
On the tape, smoke began to billow out the shattered glass. And it seemed that less than a minute went by before he threw another missile after the first.
“What were you doing after he threw it?” Jack asked.
“Claire and I both started coughing, and our eyes were burning. I was trying to get her out of there. First she wouldn’t move. Then it seemed like she’d come with me. But she changed her mind again.”
They were still watching the screen. The man was still on the outside looking in, but he probably couldn’t see anything through the smoke. Then he withdrew a gun from the knapsack and walked confidently around to the front of the house.
“What a brave guy,” Jack muttered. “Going after two defenseless women inside with their eyes stinging and their lungs burning.”
“He thought they were defenseless,” Max answered. “But Olivia wasn’t going to just let him shoot her.”
With the gun in his hand, the man disappeared from view.
“I guess that’s it,” Jack said. “Too bad we couldn’t hear anything or see anything more.”
Max turned toward Olivia. “From what we just watched, do you know who he is?”