photo by Jonathan Petersson for pexels.com
Together the two men watched the traffic turning down Dombey Street. On the small screen the entrance of the coffee shop was just about visible although a tree was obscuring part of the street.
“What time did you and Carly arrive?”
Wez looked at the time ticking away on the image. “In about half an hour.”
“Right, we’ll slow everything down and watch who goes in and out.” Joe clicked the mouse and leaned forward. “Any ideas, Wez?”
“When Mary Duncan and Jake Williams were murdered a female tourist with a back-pack was in the vicinity.”
“What do you remember about today? Did you see any tourists?”
Wez stared at Joe. “The place was full of tourists!”
“Any women with back-packs in the coffee shop?”
“Not that I remember.”
Silence filled the office as both men watched their deceased colleague appear on the screen.
“Here we are,” he whispered.
Wez watched himself walking alongside Carly. Were they laughing? What had they talked about? He was pleased that he had made her laugh, that her last thoughts had been happy. And he had been chivalrous. He had held the door open for her. Beside him he could almost feel Joe’s concentration as he devoured every inch of the area around the coffee shop. Wez wished that there had been cameras inside, that he could have looked at the faces of the customers that he had paid no attention to. Had someone been watching him, watching Carly.
“Here she is.”
Joe froze the screen and Wez looked at the smiling face of Carly framed in the doorway, a take-out cup in each hand. Glancing quickly at Wez, Joe advanced the film frame by frame and Carly walked back in the direction of the station, her smile no longer visible, only her back. Wez held his breath as he waited once again to watch his colleague die. Would he see her murderer this time?
“So who is around her?” Joe had frozen the image, catching Carly just before she hit the ground.
They saw an elderly woman approaching the camera, the backs of a man in a leather jacket and a woman in a smart suit and the faces of young couple caught just in front of the camera. Was one of those the killer?
“Rewind it, Joe and let’s focus on these people. You watch the couple and I’ll watch the man.”
The scene replayed again and Wes watched the man in the leather jacket appear in shot; he was in a hurry. He caught up with Carly and overtook her. There was no contact, he didn’t even glance at her as he passed by.
“The young couple are talking to each other, they pass by her, nothing more,” Joe stated.
“Ok, this time you watch the woman in the suit and I’ll take the old woman.”
Once again Carly died before their eyes.
“I have her.” Joe stopped the image and rewound. “Look. Watch the woman in the suit.”
Wez watched the woman approach Carly, stop, seem to speak and then turn back to retrace her steps while Carly fell to the ground. When chaos broke out behind her, she didn’t once glace behind to find out what had happened.
“Carly starts to fall as soon as she turns away, Wez. It must be her. She doesn’t even break a step when the shouting starts. Anyone else would have turned around. You did say a woman was seen at the previous two scenes.”
“Get a close up of her face.”
“We’ll have to see if tech can do anything but I think she’s too far away and Carly is obscuring her. Could it be the same woman?”
Wez considered the question. “I don’t know. She’s dressed differently but .. Rewind and see if we can see where she comes from.” Frame by frame they watched as Carly rose from the dead and stepped back into the coffee shop. “Keep going. There.”
The two men watched as the woman in the suit walked backwards towards the coffee shop. Joe froze the frame when she stood in the doorway.
“She left before you. She must have been watching you, left before you and waited. We should be able to get a clearer image of her face.”
“She’s looking down, Joe. She knows where the cameras are.”
The tech boys will be able to get something, Wez. Then you can circulate the photo.”
Milly Reynolds 