Henry and Shawn were waiting in the lobby when we arrived at the Safe Home Security Systems building. They had already checked in with Charles Pike, and he was gathering Leslie’s data and videos for us but wouldn’t release them until he had the warrant in hand.
“Right this way,” Henry said.
He led us down several hallways to Mr. Pike’s department, where a dozen or so cubicles filled the large office space. I assumed that behind each divider was a person pitching the monitoring service that was available for a nominal fee to the doorbell camera owners.
Henry knocked on the door that had Charles Pike’s name on a plaque. He called out for us to come in. With the warrant ready to present, Lutz entered first and introduced himself as the commander for our homicide unit. Mr. Pike stood and reached across his desk to shake Lutz’s hand. The rest of us hung back.
“Mr. Pike, I’d like to cut to the chase since a woman’s life hangs in the balance,” Lutz said. “Here is the warrant for every video your company has stored in the cloud for Leslie Adams.”
Charles Pike opened the document and read it. “Everything looks to be in place. It will include all doorbell footage from the time our company started monitoring her account. Now, all I need is an email address to send her files to.”
Lutz gave me a nod, and I rattled off my email address. Having the footage on my computer in the bullpen made more sense. We could all watch it together.
I couldn’t wait to get to the precinct. We thanked Mr. Pike and left.
“What about Frank?” I asked as Lutz headed south.
“Call him and see if anything has happened since we left his place.”
My phone rang just as I pulled it from my pocket. It was Frank. “That’s weird. Mills is calling me.” I swiped the green phone icon and answered. “Hey, buddy, we’re heading back to the station with the log-in and link to Leslie’s cloud-storage account. I was about to call you. I’m putting you on Speakerphone.”
“Jesse, shut up for a second. The killer just contacted me and said I had to get on the Green Line at Forty-Seventh Street and ride it to the end at Ashland and Sixty-Third.”
“Why?”
“How the hell would I know? Probably so he can try to ambush me. He said I need to get off there, go to the return platform, and ride it back to Garfield. Once I’m there, he’ll call me.”
Lutz chimed in. “He definitely has something in mind, and he’s giving you the runaround, but that’s good for us.”
“How so?”
“He’s familiar with you and Jesse, but he doesn’t know what any of the other guys look like. I’m going to put Henry and Shawn on the Green Line ahead of you at Indiana so they can start scouting out the scene. If we get a hit on the perp in the database, we’ll send his photo to everyone’s phone. You’re the bait, but little does he know that we’re turning the tables on him. No matter what, if he is following you, Henry and Shawn will have your back.”
“Okay, I’m up for that. We just need to find out who he is and where he lives, and hopefully, that’ll be where he has Gina stashed. I’m really praying that she’s still alive.”
Lutz groaned. “And so are we, Frank. We’ll let you know if we get a hit on his name. Either way, we’ll send his image to everyone’s phone. I’ll keep the officers at your house just in case he’s trying to draw you out so he can set a trap.”
“Appreciate it, Boss.”
Lutz had me call Henry and tell him the change of plans. They were to head to the Indiana subway station and board the train. After that, they needed to stay in constant contact with Frank.
I ended the call just as Lutz pulled into our lot. I couldn’t wait to log on to Leslie’s account and finally see the perp’s face right in front of us. His would be the last image caught before he ripped the doorbell from the wall.
I jerked my head at the back entrance to our building. “Let’s go see who we’re dealing with.”
The only detectives left in the bullpen were Tony and Kip, and two officers were also present. Lutz grabbed my guest chair and scooted it to my side as I took a seat, jiggled the mouse, and woke up my computer.
“Okay, it’s time to reveal yourself, asshole.” I opened the email sent by Charles Pike, highlighted Leslie’s log-in, and entered that information into her cloud storage account with Safe Home Security Systems. Dozens of videos popped up, all people who rang her doorbell over time. I scanned the tabs, looking for one that would let us see the videos by date.
“There.” Kip pointed at the top left of the screen. “That drop-down menu is for entering the date.”
I clicked the tab and saw that it went by the month. I entered May and tapped the date for Wednesday, two days earlier. The camera was motion activated, but it looked like it caught movement only forty feet or so out. It didn’t catch passing cars on the street, which was good for us. “Here we go.” The camera caught Frank and me walking up the sidewalk to the porch. Frank extended his hand and rang the bell. The video was clear and crisp, and both of us fit into the frame.
“This is perfect,” Lutz said.
The video activated again when we left a half hour later. The perp was next, and according to Beth Dupont, he’d arrived only ten minutes after we left.
I sat on the edge of my seat. Any second, we’d see him. Suddenly, the camera came to life and caught a man walking up the sidewalk thirty feet out.
“Here comes the son of a bitch,” Lutz said. “Wait until he presses the buzzer, and then stop the footage.”
My finger hovered over the Pause button. We needed him as close to the camera as possible.
Seconds later, Lutz yelled out. “Ready—now!”
I pressed Pause then released the breath I’d been holding. We had him.