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As Trent drove them back to the casino, Dela called Detective Stedman and Quinn giving them the limo license plate number and letting them know she had the SD card. She told Quinn, “Trent and I are headed to the security office to view the photos.”
“I’ll be there in fifteen,” he responded.
Dela ended the call as Trent parked the ATV. She didn’t want Quinn telling her to wait for him because she wasn’t about to. For all she knew he’d come in and confiscate the card before they had a chance to look at anything.
She shoved her phone in a pocket. “Where would be the best place to take a look at this card?”
Trent paused before they entered the building. “I would say the room behind the main surveillance room. I’ll call Sidney up to help us. She worked surveillance before she applied for security.”
Dela walked through the door Trent unlocked. “That’s a good idea. Because if there isn’t any video of someone entering Rowena’s room, that means someone in surveillance helped the murderer.”
Trent stopped and stared at her. “Really?”
“Who else would have been able to either scrape the video or turn it off during the time the killer walked down the hall, entered, then returned to the hall and walked away?” She clenched the envelope in her hand. She’d discovered there were surveillance members who would take money to hide crimes. It had happened at the Spotted Pony shortly after she’d started working there. She’d exposed the cover-up and became the head of security.
“Makes sense. I just don’t like to think someone who has been working for the casino would do something like that.” Trent led her through the security office. “Sidney, call in someone to take over for you. We need your help up in the back surveillance room.”
She nodded and spoke on the radio. “I need someone to cover for me, Trent’s orders. Jack, how about you come sit for a while.”
“Copy,” said a garbled male voice.
“As soon as he gets in here, I’ll head up,” Sidney said.
Trent nodded and Dela followed him out of the security offices and over to the stairs leading up to the surveillance room. She was glad the Spotted Pony had both security and surveillance on the main floor of the casino. Her stub would always be angry and throbbing by the end of a shift if she had to climb stairs multiple times.
At the top, Trent looked back. “You sure you’re okay? It had to of been a shock finding your friend.”
Dela ignored him and they entered the surveillance room.
“What do you need now?” Oscar asked.
“Sidney will be coming up here to help us,” Trent said, continuing to the back room.
Dela noted the other surveillance members kept their gaze on their monitors while Oscar’s followed their movements.
When they were in the back room waiting for Sidney, Dela asked, “What do you know about Oscar?”
Trent stopped putting three chairs in front of a large monitor in the room. He studied her. “Why?”
“He’s been jumpy ever since we asked him about the surveillance of the hallway to the Benedicts’ suite and just now, he was the only one who was interested in what we’re doing.”
“You think he had something to do with the missing boy?” Trent sat down and motioned for her to sit as well.
“He does seem overly interested.” Dela settled onto the chair as the door opened.
“Sorry. It took Jack a bit to relieve me. He was stopped by a guest and felt he should answer the questions.”
Dela smiled at the young woman. She liked Sidney’s commitment to her job. “That’s okay, we had things to discuss.” Dela held out the SD card. “We’d like to see what is on this, please.”
Sidney started up the computer in front of the chair she sat in and the monitor came to life. “Does this have something to do with the missing boy?”
“There is a possibility.” Dela glanced at Trent, wondering why he wasn’t taking the lead on this.
“I feel for poor Mrs. Benedict. She loves Asher. She just doesn’t know how to be a mother.” Sidney clicked on a folder that appeared on the monitor.
Small photos of fog, waves, rocks, and the darkness of the land on the north side of the beach shrouded in the fog. Rowena was able to capture the mood of the foggy morning. Seeing her friend’s talent squeezed Dela’s heart. Why did those with so much talent to give the world die so young?
Trent put his arm out, pointing to a photo. “That one is from her balcony.”
“Yes. Make that larger and don’t change the photo until we’ve searched it thoroughly,” Dela said, compartmenting her sorrow and getting back to the reason they studied these photos.
She searched the full photo before seeing the small spot out on the horizon. “Okay, move on but keep an eye on that spot there.” She pointed to what could be a boat.
Sidney moved to the next photo. Same scene but the dot on the horizon had been brought up close by a zoom lens. It was a boat. A power boat with some writing on the side.
Her phone buzzed. Dela glanced at the caller. She sighed and read the message.
Where are you?
In the back room of surveillance.
“Be prepared, Special Agent Quinn is on his way up. He’ll probably want this card.” She had to admit that his tech people could probably blow the photo up with enough clarity to read the name on the boat. “Next photo.”
Now the photos were of the beach. In the left lower corner, she spotted a head. Hard to say if when the photo was enlarged the image would be discernable. “Sidney, can you blow that lower corner up?”
The security guard isolated the section Dela pointed to and enlarged it on the screen. The photo was grainy.
“Does that look like anyone you’ve seen?” Dela asked.
“It’s hard to say. If I could see the body, it might help jog my mind,” Trent said.
“Yeah, there aren’t any features—”
The door opened abruptly. Quinn stepped in and shut the door with a thud. “What are you doing viewing evidence in a federal case?”
Dela spun around and frowned at Quinn. In a fierce quiet voice, she asked, “What’s up with you coming in here and letting everyone in the casino know we have this card?”
He didn’t even quell from her reprimand. Quinn stalked up to the back of Sidney and said, “Give me that card.” He held his badge out in front of her face.
Sidney glanced at Trent, who shrugged, then at Dela.
She shook her head as Sidney mouthed “Stall him.”
“I don’t know why we can’t see what’s on the disk, it pertains to a crime committed at the casino,” Dela said, standing and moving to make Quinn turn his back to whatever Sidney was doing.
“You know that kidnapping on Indian land is under FBI jurisdiction,” Quinn said, crossing his arms.
“You Feds could care less about what happens to anyone on Native American land. You wouldn’t be here if the father wasn’t someone you’ve been after for years.” Dela had enough anger against this man, and many others who wore his badge, that she could keep this going for as long as Sidney needed to accomplish whatever she had planned.
“You know good and well that we step up and help out when needed on the reservations,” Quinn said, a smattering of hurt in his tone.
“Only because there are now laws that require you to.” Dela uncrossed her arms and pointed at him. “I want copies of all the photos on that disk.”
Quinn shrugged. “You can ask but that doesn’t mean you’ll get them.”
Sidney held the SD card up over her head. “Stop bothering Dela and take your card.”
Quinn snatched the card from Sidney and said, “At least someone around here understands authority.”
“Don’t let the door hit you on the way out,” Dela said, dropping into the chair feeling as if she just lost a battle that should have been a victory.
The door closed and Sidney turned the monitor back on. The photo they’d been looking at popped up.
Dela sat up straight. “How did you do that?”
“I started copying the card onto the hard drive when you said he was coming up to get it. It hadn’t finished when he arrived, that’s why I told you to stall him.”
Dela hugged her. “Quick thinking.”
Trent cleared his throat. “You think it’s wise to go against the FBI?”
Dela waved a hand and told Sidney to go to the next photo before replying to Trent. “He’s used to me going behind his back. He’d lose respect for me if I hadn’t tried to see the photos or, thanks to Sidney’s quick thinking, hadn’t kept a copy.”
“Is there any way we can figure out who that boat belongs to?” she said out loud.
“My brother is with the Coast Guard harbor patrol. I can see if they saw anyone with this type of boat yesterday.” Trent took a photo of the boat on the monitor and sat back typing on his phone.
“Next photo, please,” Dela said.
The next photo was of the boy and an older man in the bushes where Dela was sure the man was waiting for whoever was picking up the child. Asher played with his stuffed dog while the man looked out to sea. “That boat had to be there to pick up the boy. But how did they accomplish it?”
Sidney moved to the next photo when the door opened. Dela stood, blocking whoever opened the door from seeing the monitor.
It was Oscar. “Trent, there’s something you need to see,” he said, his voice wavering and his head tilting as if trying to see around Dela.
“Talk to you later,” Trent said and ended his phone call. “What’s going on?” He motioned for Oscar to turn around and then stared at Dela as if to say, you might be right.
Dela waited until the door closed before she sat back down. “What do you know about Oscar?” Dela asked.
“He shouldn’t work in a casino. He has a gambling problem. When he isn’t working, he spends half of his off hours gambling.” Sidney clicked to another photo. She pointed, “What’s that?”
Dela followed the tip of Sidney’s finger and noticed something out in the water. “Do seals come in that close to the beach and rocks?” Dela asked.
“They can, but they are usually out at the spit, not here by the casino,” Sidney enlarged the seal. “I don’t think seals wear goggles.”
Dela studied the enlargement. It was a man in a wet suit. “But how did he get that poor little boy out to the boat without anyone seeing him? He surely wouldn’t just haul him through the water sputtering and taking on salt water.” Dela had another thought. “Keep looking through those and print out the ones that show us the man in the wetsuit and the best photo of the older man and the boat. I’m going to read through the information that Quinn sent me on Mr. Benedict.”
She leaned back in her chair and opened her phone to her emails. She scrolled to the one from Quinn and started reading. It appeared that Hugo Benedict had his fingers in every operation there was in Oregon, Washington, and California that had to do with money laundering and corporate fraud. The reports named people she’d heard linked to the same types of crimes. Everyone had gone to court and won their freedom with money and good lawyers.
“From what I’m reading, he could have pissed off any number of people who would want to get back at him.” Dela stopped reading as her phone rang. Detective Stedman.
“Hello Detective,” she answered.
“Dela, I have a name on that limo license you gave me. It’s Jude West.”
She ran the name over in her mind. He hadn’t been named in the report Quinn sent her about Benedict. “Do you know anything about him?”
“I figured you’d ask. He’s as rich as the Benedicts, single, and has been seen with Mrs. Benedict multiple times.”
“As in lovers?” Dela asked.
“That’s the rumor.”
She thought about this. Had Felicity called her lover for support when her husband was being an ass? That made sense. “Where can I find Mr. West?”
“He has residences in Portland, Seattle, and Oakland. And rumor has it he owns one of the beach resorts on the Oregon Coast but no one has been able to substantiate it.”
“Any chance you could have the state police be on the lookout for his limo? That way I can have a talk with him. I’m sure he wouldn’t take Mrs. Benedict very far from here considering she would want to be notified if we hear anything.” Dela wanted to see if perhaps the lover got the boy out of the way so he and Felicity could be together without having to deal with Hugo.
“I’ll see what I can do. How are you coming along with that card?” Stedman asked.
“We’re printing off photos that give us an idea of what happened but I’m not sure how easy it will be to find the two men and the boat.” She went on to tell him about the scenario they’d pieced together from seeing the photos. “I want to make sure when these guys are caught that Rowena gets full credit for taking these and realizing they were of importance to the kidnapping.”
“I’ll make sure of that,” Detective Stedman said before he ended the call.
Dela pointed to a photo. “Who is that in the background?” The photo was one taken not of the beach in front of the balcony but toward the north. At the corner of the next building stood a man who looked familiar.