I craned my neck beyond J.T.’s shoulder and through the driver’s side window as we stared at the entrance to Second Life Resale. I checked the time on my phone. “There must be an alley entrance, otherwise we would have seen somebody walk up and unlock the front door.”
We sat in the cruiser and sipped coffee as we watched the door and windows for signs of life. A light should go on soon, and somebody would have to turn the Closed sign around.
I stared at the run-down buildings on either side of the street. The neighborhood looked rough at best.
“Why the hell would somebody choose to have a business right here?” I asked, more rhetorically than anything else. “I’d have my sidearm locked and loaded twenty-four seven.”
J.T. chuckled. “You already do.”
I checked the time again—8:55.
“Queue the lights,” J.T. said. “Somebody is inside and headed toward the door. Got everything you need?”
I smirked as I climbed out of the cruiser. “You mean my gun?”
We crossed the street and approached the building just as the sign on the door was spun to indicate the store was officially open. Past experience had told us it was best not to give potential witnesses a heads-up that we were coming. They wouldn’t have time to think of anything but the truth, in most cases.
A woman gave us a surprised smile as we neared the door. She pulled it open and allowed us in. “Wow, my assistant must have marked everything down. We never have customers right out of the gate.”
Once we were inside and she had closed the door behind us, I stuck out my hand to introduce myself. “Sorry, but this is an official visit. We aren’t here to shop. I’m FBI Agent Jade Monroe, and this”—I pointed at J.T.—“is my partner, J.T. Harper.” We pulled out our IDs. “Are you the store owner?”
“FBI? Is something wrong?”
I noticed how her eyes darted from left to right out the floor-to-ceiling windows on either side of the door.
“Believe me, this is an iffy neighborhood on its best days, hence the bars on the door and windows.” She paused and looked at us apprehensively. “Oh, sorry. Yes, I’m the owner, Jan Severson. What seems to be the problem, agents?”
“We’re looking for information on a purchase made late in the day on Tuesday. I have a photo of the receipt right here.” I dipped my hand into my coat pocket and pulled out my phone. She waited as I tapped the Gallery icon and scrolled to the picture. I handed my phone to her.
“Okay, yes, Emma told me she sold several chairs the other night.”
J.T. spoke up. “So you weren’t here during that transaction?”
“Sorry, but no. I work Monday, Wednesday, and Friday until three, and then I have part-time employees pick up the other weekdays and cover the weekends. Was there a problem with the chairs?”
I smiled. “We didn’t buy them, ma’am, but we are very interested in the person who did.” My eyes scanned the interior walls. I pointed. “I see you have a camera near the register. Are there any more?”
“I’m afraid not. There’s really no concern over theft since most of our items are too large. It’s the till I worry about.”
“We noticed a few cameras outside along the rooflines as we walked over here. Are any of those yours?”
“No, but given the quantity of security cameras in the neighborhood, most of them overlap and cover my doorway too. That’s why I didn’t bother installing my own. We don’t have a lot of markup on the furniture here, so I tend to cut corners in other areas where I can.”
J.T. nodded. “How about letting us take a look at the register video from Tuesday? We’d like to see the person who purchased those chairs.”
“Of course, but do I need to sit in there with you? I may get customers, and until noon, I’m the only one here.”
“We only need you to set it up, ma’am,” I said. “We can handle it after that.”
Jan led us to a closet-sized office where the camera footage was installed on a laptop computer. We watched as she clicked the camera icon on the desktop. The live feed came up and showed an empty counter where the cash register was located.
“There you go. It’s all ready. I’ll back it up to where the tape begins on Tuesday. It switches to the next day at midnight. That’s the best I can do. You’ll have to advance the footage to get to the precise minute that’s on your copy of the receipt.”
I gave her a thank-you nod. “I think we can handle it from here. We appreciate your help, Jan.”
“Holler if you need anything.” She walked out and closed the door.
“Okay”—I double-checked the picture on my phone—“we’re looking for five-fifty according to the receipt.”
The process was much more tedious than we had anticipated. The camera taped a full twenty-four hours before kicking over to the next day, so we had nearly an eighteen-hour length of tape to get through before we reached five-fifty p.m. Even pushing the slider bar ahead, we found it took about ten minutes to get through each hour of tape.
I groaned. “At this rate, it’s going to take three hours to get to the time we need. This system must be ten years old. How about I stay here and you knock on the doors of some of the other buildings? Maybe their outside cameras caught the guy entering the store.”
J.T. pushed back from the desk. “Yeah, good idea. There’s no point in both of us sitting here like Tweedledee and Tweedledum.”
I rolled my eyes. “Did you really just say that?”
“I’m afraid so. Keep your phone handy in case I find something.”
“Will do.” I called Sullivan as I watched the minutes pass on the video. I manually inched the scrubber bar forward with the computer mouse.
Sullivan picked up his office phone on the first ring. I assumed he had to be sitting at his desk. “Captain Sullivan speaking. How can I help you?”
“Hey, Captain, Jade here. J.T. and I are at the secondhand store. I’m reviewing their slower- than-molasses video feed from Tuesday, and J.T. went out to see if any neighboring stores had videos that are from the twenty-first century.”
He sighed. “So are you saying you’ll be there for a while?”
“Afraid so unless J.T. finds something helpful soon. Any news on that sign-in sheet?”
“I talked to Charlie ten minutes ago. He said they were getting close.”
“Good to know. At least that’s something.”
“Yeah, I can only hold Alex for forty-eight hours before I have to charge him with a crime or cut him loose. We’ve rounded up a few more people from his clan, and Fitch and Andrews are conducting the interviews. Something has to surface today, or everyone will have to be let go.”
“We’re working on it, sir. I’d suggest getting somebody to start compiling the initials of everyone that has been interviewed. It’ll speed things up once Charlie and the tech department definitively figures out what’s written on that sign-in sheet from Insomnia.”
“Great idea. I’ll get Stone and Mills on that immediately. Keep me posted, and I’ll do the same.”
I hung up and slid the scrubber bar to the right again. This process was inefficient and time-consuming. I paused the tape and pushed back the chair. I needed to talk to Jan. I stepped out of that stuffy room to brighter light and fresher air. I saw Jan at the back of the store and called her over.
“Agent Monroe, what can I help you with?”
“This process is going to take a long time. My partner is seeing what we can get from the outside cameras.” I rubbed my forehead in thought. “Okay, here’s what I want you to do. Call the woman who worked Tuesday night and get her over here. You said her name was Emma, right?”
With her cell phone already in hand, Jan scrolled the contact list with her index finger. She looked up at me. “Yes, Emma is the one who sold the chairs to the man in question.”
“Good, get her here now. I need more information.”
“I’m on it, Agent Monroe.”