Franklin overheard and tossed me the car keys. “Be gentle with her. Candi doesn’t like women. I’ll hang around here and catch a ride back with Winfrey.”
Chugging along, I finally arrived at Brentwood Village around five a.m. The complex was so large that locating the manager’s office was a lot like navigating the hedge maze in Stephen King’s The Shining. I knocked on Melody Eldringhoff’s door and clumsy footsteps padded across dense carpeting inside. The door opened, revealing a scowling fifty-something woman.
I produced my shield and a hard stare. “I’m here about several robberies that have taken place at Westport Manor. It’s my understanding that you’re the building manager.”
“I am. But unless there was damage to the building, I don’t know what that has to do with me or the corporation I represent. The renters are responsible for their own insurance.”
“There was damage. The burglars broke down two doors. They also shot and killed one of the residents. So, if you don’t mind, I’d like to see the security footage.”
A hand flew to her mouth. “That’s horrible, but then, that neighborhood isn’t what it used to be.”
“Is that why you prefer to live here?”
Her eyes narrowed as she puffed her chest. “I’m a woman living alone, Detective. Can you blame me?”
My spine stiffened and I shifted my weight. “I’ll wait outside while you change.”
“We house the monitors in a maintenance building at the rear of the complex. I’ll call the maintenance supervisor and ask that he meet you there.”
Forensics must have given Franklin the all-clear because I found the maintenance supervisor, Tim Wallace, directing his cleanup crew inside Joanna Phillips’s apartment.
“I’m Detective Crenshaw.” My announcement startled him, and he whipped around, unsteady on his feet.
Sidestepping the wide ring of blood swamping the carpeting, he motioned for me to follow him outside. “Ms. Phillips is in her room, resting. Her friends asked that we try not to disturb her.”
“Where are her friends now?”
He shrugged. “They left when we arrived but said they’d return before noon. Ms. Eldringhoff said you’d like a look at the security video?”
“I would. Do you keep them all or record over them?”
“They’re kept for thirty days. After that, for cost reasons, we’re instructed to reuse them.”
The sun was peeking over the horizon, no longer an old friend bearing new and exciting possibilities but rather a demon of whom I should be leery.
“Would you happen to have another one of those?” I asked, motioning to his cap bearing the corporate logo. “I forgot my sunglasses.”
“No problem. We keep them in the same place the video equipment is stored.”
“How far away is that?”
“Just around the corner. Follow me.”
I stuffed my bare hands in my pockets and scurried behind him, shrinking within his shadow.
Seated beside him, a Langston Properties cap pulled low on my forehead, I instructed him to rewind the footage. “Stop once you reach the 10 p.m. timestamp.” Squinting, I leaned in. “Is this footage from the camera that monitors the northwest corridor? Because it doesn’t look familiar.”
“Yeah, the camera swivels. What we’re seeing now is the south side. Give it a minute.”
“So only a single camera monitors the entire front of the building?”
“I’m afraid so.”
The angle changed and the windows bordering Reed’s apartment came into view. I watched as one scene replaced another, the transition somewhat jerky. According to the timestamp, exactly two minutes separated surveillance of the south and north sides. Was two minutes enough to miss whatever had taken place outside the Phillipses’ apartment?
A half hour passed, then forty-five minutes, and I offered to take the controls, so Wallace could return to his crew. Just as he got to his feet, two silhouettes appeared in the northwest corridor.
“Freeze it there,” I said. The image was grainy, and I asked him if he could enlarge it.
“That will probably make it more distorted, but sure, I’ll give it a try.”
He was right.
I sighed. “Okay, minimize it, and let’s see what happens next.”
He let the recording play. One of the two figures standing directly outside Reed’s apartment jimmied the lock and both figures disappeared inside. Eleven minutes later, a young woman entered the corridor from the parking lot and unlocked the Phillipses’ apartment, just as the intruders exited Reed’s apartment and took her by surprise. She turned to look at them, and her neighborly smile quickly disappeared. One of the men pushed her inside the Phillipses’ apartment. Seconds later, a flash lit up the window facing the corridor. I assumed it was the muzzle flash from the weapon used to kill her.
“Oh my God,” Wallace muttered beneath a shaky palm.
I laid a hand on his shoulder. “You’ve been a big help, Mr. Wallace. I’ll need to borrow the disk. Our tech department may be able to enhance it.”
“I don’t know,” he said nervously. “I should ask Ms. Eldringhoff.”
I felt my nostrils flare and forced eye contact. “I can get a warrant. In the meantime, two killers could leave the state.”
He tossed his arms in the air. “What the hell. Jobs like this are a dime a dozen.”
“Mind if I hang on to this?” I said, touching the brim of the cap. “I’ll return it when I return the disk.”
“Be my guest. How long do you—”
“I’ll get the disk back to you just as soon as possible, Mr. Wallace. If your manager has a problem with that, have her contact me.”
Before I headed home, I dropped both the disk and Candi by the station. I had intended to hang around while forensics manipulated the disk, but all the analysts were in the field. I thought of the baby again and immediately redirected my thoughts. I swallowed past a sob and the resentment I’d recently come to feel toward Bianca. I envied daughters who could tell their mothers anything.