Page 56 of Not This Soon

The security team nodded, their hands moving deftly over the controls. The cameras kept pace with Eleanor, tracking her every step. Rachel's eyes darted from one screen to the next, searching for any sign of interaction or conversation.

Ethan leaned in closer, his brow furrowed in concentration. "She seems to be heading towards the elevators," he observed, his voice low.

Rachel nodded, her gaze never leaving the screens. She watched as Eleanor approached the elevator doors, her hand reaching out to press the button. The camera angle shifted, revealing a crowded hallway filled with hospital staff and visitors.

"There," Rachel said, her voice sharp. "Isolate that section. I want to see every person who comes within ten feet of her."

The security team complied, zooming in on the area surrounding Eleanor. Rachel studied each face, committing them to memory. She looked for any sign of recognition or interaction, any hint of a connection to the case.

A part of her thought of the cameras she’d set up back at her aunt’s ranch. She’d half-hoped, with the rattlesnakes, that her aunt and Sheriff Dawes might’ve been involved in all of this. But it seemed clear now they were on a different warpath. She double-checked her phone, frowning towards the notifications. No updates on Dawes. No updates on her aunt.

She scowled. The footage hadn’t pinged in a while. She bit her lower lip, trying to surpress the rising tide of thoughts. Was her aunt really the one who’d killed her parents? Had Dawes been involved somehow?

The money from the heist was missing…

She shook her head. “Focus,” she muttered under her breath. Her eyes darted back to the screen. Another surge of anger flashed through her.

Murderers were all the same.

They didn’t care what they robbed the world of.

Rachel had grown up without parents. And had been raised… by their murderer?

Her hands bunched at her sides and she refocused on the screen. But as the footage progressed, Eleanor remained alone, her path unimpeded. Rachel felt a flicker of disappointment, her hopes of a quick lead fading.

Suddenly, the camera angle changed once more, revealing Eleanor as she transitioned from her crutches to a wheelchair. Rachel leaned forward, her eyes narrowing.

"Zoom in," she ordered, her voice tense. "I want to see her face."

The image enlarged, filling the screen with Eleanor's weathered features. Rachel studied her expression, looking for any sign of distress or fear. But the old woman's face remained impassive, her eyes fixed straight ahead.

The minutes dragged on, each frame of the security footage revealing nothing more than a frail, elderly woman navigating the hospital's sterile corridors. Rachel's eyes strained against the grainy images, desperate for any hint of suspicious activity, any whisper of a lead.

Beside her, Ethan shifted his weight, the rustling of his jacket loud in the tense silence. The security team waited, their fingers poised over the controls, ready to pause or rewind at Rachel's command.

But the footage yielded nothing. No furtive glances, no hushed conversations, no signs of danger lurking in the shadows. Just an injured woman, alone and vulnerable, making her way through a world that seemed to have forgotten her.

Rachel's jaw clenched.

"There has to be something," she muttered, more to herself than to the others in the room. "Keep going."

The security officer nodded, his fingers moving deftly over the controls. The footage skipped forward, the time stamp in the corner of the screen blurring as hours passed in mere seconds.

And then, suddenly, Rachel's hand shot out, her finger jabbing at the screen.

"There! Pause it."

The image froze, the frame capturing a moment in time. A man, his features obscured by a red baseball cap, stood just a few feet away from Eleanor. His posture was tense, his hands shoved deep into the pockets of his jacket.

Rachel leaned forward, her eyes narrowing as she studied the man. It was difficult to make out his features, but there wassomething about his stance, the way he seemed to be looming over Eleanor, that set off alarm bells in her mind.

"Play it," she commanded, her voice tight with anticipation.

The footage resumed, the man approaching Eleanor with slow, deliberate steps. Rachel watched, her breath caught in her throat, as he drew closer and closer until he was standing right beside her.

It looked as if they had an exchange. And then, just as quickly as he had appeared, the man turned and walked away, his movements hurried and furtive. Eleanor remained where she was, her face turned away from the camera, her expression unreadable.

Rachel sat back, her mind racing. Who was this man? What did he want with Eleanor? And why had he approached her in the middle of a busy hospital, only to flee moments later?

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