Page 20 of Dead and Gone

"No inscription on the front of the watch. There're a couple of indents at the top and bottom. Damage maybe? Or could be a bad photo?" Rowan clicks on another. "The watch open—again, nothing special. Ordinary numbers and no magical inscriptions on the clock face or casing."

"Any pictures of the back?" I ask.

He nods and shows us. "One. No markings."

"Not much to go on. If we focus on the mole and look more closely at the Redridges, perhaps the connection will become apparent. Any luck with the photos depicting the mole's activities?" I ask Rowan.

His eyes brighten, and he shoves a hand into his hair, as he always does when about to announce something useful. Good.

"I ran a few through photo enhancing software," he says, "And Holly took a look at the backgrounds in case she recognized someone's house. Like I said, the thieves were careful, but I've found a picture that sort-of has somebody in."

"Sort of?" I purse my lips. "A visible body part?"

Rowan shakes his head. "Here's Marvin in the café by the mall." He zooms in on an image where Marvin sits at a table in the window enjoying chocolate cake.

"The cafe? Then several people must've seen who took the photo. The place is popular."

"Look at the window. It's dark outside and the café shuts at six. Marvin visited when the cafe was closed."

"Broke in?" asks Grayson.

"Maybe. But there's another possibility—one of the mole-knappers works at the cafe and photographed Marvin after work," suggests Rowan. "Therefore, someone he or she knows must work there."

"Oh." My eyes widen. "Which of Kai's friends does the cafe employ?"

"No clue, but we can ask Holly?" suggests Rowan.

"Good plan." I stand. "What next? More research into Redridge?"

"I haven't finished what I wanted to say, Violet," says Rowan, and Leif arches a brow at his irritated tone. "When I said there's 'sort-of' someone in the picture, I meant this."

I sit beside him, our arms touching as he shows me the zoomed-in image. "The thieves were careful not to reflect themselves in the window as they took the picture, but right in the corner, someone is standing to one side and isjustvisible."

Leif twists the laptop towards himself and peers. "We can't see much. A guy. Tall. Can't even see what he's wearing."

"A blazer," Rowan says. "Plain not striped—local school, not Thornwood."

"How can you see that?" Leif asks.

He clicks a few buttons, then shows a duplicate of the image with more detail—not much, but enough to show the guy's clothes and that he has short hair.

"This confirms the theory that the kids from the high school took the mole." I tap the table. "Who visited that day?"

“All of the Sixth Form kids took part in the excursion."

"Including Kai and his idiot friends?" I ask.

"Totally something he'd do," remarks Grayson. "Whoever's in charge of the mole and his adventures needs total trust in those helping him—Kai has a lot of influence."

"On my suspect list from the start." I take my phone from a pocket. "I'll meet with Holly and see if she knows anything about local student employment at the cafe."

"And we talk to Kai?" suggests Grayson.

"And warn him that we know?" I ask. "No. That will need to wait until my meeting with the curator."

"What meeting? When?" asks Rowan sharply.

"I told Leif I intended to speak to him."

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