Page 77 of Inferno

They all wanted answers.

Considering Julio did as well, he wasn’t arguing if they wanted to solve this themselves. They were letting the FBI help, at least.

“Here.” Romeo called out to the room as a whole. “I’ve got him!”

Addie turned from the group by the map and shifted far enough Julio saw ears belonging to a German shepherd behind where she’d been standing. Former officer River Gaines stood by his search and rescue K-9, his wife, Tessa—nearby with her Belgian Malinois—affectionately called a Maligator. Probably his connection to the Benson PD meant he’d been allowed into this inner circle nerve center.

Addie pointed to the wall. “Send it to the screen.”

Romeo hit a few keys, and the huge TV on the wall flickered to a different window. A security feed of one of the halls. “This has to be outside of what was disabled.”

Julio said, “He only turned off the cameras in the motor pool.”

The officer who’d been on the motor pool desk, watching that area, several others, and signing vehicles in and out, must not have realized until it was too late.

Julio had wondered more than once if he’d still have a job tomorrow. But then, who’d have expected this? He’d been doing his job—not staring at the screen, watching cars and cops. The fact this attack had been so carefully coordinated told these cops—and Julio had agreed—that this was an elaborate plan. What Julio hadn’t added was that only someone with inside information could have known enough to pull it off.

Walter Barnes didn’t seem like he had that level of attention to detail. He was more of a “crime of opportunity” type of guy.

“There.” Addie nodded. “You’re right.”

Lieutenant Deluca stared at the screen and frowned. “What is he doing? Is that a shoebox?”

Addie said, “He left it on that shelf.”

The video footage showed a maintenance guy walking out of the room.

“Any other images of him?” Julio asked.

Someone at a laptop down from Romeo said, “I’ve got a shot of his face.” She sent the image to the monitor on the wall.

Julio walked closer so he could get a better look.

“Who is that?”

“Run it through facial recognition. I want it checked against the DMV database first.”

“Vanguard can do it faster.”

He let all the conversation wash around him, the buzz of noise almost rippling against his ears. He still had a hard time with too much noise. Julio had grown up in an almost silent house, unless he played music on his personal CD player. His parents hadn’t understood his need for a stereo given theycouldn’t hear most of the sound coming out. His dad could hear nothing, but his mom heard a kind of droning buzz when music played—or the TV. Enough to bother her, like a nearby fan irritated her ears in an almost painful way. They just weren’t the kind of people who enjoyed music.

The TV screen froze. Someone grabbed the image with a mouse, cutting the face out and dragging a copy to another screen.

Julio reached up and stuck his fingers in his ears so he could focus on what he was seeing.

After a few seconds, someone touched his elbow. Addie. “Is everything okay?”

He lowered his hands and turned to her. “It’s Walter Barnes.”

The room silenced almost immediately.

She frowned. “This guy has a dark curly hair and a mustache.” But she wasn’t arguing with him—she was stating facts. “What makes you so sure it’s him?”

She wanted to know why he was so certain. How he knew.

Apart from the fact that Julio had been up close and personal with him?

He turned to Addie. “Who interviewed him after he tried to kill Samantha?”

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