Page 57 of Silent Home

"The power outage this morning," she said."You said you knew 'they' would come for your equipment next.Who is 'they'?"

"I don't know names.But there's someone else who's been filming.Another cameraman, using different equipment.More professional gear."His hands sketched another invisible frame."I caught glimpses in my footage—someone documenting the same events I was, but from different angles.Like they were creating their own version of events."

Could he be talking about Paul Wilson?But they'd already cleared Wilson.Then again, perhaps someone had accessed Wilson's cameras without his consent.Someone with darker motives than mere documentation.

"We'll need to see this footage," Finn said.

"It's all there."Thorne nodded toward his equipment."Every file is dated and labeled.I was trying to create a timeline and understand the pattern.But this morning, when the power went out..."He shuddered slightly."It wasn't an accident.They knew I was getting close.Knew I had evidence."

Sheila stood and walked to the observation window.Through it, she could see Thorne's camera bag, hard drives, memory cards—weeks or months of surveillance footage.If he was telling the truth, the killer's pattern might be hidden somewhere in those files.

If he was telling the truth.

"You understand how this looks," she said, turning back to him."You ran.You had detailed knowledge of the murders.You were filming the victims before they died."

"I was filming everyone," he corrected."Because I knew something was wrong, but I didn't know who to trust.The festival brings in dozens of film crews each year.Anyone could have been involved."He leaned forward."But there's one thing I know for certain—the killer uses very specific equipment.High-end motion cameras, professional-grade lenses.The kind of gear that costs more than I make in a year."

"And you can prove this?"Finn asked.

"It's in the footage.Reflections in windows, shadows on walls—you can see the shape of their camera rig.Much bigger than anything I use.The kind of setup documentary crews favor."

Something tickled at the edge of Sheila's memory.Something about documentary filmmakers, about expensive equipment…

But before she could chase down the thought, a knock at the door interrupted them.Deputy Neville entered, looking apologetic.

"Sorry to interrupt, Sheriff, but CSU needs you to sign off on some evidence forms.And the tech team is ready to start analyzing those hard drives."

Sheila nodded."We'll continue this later," she told Thorne.To Finn, she added, "Stay with him.I want to hear more about this other cameraman."

As she followed Neville out, her mind kept circling back to that nagging memory.Something she'd seen, or heard, or…

The answer was there, hidden in plain sight.She just had to figure out what she was really looking at.

Just like the killer had been doing all along.

***

The evidence room hummed with electronics as the tech team began processing Thorne's hard drives.Sheila signed the forms Neville handed her, but her mind was elsewhere, turning over details from the case.

A documentary filmmaker using professional-grade equipment.Someone who understood both the technical and performance aspects of filmmaking.Someone who had been watching, documenting…

She froze, the pen hovering above the last form.

"Sheriff?"Neville asked."Everything okay?"

"The film festival catalog," Sheila said."I need to see it.Now."

Five minutes later, she was flipping through glossy pages in her office, scanning film descriptions and crew listings.There—"Echoes of Silence," Bradley Greenwald's documentary.The one that never got to premiere.

She pulled up the case files on her computer, specifically the notes about Jessica Gregory's movements the night she died.According to the taxi driver, Jessica had gone to the theater to check something.She'd been carrying a yellow envelope.

"What did you find?"Sheila whispered to herself, scanning the documentary's production credits.The director of photography was listed as James Morrison, with a biography noting his extensive work filming "intimate character studies" and "raw human moments."

She did another search, this time through the theater's security logs.Morrison had been given full access during pre-production, using high-end cameras to film behind-the-scenes footage of other productions.Including "The Winter Palace."Including Jessica Gregory's audition.

The pieces were starting to fit together.But she needed to be sure.

She pulled up Charlotte's photos again—the grainy security camera shots of someone going through costume records.The expensive watch was visible in one shot, but there was something else she hadn't noticed before: a camera strap, high-end, the kind used for professional documentary work.

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