Page 142 of Callahan

“Is there anything on the cameras?” Brian demanded as he drove toward Lainey’s apartment while I pulled up the footage of her camera feed.

“The front shows Kristy getting there around four fifteen, and then before that—”

“She got there at four fifteen?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Because she didn’t call me until after six.”

“Okay. Well, I’m sure there’s a reason for that. At three fifty-two, there’s a two-minute blip where the feed goes completely white. Fifteen minutes before that, Paulina leaves and locks the door. And before that…” I scrolled through the footage until I reached the lunch rush. “Nothing unusual.”

I switched to the back stairs. “The same white blip thing happens on the back camera at four after four. That one’s longer though, like three minutes.”

“That’s gotta be when she was taken. I know that fucker Earl has something to do with this. There’s no way Bess did all that on her own.”

“I agree. And Bess is still in jail?”

“I double-checked on my way to get you.”

“Still nothing from the crime lab?”

“No. But I think this may escalate the priority.”

“What about Justin? Has anyone talked to him?”

Brian didn’t disguise his grin when he looked over at me.

“I’d say Dr. Weaver is pretty low on our suspect list.”

“We still need to cover our bases,” I grumbled.

The back camera alerted for movement, and I quickly called up the feed.

“Speak of the devil.”

Justin was walking up the back steps, dressed in black dress pants, a blue button-down shirt that was open at the throat, and shiny black shoes. And he was carrying a bouquet of flowers. He brushed the hair over his ears and cupped his hand in front of his mouth, like he was checking his breath, before he let out a deep breath, then knocked on her door.

“Turn the speaker on,” Brian said.

I couldn’t see Kristy’s face, but I heard her voice when she answered the door.

It was obvious by the shakiness of her tone, that she was distraught. He must have asked if Lainey was there before I turned the speaker on because she responded.

“No! She’s missing!”

Justin said the same thing Alan did.

“What do you mean, ‘missing’?”

“She wasn’t downstairs when I arrived, but I didn’t think anything of it. I thought maybe Conor was being fussy, or he’d had a diaper emergency, so I got to work. When she didn’t come down after an hour, I thought maybe she fell asleep, and I knew she had her date with you, so I thought I’d let her rest. At a little after six, I decided I should wake her up so she could get ready, so I went upstairs. The apartment was unlocked, which was a red flag, but I thought maybe she had her hands full when she came inside and forgot to lock it. But then I heard Conor crying—almost inconsolably, and I panicked and thought maybe she’d fallen or something. But she was nowhere to be found.”

“Oh my god! Have you called—”

She must have stepped aside and let him inside because he disappeared from the feed, his voice faded, followed by the sound of the door closing.

Brian said, “Well, that explains why she didn’t call right away,” as he pulled up to the front of the bakery.

The place was deserted.

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