Page 50 of Mistletoe and Malice
“Affirmative. John will want to send a uniform to pick this up.”
“Copy.”
Riley looked up from the envelope. “I want to know what it says.”
He hitched a brow. “Do you?”
“It can’t be worse than what he did to my house.”
“We’ll have to wait for Stapleton to get it processed before it’s opened.” He consulted his watch. “Your meeting is in an hour, so if you have time, let’s run through the previous three videos and compare them to the one Security’s sending.”
She picked up the phone from her desk. “Hallie, can you bring your laptop in here, please? And see if you can get two more.”
“Will do.”
He grinned down at her. “You should’ve been an investigator.”
“I’ve done this kind of thing with our investigator many times. Easier to see them together side by side than to keep changing screens.”
“Exactly. I’ll have to take you on a tour of Tech Ops at Petersen sometime. Each station has a minimum of four monitors, and one entire wall is nothing but screens. Most of it’s security footage from various locations, but also if we need several eyes on the same images.”
Her face brightened. “I’d love that.”
Hallie walked in carrying three laptops at the same time the email from Security popped into Riley’s inbox. “Got it, Trevor. I’ll be in Riley’s office, but stand your post.”
“Copy that.”
Hallie set up the three laptops next to Riley’s on the conference table, and after some forwarding of links, the four videos looped on separate screens.
“Need anything else?”
Riley shook her head. “Not for now, Hal. Thanks.”
Hallie returned to her office as he and Riley leaned over her laptop. The man today had appeared as a courier, complete with satchel, skin-tight leggings, polarized wrap sunglasses, and a bike helmet over long, curly red hair.
Riley sat in a chair and studied the first image, then the second. “I wish we could zoom in. There’s something on his right hand in each of these.”
Colton bent over her and peered at the screen. Her signature oriental garden fragrance floated in the air around her, and he almost leaned closer to get more of it.
Focus. He needed to focus. The right hand. “I see it.” He straightened and pulled out his phone. “I sent these to Tech Ops on Saturday.” A voice answered at the other end. “Hey, Dillon, you still have the footage handy I shot you this weekend?”
“Of the ever-changing deliveryman?” Dillon tapped keys on his end. “Got it. What do you need?”
“Can you zero in on his right hand from last Monday, then from last Wednesday?”
More tapping ensued before it quieted again, as Dillon no doubt used his mouse to sharpen the image. “Got it. A bit blurry, but maybe a bandage of some sort. Wrapped all the way around.”
Colton looked at Riley. “A bandage, he thinks. So same guy.”
Standing, she jerked her head toward the third laptop with Friday’s deliveryman. “But not on Friday. Can we get a closer look at the top of his hand?”
“Dill—”
“I heard her. Working on it now.” Dillon hummed some unidentifiable tune while his fingers worked away. “Oh, wow. This guy’s all scratched up. Like a cat got to him.”
Colton’s eyes caught on Riley’s. “Or fingernails?”
“Yes. Could definitely be from fingernails. Appears scabbed over, which is probably why he didn’t bandage it.”
