Page 41 of Just Hide

“I’m looking?” Connor sounded curious.

Flicking from vantage point to vantage point, she showed him what she’d noticed. "This one is totally clear. The angle’s right. You can see the faces, and you can see people passing by. It's working as it's intended to. That’s the third-floor computer room door just there, visible from this camera."

"Yup. That's all good."

"Now this one on the first floor, the same. Working as it should." To prove it, Cami scrolled back through the footage, going past the images of people walking to and fro, speeding them up as she went weeks back. It was all correct.

"But this one? On the second floor? It’s not working at all."

Connor leaned forward. "You’re right. It’s not. It seems like it was knocked sideways. Or maybe pushed out of line," he added thoughtfully.

The camera outside the second-floor computer room was tilted at an angle where people couldn’t be clearly seen. Only their legs could be seen. And a whole lot of anonymous legs passing by were impossible to match up to their owners, Cami realized. Everyone in this company wore jeans or chinos or cargo pants. You couldn't tell whether it was the MD or a cleaner passing by.

And that was the camera that recorded who was accessing the second-floor computer room. So, this camera angle meant that nobody entering that room could be seen properly.

"Do you think it's a mistake?"

"I don't know. But there's a way we can find out if it was a genuine mistake or else if the camera was moved."

Connor nodded, seeing Cami's point instantly. "Scroll back through the footage?"

"Exactly. If we do that, we'll see if it was always that way or if it was turned or moved at some stage, and if so, when."

Now feeling intent on this new theory, Cami scrolled back through the footage, looking at the time prints. If the camera had always been that way, it wasn't as suspicious as if it had been turned that way. If it had been turned that way, especially in recent weeks, it gave them a clue. They might be able to work out who'd been on the premises at the time.

She scrolled back one week, then another. Then two more weeks, checking the angles carefully, because it wasn't always possible to see at a glance where people were walking, until they were either cut off halfway or not.

"Three weeks ago, and it's still this way," she said. "Four weeks ago, still the same."

And then, she caught her breath. "Look here, Connor! This is it. Look. The cameras were fine this day—it was a Sunday. And now, look. Monday morning, and the view is different."

From the Sunday to the Monday, just over a month ago, the camera angle had been changed—subtly, but enough to prevent anyone from being clearly seen. No faces visible. Only legs.

"Someone did this! Can we see who?"

She homed in on the moment, but it was impossible to see it, to her frustration. It seemed that the cameras had been offline for a few minutes because there was a gap in the footage of every camera. Someone must have known that would happen, and that there was a reset scheduled. They’d been waiting to do it and had gone in during the down time.

They were looking at the window of time when this killer had been here, and at least Cami could now see when it was. It was at six a.m. on that Monday morning, give or take a few minutes.

"Would it have been done remotely?" Connor asked.

"I think it was done manually," Cami said. "All it would have taken was a ladder or maybe even a chair.”

“And why has nobody noticed?”

“I don't think these cameras are checked very often. The footage would only be used if there was a break in or some serious incident. I doubt anyone even noticed that the camera angle was different."

"Can we see who logged in for work that morning?" Connor asked.

"We can."

Cami went back and checked the logins. She made a face. She’d thought this would be easy, but it seemed that Monday morning had included a big software upgrade as well. A lot of IT staff had been at work early, as well as a couple of reception staff, and the usual night staff, the watchmen and cleaners, were still on duty.

"This hasn’t helped me as much as I thought,” she admitted. “That day was definitely chosen for a reason. This was all so well planned," she said. She felt like they'd been outwitted here. Someone had had this in mind and had probably been planning it for a while, choosing the day with care, knowing the cameras would be down, a lot of staff would be on site, and nobody would know they’d done it.

"That’s a shame. But maybe, looking at who did it is only one question," Connor said. “Maybe we haven’t placed enough focus on why they did it.”

Cami nodded. Why those suspects? Why these women?

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