Page 27 of Just Now

He swung his leg over the bike, started up, and roared away.

Connor set his shoulders and jaw in the firm expression Cami knew so well. Then he headed to the bar’s wooden door, which was closed.

He opened it.

A swath of smoke hung in the beer-laced air. The place was dimly lit, and the scattering of patrons around the bar counter and at the tables didn’t look pleased to see them at all.

The bartender was a middle-aged man with a bushy beard, big-shouldered and heavily tattooed. He looked up as they approached, abandoning his task of wiping a glass with a worn-looking rag.

“We don’t serve police in here,” he said, glowering at them.

“We’re just here to ask a few questions,” Connor said calmly. “It’s in connection with a serial murder case.”

“Well, I don’t know anything about that,” the barman insisted, his hand tightening around the glass. “And even if I did, I wouldn’t share it with the police. We don’t trust the cops here. You cause more trouble than you fix. You raid us, you issue fines, you shut us down. I don’t need to give you anything. See the sign at the door? Right of admission is reserved, and I’m reserving it now. Go get your information somewhere else.”

“I don’t think we’ll be going anywhere else. Not when what we need is right here,” Connor said, but in response, there were a couple of derisive shouts and angry mutters from the patrons nearby.

Cami felt a thrill of nerves that the situation was going to escalate. And fast.

But in the meantime, she had seen what she needed.

Cameras. Above the bar counter and also above the door. This place was well covered. Two cameras, two sets of footage, and if they worked, then without a doubt, she’d know if Kate had also been to this bar.

In this environment, she didn’t know if they were going to get easy access to those cameras. Hacking them might be the best option.

As the patrons crowded together and she heard the scrape of chairs as several of them stood, she knew this was going to be a race against time.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

“Did you hear me? I’m the owner here and these are my rules. We don’t serve police in here! All you do is cause trouble for us!” The threatening words, growled out by the barman, resounded around Endpoint’s smoky interior.

Having set her phone to search for the bar’s Wi-Fi, Cami glanced nervously at Connor, who was standing his ground. His feet were planted solidly on the floor. His face was impassive.

In this threatening atmosphere, he was keeping icily controlled, while making it very clear that it would be difficult to budge him.

Cami watched as the other patrons in the bar started to shift, their hands inching toward their pockets and waistbands.

“It’s not a routine check,” Connor insisted. “We’re not looking to fine you or close you down. Women have been killed, and we’re needing some information. We understand two of the victims, perhaps three, visited your bar recently.”

“We’re a busy bar. And we don’t allow any trouble with people hassling women in here. You think we’d do that? You’re wrong!”

“All we need is a look at your camera footage,” Connor said persuasively.

“And that’s one thing you’re not getting,” the barman snapped back. “Our footage is private!” The request seemed to have ratcheted his anger even higher.

Cami felt her heart racing. The tension in the room was rising by the second. The patrons were now openly staring at them, all with hostility in their eyes.

“Why not?” Connor asked.

The barman’s lips twisted into a sneer. “You think we’re just gonna let you waltz in here and take a look at our private property? My customers’ privacy is important. You can turn around and walk back out that door, or we’ll throw you out.”

Why was he being so openly hostile? Cami wondered if he knew something about the murders, or if he was just trying to protect his business. She sensed there was more to it than just protecting his business. He was hiding something.

She needed to try to get into those cameras. If she could take a look, access the footage, or even transfer it to the cloud, then maybe they wouldn’t need to stand in this smoky room, pinned by unfriendly gazes, with the background music thumping hard and the sight of hands reaching into jacket pockets, which made her think they were getting ready to rustle out guns or knives.

Quickly, she turned her focus to her phone, trying to sidle behind Connor so that she wouldn’t attract attention.

What did she have here?

---