Read Online Maximum Security (A Dog Park Mystery) by C. A. Newsome - Free Book Online Page A

Potato Head’ approach recently. This is
far superior. Now we work with evolutionary algorithms to morph
into the correct likeness holistically.”
    “Excuse me?” Lia wrinkled her
brow, she turned her head, and caught Peter looking too innocent.
“You,” She growled as she poked him in the chest, “Are not supposed
to snicker at witnesses.” She turned back to the computer screen.
“Okay, how does this work?”
    “Just watch. I love this program.”
Forman keyed in the basic data. Nine different images popped up on
the screen. “Look at the faces and tell me which one is most like
the woman you saw.”
    Lia scanned the array, pointed to
the middle image on the top row. “That one.”
    “Now look at them again and tell
me which two faces look least like her.”
    She considered, then selected two
more faces. “Why do you want to know what she doesn’t look
like?”
    “It feeds into the algorithm.” He
entered her choices. A new array of photos popped up, all
variations of the first photo she selected. “Same thing. Which
looks most like her?”
    Lia selected three more faces. They
went through this process several more times. Each time the faces
offered looked more like the woman in the park. Finally Lia said,
“That’s it. That one. It doesn’t have the emotion, but that’s
her.”
    “Shame we don’t have a program yet
that can overlay feelings onto the likeness.”
    “This is amazing. It’s not at all
stiff like the sketch I saw on television last year of the
Blue-Eyed Rapist. What do you do with the drawing now?”
    “Andy,” Peter nodded at Officer
Forman, “is going to generate some copies. Brent and I are going to
spend tomorrow running them around to all the motels within a five
mile radius of the park. If she’s an out-of-towner, we’ve got to
catch up with her before she takes off. Do you think Jim’s still
awake? It would help if we had a description of the vehicle. Once
we get that, we can hit the rental agencies.”
    “What if it turns out the body
isn’t George?”
    “We still want to find her. A
stranger at the dog park, waiting for someone who doesn’t show, no
dog, inappropriately dressed. Maybe her friend didn’t show because
he couldn’t. Even if she wasn’t waiting for our dead guy, she’s
been hanging around the woods. She might have seen
something.”
    “Do you think she killed
him?”
    “I don’t know. She’s an anomaly,
and cases are built on anomalies.”

 
Day 3
Friday, October 11
    “Brother of mine, we are not
taking your ten year old Blazer. Apart from being embarrassed to be
seen in it, there’s always the question of when its poor, worn out
engine is going to drop on the road.” Brent walked past Peter’s SUV
and clicked his remote key-fob. Brent’s Audi beeped and flashed its
lights.
    Peter gritted his teeth. “My engine
is fine. I had it rebuilt last year. You just want an excuse to
show off your new car.”
    “That I do.”
    “You have to promise to obey all
traffic laws.”
    “You just want to ruin all my fun,
don’t you?” He got into the driver’s side, waited for Peter. “ You
know, you could trade in your Blazer for an Escape. Every time you
transported a suspect, you’d be making an ironic
statement.”
    “That truck is going to live at
least another ten years.”
    “It’s a car, not a marriage. Where
to?”
    “We’ve got a choice. There’s the
Comfort Inn up on Mitchell Avenue. A middle class lady would feel
comfortable there. Or there’s that string of older motels down on
Central Parkway. We could hit all of them in the time it would take
for us to go up to Mitchell and back.”
    “Isn’t that like looking for your
car keys under a street lamp because the light’s better? Some of
those places are really run down.”
    “What’s closest to us is also
closest to the park,” Peter pointed out. “They’re small, and
chances are that if she’s staying at one of them, the clerk on the
desk would know it. Comfort Inn, she