Read Online Requite by E. H. Reinhard - Free Book Online Page A

near the bar.
    “I’m going to guess this has something to do with the attacks over in the parking structure?” he asked.
    “So you’re aware of what happened?” Hank asked.
    “Sure, something like that happening so close, word travels fast.”
    “Did you work last night Mister Leonard?” I asked.
    “I was here the earlier part of the night. We were swamped. I’m usually out of here at ten o’clock on Tuesday nights, but I stayed late last night due to the crowd from the basketball game. I still was home by a little after eleven.”
    “We have a photo that we would like you to take a look at.” I motioned to Hank to get out a flier.
    He slid one from the folder and held it up. “Did you happen to see this woman in here before you left?” Hank asked.
    The manager took the flier and studied the photo. “I don’t know. I guess I couldn’t say for sure one way or the other. Like I said, we were pretty crowded last night.”
    “Mister Leonard, we noticed that you guys have a video surveillance system in the bar here. Any chance we could take a peek at the video from last night and see if we spot her inside here?”
    “Well, I’d be fine with it, but I’ll have to call the owner and get the OK.”
    “If you wouldn’t mind,” I said.
    “Yeah, give me one minute. I’ll try to get him on the phone.”
    The manager slid out and walked behind the bar to make the call.
    Hank pulled his phone from his pocket, stared at it for a second and put it away.
    “Waiting on a call?” I asked.
    “No. One of the witnesses is going to be at the station in about a half hour.”
    “If he’s going to let us see the footage, I’ll stay, and hoof it back when I’m finished. You can take the car back and interview the witness. If he says no, we’ll split and head back to the station.”
    Hank nodded.
    The manager walked back a minute or two later.
    “Owner says OK. I figured he would, but I just had to check. He used to be a cop before he retired. Told me to do whatever I could to help. You guys want to follow me back to the office? We have everything that controls the video system back there.”
    “Here.” I tossed the car keys to Hank.
    Hank walked with the manager and me toward the offices before leaving out the back door of the bar. I grabbed a chair next to Bruce at the desk.
    “Just give me a sec and I’ll have it pulled up. What time are we looking for?”
    “One second.” I opened the case file and searched through looking for the time the 9-1-1 call was made. The report said: 3:06 a.m. “Between 2:00 a.m. and close.”
    He pulled up the footage. The monitor displayed the playback in four squares across the screen. The bar was packed with people, almost shoulder to shoulder. Two of the cameras were aimed at the bar itself, catching the backs of customer’s heads. One camera covered the main seating area, and the last covered the front doors. It was going to be difficult to spot them in the sea of people. My best chance was the camera on the front door.
    “These are the only views we have to work with?” I asked.
    “Yup. The two cameras on the bar are to catch employees dipping into the till. It was the reason we installed the system in the first place.”
    “Can you just give me the front door view between say 2:45 and 3:00 a.m.?”
    “Sure thing. One second.”
    He pulled the video and expanded the entry door’s footage to full screen. He fast forwarded through the frames, pausing it each time someone came into the picture. At 2:52 a.m., I found Jessica Casey and Jake Richwood on the screen. Four seconds of footage as they left the bar and crossed the street.
    “Bruce, can I get a copy of all the video feeds starting around midnight until close? I can have the guys in our Tech Department go over them and see if we can locate the couple inside the bar.”
    “Sure, I can copy the files. Do you have something to put them on?” he asked.
    “Can you email them over?”
    “I could try to compress