Read Online The Killing Room by Richard Montanari - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Richard Montanari
Ads: Link
owners. Long out of business. In the wind.’
Philadelphia had the unfortunate distinction of having more real estate tax deadbeats than any other big city in the United States, with more than 100,000 properties in default. There were tens of thousands of empty buildings and vacant lots in North Philadelphia, Fairhill, and Nicetown/Tioga alone.
Byrne filed the zoning documents in the binder, considered some of the exterior photographs of the building that was once St Adelaide’s. ‘The X on the pole,’ he said. ‘It means something.’
‘It has to,’ Jessica said. ‘Let’s get on ViCAP today. Plug all this in.’
Started by the FBI in 1985, ViCAP – the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program – was a national registry of violent crimes: homicides, sexual assaults, missing persons, and unidentified remains. Case information submitted to ViCAP was available to authorized law-enforcement agencies around the world, and allowed investigators to compare their evidence to all other cases in the database and identify similarities.
Jessica crooked a thumb over her shoulder, in the general direction of the morgue on University Avenue. ‘So, how’d we do, Romeo?’
‘Have I failed yet?’
‘It’s the lemon Pledge. I’m telling you.’
‘Judy said she would red line the fingerprints,’ Byrne said. ‘It’s in the works.’
‘Guys?’ came a voice from behind them.
Jessica and Byrne turned. Josh Bontrager was in the doorway to the duty room.
‘What’s up, Josh?’ Jessica asked.
‘There’s something you should see.’
The Video Monitoring Unit was on the first floor of the Roundhouse. The huge space was arranged in three tiers with long curved tables on each level. Each table had a number of wired terminals into which a technician could plug a laptop, and from there monitor any of the hundreds of police cameras that were deployed around the city.
At the front of the room was an enormous monitor, measuring ten feet diagonally. At any given time, any image from any camera in the city could be displayed on this.
When Jessica and Byrne walked in with Josh Bontragerthere were four technicians at work. Bontrager led Jessica and Byrne over to a monitor at the far end of the top tier. On the laptop was a high-angle night shot of a street corner. A now-familiar street corner.
‘This footage is from that pole cam?’ Byrne asked.
Bontrager sat down at the terminal. ‘Yeah. As you can see, it covers the entrance to the alley next to the building, over to just left of the front door.’
‘How far back can we go on this cam?’ Byrne asked.
‘This cam dumps every two weeks, so we have footage of our victim and someone else entering the building. Or at least their shadows.’
Bontrager hit a few keys on the keyboard. The image on the small screen was dark, but Jessica was able to pick out some details. There was a light-colored van parked directly in front of the church. The space in front of the van was empty. Every so often someone would pass by, walking either up or down Amber Street. Jessica constantly checked the time code. At the 10:05:44 p.m. mark Bontrager stopped the recording.
‘Okay, here we’re going to see two individuals enter from frame right. At least it looks like two individuals. No way of knowing what’s out of frame.’ Bontrager tapped the screen, lower right. ‘As you’ll see, they hesitate, then go down that alley. Which, as you know, is a dead end.’
‘They don’t walk in front of the camera?’ Byrne asked.
Bontrager shook his head. ‘Just our victim, and just for a second.’
The recording inched forward. For a moment, the street-lamp caught the figure on the left in profile. Although Jessica wouldn’t swear to it in court, it looked a lot like their victim.But it did not look as if he were being coerced or forced down the alley. Despite the moment’s hesitation, he looked like a willing participant. A second later there were only shadows on the alley wall, one of
Philadelphia had the unfortunate distinction of having more real estate tax deadbeats than any other big city in the United States, with more than 100,000 properties in default. There were tens of thousands of empty buildings and vacant lots in North Philadelphia, Fairhill, and Nicetown/Tioga alone.
Byrne filed the zoning documents in the binder, considered some of the exterior photographs of the building that was once St Adelaide’s. ‘The X on the pole,’ he said. ‘It means something.’
‘It has to,’ Jessica said. ‘Let’s get on ViCAP today. Plug all this in.’
Started by the FBI in 1985, ViCAP – the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program – was a national registry of violent crimes: homicides, sexual assaults, missing persons, and unidentified remains. Case information submitted to ViCAP was available to authorized law-enforcement agencies around the world, and allowed investigators to compare their evidence to all other cases in the database and identify similarities.
Jessica crooked a thumb over her shoulder, in the general direction of the morgue on University Avenue. ‘So, how’d we do, Romeo?’
‘Have I failed yet?’
‘It’s the lemon Pledge. I’m telling you.’
‘Judy said she would red line the fingerprints,’ Byrne said. ‘It’s in the works.’
‘Guys?’ came a voice from behind them.
Jessica and Byrne turned. Josh Bontrager was in the doorway to the duty room.
‘What’s up, Josh?’ Jessica asked.
‘There’s something you should see.’
The Video Monitoring Unit was on the first floor of the Roundhouse. The huge space was arranged in three tiers with long curved tables on each level. Each table had a number of wired terminals into which a technician could plug a laptop, and from there monitor any of the hundreds of police cameras that were deployed around the city.
At the front of the room was an enormous monitor, measuring ten feet diagonally. At any given time, any image from any camera in the city could be displayed on this.
When Jessica and Byrne walked in with Josh Bontragerthere were four technicians at work. Bontrager led Jessica and Byrne over to a monitor at the far end of the top tier. On the laptop was a high-angle night shot of a street corner. A now-familiar street corner.
‘This footage is from that pole cam?’ Byrne asked.
Bontrager sat down at the terminal. ‘Yeah. As you can see, it covers the entrance to the alley next to the building, over to just left of the front door.’
‘How far back can we go on this cam?’ Byrne asked.
‘This cam dumps every two weeks, so we have footage of our victim and someone else entering the building. Or at least their shadows.’
Bontrager hit a few keys on the keyboard. The image on the small screen was dark, but Jessica was able to pick out some details. There was a light-colored van parked directly in front of the church. The space in front of the van was empty. Every so often someone would pass by, walking either up or down Amber Street. Jessica constantly checked the time code. At the 10:05:44 p.m. mark Bontrager stopped the recording.
‘Okay, here we’re going to see two individuals enter from frame right. At least it looks like two individuals. No way of knowing what’s out of frame.’ Bontrager tapped the screen, lower right. ‘As you’ll see, they hesitate, then go down that alley. Which, as you know, is a dead end.’
‘They don’t walk in front of the camera?’ Byrne asked.
Bontrager shook his head. ‘Just our victim, and just for a second.’
The recording inched forward. For a moment, the street-lamp caught the figure on the left in profile. Although Jessica wouldn’t swear to it in court, it looked a lot like their victim.But it did not look as if he were being coerced or forced down the alley. Despite the moment’s hesitation, he looked like a willing participant. A second later there were only shadows on the alley wall, one of
Similar Books
