water off and to come back down to the office. He did so without a word. When we were back in the office I signaled him to the stool and then leaned over him and outlined the area of the photographer’s reflection on the screen.
“Can this be enlarged here? I want to see this area better.”
“It can be enlarged but you lose a lot of definition. It’s digital, you know? You get what you get.”
I didn’t know what he was talking about. I just told him to do it. He played with some of the square buttons that ran along the top of the frame and started enlarging the photograph and then repositioning it so the area of the reflection stayed on the screen. Soon he said that he had maximized the enlargement. I leaned in close. The image was even murkier. Not even the lines on the author’s kilt were crisp.
“You can’t tighten it up any?”
“You mean make it smaller again. Sure, I —”
“No, I mean like bring it more into focus.”
“No, man, that is it. What you see is what you get.”
“Okay, print it. It came out better before when I printed it. Maybe this will, too.”
Lockridge put in the commands and I spent an uneasy minute waiting.
“What is this, anyway?” Buddy asked.
“A reflection of the photographer.”
“Oh. You mean it wasn’t Terry?”
“No, I don’t think so. I think somebody took pictures of his family and sent them to him. It was some sort of message. Did he ever mention this?”
“No.”
I took a shot at seeing if Buddy might let something slip.
“When did you first notice this file on the computer?”
“I don’t know. It must’ve been . . . actually, I just saw them for the first time with you here.”
“Buddy, don’t bullshit me. This could be important. I’ve watched you work this thing like it was yours since high school. I know you went into that machine when Terry wasn’t around. He probably knew, too. He didn’t care and neither do I. Just tell me, when did you first see this file?”
He let a few moments pass while he thought about it.
“I first saw them about a month before he died. But if your real question is when did Terry see them, then all you have to do is look at the file archive and see when it was created.”
“Then do it, Buddy.”
Lockridge took over the keyboard again and went into the photo file’s history. In a few seconds he had the answer.
“February twenty-seventh,” he said. “That was when that file was created.”
“Okay, good,” I said. “Now, assuming that Terry didn’t take these, how would they end up on his computer?”
“Well, there’s a few ways. One is that he got them in an e-mail and downloaded them. Another is that somebody borrowed his camera and shot them. He then found them and downloaded them. The third way is maybe somebody just sent him a photo chip right out of the camera or a CD with the pictures already on it. That would probably be the most untraceable way.”
“Could Terry do e-mail from here?”
“No, up at the house. There is no hard line on the boat. I told him he ought to get one of those cellular modems, go wireless like that commercial where the guy’s sitting at his desk in the middle of a field. But he never got around to it.”
The printer kicked out the photo and I grabbed it ahead of Buddy’s reach. But then I placed it down on the desk so we could both view it. The reflection was blurred and dim but still more recognizable on the print than it was on the computer screen. I could now see that the photographer was holding the camera in front of his face, obscuring it completely. But then I was able to identify the overlapping L and A configuration of the Los Angeles Dodgers logo. The photographer was wearing a baseball cap.
On any given day there might be fifty thousand people wearing Dodgers caps in this city. I don’t know for sure. But what I do know is that I don’t believe in coincidences. I never have and I never will. I looked at the murky reflection of the photographer
“Can this be enlarged here? I want to see this area better.”
“It can be enlarged but you lose a lot of definition. It’s digital, you know? You get what you get.”
I didn’t know what he was talking about. I just told him to do it. He played with some of the square buttons that ran along the top of the frame and started enlarging the photograph and then repositioning it so the area of the reflection stayed on the screen. Soon he said that he had maximized the enlargement. I leaned in close. The image was even murkier. Not even the lines on the author’s kilt were crisp.
“You can’t tighten it up any?”
“You mean make it smaller again. Sure, I —”
“No, I mean like bring it more into focus.”
“No, man, that is it. What you see is what you get.”
“Okay, print it. It came out better before when I printed it. Maybe this will, too.”
Lockridge put in the commands and I spent an uneasy minute waiting.
“What is this, anyway?” Buddy asked.
“A reflection of the photographer.”
“Oh. You mean it wasn’t Terry?”
“No, I don’t think so. I think somebody took pictures of his family and sent them to him. It was some sort of message. Did he ever mention this?”
“No.”
I took a shot at seeing if Buddy might let something slip.
“When did you first notice this file on the computer?”
“I don’t know. It must’ve been . . . actually, I just saw them for the first time with you here.”
“Buddy, don’t bullshit me. This could be important. I’ve watched you work this thing like it was yours since high school. I know you went into that machine when Terry wasn’t around. He probably knew, too. He didn’t care and neither do I. Just tell me, when did you first see this file?”
He let a few moments pass while he thought about it.
“I first saw them about a month before he died. But if your real question is when did Terry see them, then all you have to do is look at the file archive and see when it was created.”
“Then do it, Buddy.”
Lockridge took over the keyboard again and went into the photo file’s history. In a few seconds he had the answer.
“February twenty-seventh,” he said. “That was when that file was created.”
“Okay, good,” I said. “Now, assuming that Terry didn’t take these, how would they end up on his computer?”
“Well, there’s a few ways. One is that he got them in an e-mail and downloaded them. Another is that somebody borrowed his camera and shot them. He then found them and downloaded them. The third way is maybe somebody just sent him a photo chip right out of the camera or a CD with the pictures already on it. That would probably be the most untraceable way.”
“Could Terry do e-mail from here?”
“No, up at the house. There is no hard line on the boat. I told him he ought to get one of those cellular modems, go wireless like that commercial where the guy’s sitting at his desk in the middle of a field. But he never got around to it.”
The printer kicked out the photo and I grabbed it ahead of Buddy’s reach. But then I placed it down on the desk so we could both view it. The reflection was blurred and dim but still more recognizable on the print than it was on the computer screen. I could now see that the photographer was holding the camera in front of his face, obscuring it completely. But then I was able to identify the overlapping L and A configuration of the Los Angeles Dodgers logo. The photographer was wearing a baseball cap.
On any given day there might be fifty thousand people wearing Dodgers caps in this city. I don’t know for sure. But what I do know is that I don’t believe in coincidences. I never have and I never will. I looked at the murky reflection of the photographer
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