Page 105 of Smith

“I know what you need and you’ll have it. Now wait for my call.”

With that I disconnected before I broke down and told him I had nothing and I was sorry and I was heartbroken, and scared to death because I hadnothing.

“Coop’s in the unit. If you want to see, he’s calling in now,” Garrett called out as he passed by my office.

Layla was out the door in a flash. It took me longer because I had two laptops and a tablet to juggle.

By the time I hit the conference room, Coop’s body cam was displayed on the large wall-mounted monitor.

“Holy fuck,” I murmured in horror.

Every inch of the wall in front of Coop was covered in pictures. So many in some places it looked like there were several on top of each other. He turned right, more of the same. Another turn, the same. The last of the circle he was making was the door; that wall was blank. When he completed his three-sixty, three of the four walls were covered. There had to be thousands of pictures.

“Every inch is covered, floor to ceiling,” Cooper unnecessarily shared.

Easton came into view and started inspecting the walls. Theo moved around Cooper to a table in the middle of the room.

“Can the team hear me?” I asked.

“Loud and clear,” Coop returned.

“What’s on the table?”

“Laptop. Four phones. Two tablets,” Theo answered.

“Someone get those devices back to the office ASAP.”

Theo immediately started collecting the electronics.

I didn’t want to ask because I was afraid of what the answer would be but still I had to know.

“What’s in the pictures?”

Cooper moved closer to a wall. The images came clear but still I squinted, praying something would jump out.

Women.

There were clusters of pictures of the same woman. Some clusters had a lot of pictures, some clusters only had five or six pictures. All candids. They had no idea they were being photographed. Cooper continued his slow shuffle, giving us time to look as he moved along the wall.

“Stop, go back. The woman in a blue blouse and jeans.”

Coop pulled a picture off the wall.

“This one?”

“Yeah. Hold it still. The angle is… weird. Are there others of her?”

“Two more.” Cooper pointed to them on the wall.

Same angle. Same couch and club chair in the background.

The camera angle was aimed downward. Billy would’ve had to have been on a ladder or taken that picture from an elevated position.

“Garrett, screen cap that for me and send it to me.”

In less time than it should’ve taken, my tablet pinged with an alert.

I might’ve joked with the team that my skills were far superior than Garrett’s but that was nothing more than me trying to get under Garrett’s skin. The truth was, he was far better than I was. Though I’d never admit that.

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