Page 66 of Evidence of Secrets

Laura just nodded.

“All right then. Let’s go look at those tapes.” Sam left the kitchen with Hank following her and walked through the dining room into Laura’s office.

The office hadn’t changed much since the last time she was in here looking at tapes. Damn, which case was that? Oh, that was a while ago, when Grace’s stalker had someone deliver flowers and a card to Grace when the girls were having lunch at Salt & Sea. That had been scary.

Sam brought a chair over and sat next to Hank. He opened Laura’s computer and pulled up the tape from early morning.

They watched Levi open the back door. He looked happy. Levi pulled out his ingredients. Then he walked into the storage room to get supplies. He carried the supplies to the worktable and stood by the fridge.

“There.” Hank pointed to the moment the intruder jumped up and hit Levi with his fist. Levi crumpled in slow-motion, hitting his head on the table.

“Oh, my God,” exclaimed Sam. “Pull up the interior tapes from closing Sunday night.”

Hank ran through the tapes, starting after the bistro closed on Sunday night. Nothing happened until 1:10 a.m.

Sam was happy Hank had installed a camera by the back door.

“Holy shit. Look, someone is breaking in,” said Hank. “I wonder who it is. It’s a man, but we can’t tell who it is with the face mask on.”

“It looks like he has the code, too, if he’s getting in so easily.” Sam pursed her lips. “I’ll ask Laura who else has the code when she’s finished.”

What a disaster. How many people had the code to the back door? More stringent security measures needed to be put in place—pronto.

They watched the man from the inside camera close the door. He moved the flashlight around, then turned on the light. The intruder knew exactly where he was going. He didn’t look in the cold storage room, the freezer or anywhere else.

“Okay, he went into the storage room and…” Hank fast-forwarded the tape. “It looks like he moved things around until 7:10 a.m., when Levi walked in.”

“What was he looking for in the storage room?” Sam shook her head. It made no sense if he stole nothing. Laura could tell them if anything was missing.

“Okay, he strikes Levi and runs out. Let’s see if the parking lot cameras caught anything.”

“He must have driven over after the bistro closed Sunday night. Do you see anyone parking by the bistro?” asked Sam.

Hank switched to another camera. “Can’t tell. There are quite a few bars open until 2 a.m. and some on the Riverwalk don’t close until 3 a.m.” He threw his hands up. “Fuck. This is difficult because of the condo parking in the back and all the people moving around.”

“Damn.” Sam was sure watching the videos would be a slam dunk.

“Wait a minute.” Hank zoomed in on a man dressed in black, skimming the sides of the buildings. It wasn’t easy to see which car he drove in, but his intent was obvious.

“Okay, there’s our guy,” said Hank.

Great. The man was neither slender nor fat and medium height. Maybe fifty percent of the population looked like that. The only difference was that he dressed in black. He was dressed for trouble.

They watched him slowly open the kitchen door. The light from his flashlight whizzed around the darkened room, and then there was light. The intruder headed directly to the storage area.

“What could he possibly want in there?” asked Hank.

“Maybe he wanted to borrow a cup of sugar,” Laura quipped. She had walked into the room and was standing behind Hank.

Sam and Hank gawked at her.

Laura threw her hands up. “Don’t judge. If I can’t make a joke, I’m going to cry. I’ve never had anyone break in or an employee hurt on the job.”

“No one’s judging, sweetheart,” said Hank. “It was just unexpected dark humor.”

The camera was at an odd angle so that they couldn’t see inside the storage area. They watched as the intruder pulled out the bins of flour and sugar onto the kitchen floor.

“What the hell is he looking for?” asked Sam.

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