Page 80 of Twice Missing
McKenzie leaned in, squinting at the screen. "Are you sure? Hard to tell in that light."
"No, that's him," Noah insisted, his mind racing. "And that location... it looks familiar."
He pressed play, watching as Kayla attempted to get closer, only to retreat hastily as the men returned from the cabin. With growing certainty, Noah recognized the setting. "I swear that looks like Upper Saranac Lake. The resort on the peninsula."
"You think so?" McKenzie asked, full of skepticism.
Noah nodded, his jaw set. "I'm sure of it. It's close to where we found Emily Carter's truck."
The video concluded with Kayla scrambling back to her hiding place in the truck, the tarp falling into place just as the men returned. As the screen went dark, Noah and McKenzie exchanged a loaded glance. This video wasn't just evidence — it was a window into a dark world they had only begun to uncover, and possibly the reason for Kayla's disappearance.
Rishi's voice crackled through the phone, still on the line. Noah's mind raced as he processed the new information.
"Rishi, what was the date of this video?" Noah asked, his voice tense with urgency.
As Rishi reeled off the date, Noah's eyes widened. He turned to McKenzie, "It was taken a day before she went missing, on a weekend."
Turning his attention back to the phone, Noah pressed further, "What about calls? Any calls made to Marcus or Abel over the days before that?"
Rishi's response came quickly, "Affirmative. Multiple phone calls were made to Marcus that night. Kayla spoke with him for roughly five minutes. There was also one call to Abel, lasting two minutes."
"Thanks, Rishi," Noah said.
For a moment, Noah sat in silence, his mind churning with the implications of this new information. McKenzie watched him, waiting for his partner to voice his thoughts.
Finally, McKenzie broke the silence. "I agree, it looks damning, Noah, but it’s not the golden goose. It’s speculative at best. We need to be cautious. Unless we can identify those women and confirm they're missing, a judge would likely dismiss it. There's no visible resistance or no money exchanged. Without a clear money trail, we can't prove it's human trafficking." He paused, then added reluctantly, "Besides, as I mentioned earlier, that copy isn't admissible in court without a warrant to search the phone. Which we never obtained."
Noah nodded, his jaw clenched.
McKenzie continued. “Add to that, Marcus is in a jail cell right now, and his cousin works for tribal police.”
“We need a judge to give us a warrant to search that phone,” Noah said.
"If the evidence is still on there," McKenzie pointed out. “It might have been removed by now.”
"We'll soon find out," Noah replied, determination in his voice.
McKenzie leaned back in his seat, considering. "You think Kayla figured out what Sunrise Systems was involved in?"
"Yeah, I do," Noah said, his voice low. "I think she was about to blow the lid off this whole operation. Let's head back to the reservation, see if we can't get things moving with that warrant."
"You heard what that officer said," McKenzie reminded him. "It won't happen until Monday."
Noah nodded, a plan already forming in his mind. "That's when the judge will be back in office. Perhaps we can bring the office to him." He reached for his phone again, dialing Rishi's number.
As Rishi answered, Noah laid out his requests. "I need two things. First, information on the location, date, and time of Kayla's phone's last ping after those calls. There was nothing in the report because tribal police didn't have the phone. Second, find out who owns the resort, The Cove on Saranac Lake. Is it rented out? Used year-round? Get me as many details as you can."
"You got it," Rishi replied before the line went dead.
“You know something I don’t get. If the phone was incriminating, why would Marcus have kept it all this time?”
“He’s an opportunist. There is no loyalty among thieves. When you are in as deep as he is, you need an acein your back pocket. Damning video evidence could be used as leverage if push came to shove.”
“But with the call to him, it would take him down with it.”
“But at least it wouldn’t all be on him.”
“She called Abel and Marcus. Would she really have confronted them in person and risked being killed?”
