Page 61 of Her Last Whisper
According to Katie’s interview with Marco Ellis, he had said that they hadn’t been together but went out casually a few times. The video clearly showed that there was more going on between them.
“Can you burn me a copy?”
“Yeah, of course,” he said and proceeded to duplicate the footage.
“If you see any other recording that might help the case, call me.”
“You got it.”
McGaven leftthe hospital with a little bit more knowledge about Amanda Payton, but no closer to a suspect from what they already had. However, the investigation was beginning to show more about Amanda, things that she had conveniently kept to herself.
He walked across the parking lot to his car and got inside. Before starting the engine, he sent a text message to Katie:
Amanda was involved with someone secretly. Her relationship with Marco was more than she had said. Video footage to prove it.
Thirty-Four
Wednesday 1105 hours
Katie flashed her badge at the gate to the amusement park featuring the world famous ScareFest. The security guard waved her through and directed her to the employee area. The parking lots were huge and she had a difficult time believing that so many people wanted to be scared to death for pure entertainment.
Three large warehouses formed part of the creative and special effects department for the festival of horrors. She had been directed to building A and parked accordingly.
Katie’s cell phone buzzed and she saw that McGaven had sent a brief text about the video footage of Amanda and Marco. She couldn’t wait to meet with him for an update. As she stepped out of her vehicle, the hot sun beat down on her, making her directly aware that she was still wearing a suit jacket. She quickly took it off, tossed it into the car, unbuttoned her blouse cuffs, and rolled up her sleeves. It made her badge and gun visible, but she had no choice. The heat was insufferable.
Katie followed the painted outline showing the way to go for artists, technicians, or models for makeup and fittings.
Interesting.
She followed the obvious path for the special effects personnel and searched for the overseeing director of special effects, Tim Durango. He had barely spoken to her on the phone and seemed to speak in hashtags with social media lingo. At least she got the opportunity to visit the area where James Haines had worked. There had to be something that she could use to find him—or at least learn more about him.
Standing at the entrance where the gigantic metal sliding door was opened wide enough for a person to squeeze through, Katie straightened her blouse and entered.
Inside, the cool breeze of large air conditioners working overtime was a welcome change, but she was more mesmerized by all of the high-tech gadgetry and robotics around her; the hum and clicking of technicians testing out their creations that would soon become every evil or fantastical character you could imagine.
Metal arms moved around her while large beast heads surged and snapped their teeth with a scary tenacity as she walked past a couple of computer operators. She stopped and asked, “Excuse me. Where can I find Tim Durango?”
“Down that way.” The man gestured across the warehouse. “Keep going until you see makeup effects. You can’t miss his office,” he said and smiled.
“Thanks.”
Katie followed his instructions, and the noise lessened as she came through another area where there were numerous artists working on masks, makeup, and creating other add-on items like bumpy horns, pointed ears, and odd tails.
She kept moving and felt like she was walking into another world, unsure if she would ever find her way back to reality. Finally she reached a door that read: “Director of F/X.”
Pushing the door open, she peered inside. There was no one there, but she decided to say, “Hello? I’m looking for Tim Durango.”
The small office was crowded with everything to make a monster: fabric, plastics, fabricated body parts, two human heads, metal gadgets, paints, drawings, boxes, heavy makeup cases, and a desk covered with more unusual items. It was difficult to see the size of the desk or if there was even a chair.
“Hello?” Katie said again. This time, her voice pushed her words with a harsher tone. She surveyed the room, very slowly taking in each item carefully before moving on. Something wasn’t right.
She took another step inside.
Several chatting people hurried by outside, but no one seemed interested that a cop was standing in the director’s office.
Then Katie saw it.
Movement.
