Page 75 of Three Girls Gone
“So it just so happens the page used for the note was the top or bottom sheet?”
“Stranger things…”
“True.”
Trent parked in the lot at Central, and they headed to hisdesk to watch the video from the park. The ultimate hope was that they’d catch the man’s face and be able to identify him. Though short of that, even his face would be a breakthrough. They might even glimpse his vehicle.
At the sight of her empty cubicle, Amanda thought of Katherine. She hadn’t returned her call yet.
Trent didn’t waste any time loading up the video. He forwarded in slow motion. The lights on the parking lot caught the eyes of an animal, which showed up as two red orbs in the dark.
“Huh.” Trent paused the feed and leaned back.
“What are you doing? Play it. We need to get to Eloise.”
“Just one thing first. Rabbit eyes show red when light hits them.”
“And there was rabbit hair on the scarf around Hailey’s neck. Doesn’t mean we’re looking for someone with a rabbit.”
“No, it would just take one or two coming over to inspect Hailey’s body.”
“So how long was she left out there?” Amanda strained to see past the circle of light, but there was no way to see the carousel.
“Unless we catch it on camera, only best guess.”
“Here’s the thing, though…” Amanda paced a few steps within his cubicle, circled back. “He takes her to a park, so she’s found, but what’s to say this guy didn’t hang around to wait until she was?”
“The woman who found Hailey didn’t see anyone.”
“He could have stayed well hidden. Human eyes don’t reflect though, do they?”
“No. We don’t have the night-vision that animals do. The light reflection is associated with that.”
“Too bad. We could keep watch for two other colored dots.” She returned to her post standing at Trent’s side, and he resumed playback.
Raccoons were scurrying across the parking lot, but no humans.
“This doesn’t make any sense. He wouldn’t have walked a long distance with her dead body. Someone could have seen him. He had to come in a vehicle.”
As if responding on cue, headlights cut across the lot. The time stamp read 3:35 AM.
Amanda waited for the nose of the vehicle to inch forward. All she’d need was a sliver of the hood, and she or her brother Kyle could identify the make and model. He was a mechanic, and lived and breathed cars. But no such luck. “This is probably our guy with Hailey Tanner.”
“If he knew about the camera, he would have done everything to avoid it.”
They continued to watch as the car’s lights cut out. No one was within sight for a few moments. Then a fresh beam of light flashed, but the source was out of the camera’s range. This light was also weaker than the ones in the lot, pinpointed, and moving.
“A headlamp,” she said. “That bastard is right there, and we can’t do anything about it.”
They continued to watch the light grow dimmer as the man put distance between himself and the security camera. It almost faded to nothing when he would have been around the area of the carousel. About ten minutes later, it moved again.
“He’s headed toward the restroom.”
“Did he wait it out in there?” She felt a spark of hope light her chest. If he stayed in there until daylight, they’d have him on camera when he headed out.
The headlamp disappeared, as he must have gone into the restroom. Amanda remembered that an outside lock on the building had been broken, but hadn’t offered up any forensic evidence.
Trent forwarded the video until just before sunrise. In thegrowing light, they could see the carousel. They watched as Susan Butters went over and found Hailey’s body.
