Page 30 of All He Sees
And in a screen in the bottom left corner, that was when she saw it: a young, brown-haired girl, walking onto the dock.
"Shit," Nicky said. "That's her."
"Right here?" Rob magnified the screen.
Walking alone, wearing a hoodie and shorts, was Mira Phillips.
"Stay on her trail," Nicky said, her heart in her throat.
This was it.
They were going to see, firsthand, what actually happened to Mira. It felt almost too good to be true, and Nicky was trembling.
Rob switched over to the next dock. They watched Mira texting on her phone as she made her way down, following the path that would eventually lead to the church. Nicky recalled walking that same dock with Ken to get there tonight.
Then, as Mira was on the dock that would lead to the church, she got pulled offscreen.
"Wait!" Nicky waved Rob to stop. "Can you play that back?"
"Sure," Rob said.
Rob didn't see it, but he showed Nicky exactly when Mira walked onto the dock. And then, as she came closer and closer to the camera, he rewound.
And at that moment, a man's hand appeared in the picture, grabbing Mira by the shoulders from offscreen. Mira gave a yelp, and then her phone went flying out of her hands and into the sea with a splash.
"There," Nicky said. "Pause it there."
Rob hit a button, and the footage froze.
The man had a dark-colored hoodie on, and a mask over his face. But he was barely visible. With bated breath, Nicky said, "Is there another angle of this?"
"Think so..." Rob switched to another screen, and there, they could see a different angle of the dock.
This time, it showed the man grabbing Mira--and pulling her onto a boat. Nicky's blood ran cold, but she didn't move. She was afraid if she did, she'd break the spell, and things would all turn out to be a dream.
Because here it was. Tangible evidence. Proof that Mira Phillips was kidnapped, right here, and put on this boat, by these people.
But their identities were still unknown.
"Hold on," Ken said, leaning over Rob. "Zoom in on the boat."
Rob did as he was asked and zoomed in. The footage was grainy and pixelated, but it was enough to make out the name.
"Onlooker," Ken said. "That's the name of the boat."
Nicky's heart was racing. "Rob, how can we track that boat?"
"I got the plate number," Rob said. "I'll just check the computer to see if it's in the system."
He typed a bit, and then found a match.
"Yep," Rob said. "That's the one. Registered to one George Fischer. It's due back here in the morning."
"Do you know that man?" Nicky asked.
"Afraid not," said Rob.
Nicky nodded. This all sounded promising. "We'll look into it. Thank you for your help."
