Page 29 of All He Sees
Nicky nodded, taking this all in. If that was all true... then there really was no reason to believe this church would sacrifice, or harm in any way, one of its members.
"What about when someone wants to leave?" Nicky asked, thinking out loud.
"Then they may go," Father Michaels said. "I know we must seem strange. But we are not a cult. We just want peace."
"Right..." Nicky couldn't help but agree that yes, they were strange. But who was she to judge what made people happy? That wasn't what she was here for. She was here to find out where Mira Phillips was.
"When was the last time you saw Mira?" Nicky asked.
"Oh, hmm... not too long ago... what date is it today? She comes every Sunday morning, but I don't think she showed up last time."
Nicky nodded, making a note of that. So, Mira never made it to church.
"Oh!" Father Michaels suddenly exclaimed. "But she was here for our evening service, the night before! We are a unique church, you know--we have evening worships every night but Sunday."
Nicky looked at Ken, and he looked back at her, nodding. This changed things.
According to previous reports, Mira was last seen leaving her job at the clothing store. Then she came here after that, and she made it to service safe. But she never made it to the morning service.
That narrowed things down.
It meant that either Mira was taken after she left the church, or she was taken in the morning as she left, which would line up with the neighbor's story.
Nicky wasn't sure of the answer.
But she knew what she did want: security footage from every angle of this dock. Stat.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Minutes later, Nicky found herself in a shack built just off the docks, where an old man in overalls, a bucket hat, and rain boots met her and Ken. Father Michaels had given Nicky the name and number of the owner--Rob Overton.
The inside of the shack was full of fishing gear and lures, and there was a distinct smell of worms. But there was also a computer and a desk, and Rob eased himself onto the chair as Nicky and Ken stood back. Outside the windows, the moon and stars reflected off the sea.
"Yep, these docks have been in my family for years," Rob said. "Was my brother’s idea to start rentin' them out, though, and it's been more profitable than my family ever could've imagined."
Nicky nodded, coming up behind him so she could see the computer screen. "And you have cameras on all the docks?" Nicky asked.
"Yep," Rob said. "Been at this a while. Always lookin' out for my tenants. Can never be too careful."
"So, you have footage from all the d-" Nicky began.
"Hold on," Rob said, typing something in the computer. He was still working manually, so it took some time. "This is... here we go... yes..."
Rob leaned in, and Nicky leaned in, too. There were images of docks and ships on the screen, as well as a bunch of clips. It was incredibly hard to make them out.
"Sorry about that," Rob said. "It's not the highest tech thing I've got, if you couldn't tell. But it gets the job done."
"Rob," Nicky said, "we're hoping to see footage from the dock near the church for both the night of the 17th, and the morning of the 18th."
"Let's see..." Rob played around with the computer, then leaned in and clicked. "Here we go."
A grainy image appeared on the screen, showing a dock at night, with flickering lights of lanterns. In the morning, it was brighter, with the sun rising in the back. It seemed like there wasn't a soul in sight.
"Can you show us a different angle?" Nicky asked.
"Here." Rob made it so several screens appeared, showing all different angles of the dock. On one dock, Nicky could see a fisherman loading up his boat. They skipped through the footage, and Nicky kept an eye out. Mira should have been showing up around five a.m.
Nicky watched the timestamp as it moved from four a.m. to five.
