Page 11 of All He Takes
"We need to see footage from the last month, at least," Nicky said. "We can assume someone else would have noticed the photos if they'd been here for too long."
"That's true," Mr. Dumond said. "I've had kids in here looking through them, and no one ever brought those awful pictures to my attention, so I'm not sure how long they were here."
"And the woman who found them," Ken said, "she didn't bring the photo to you?"
"Oh, no," Mr. Dumond said. "She left right away, understandably so, and then all of a sudden the police were at my door!"
"Right," Nicky said. She'd been informed that the witness was a customer named June who had brought the photos down to the station. The police had first questioned Mr. Dumond but he wasn't, at present, a person of interest. Nicky didn't suspect him either; she'd seen wolves in sheep's skin before, but Mr. Dumond seemed genuinely nice. Of course, nothing could be ruled out.
Until then, though, Nicky needed to see that security footage.
"Let's start, then," Nicky said.
He tapped on the keyboard, and the footage began to show. "I'm afraid I have mostly normal customers, but I keep it on a loop so I can catch anyone who comes in after I close."
The footage started off with a bright flash of light, and then the view was suddenly of Mr. Dumond opening the shop. "This is the footage from yesterday."
The three of them watched as Mr. Dumond opened the shop and began his day. He was a simple man, and the footage didn't show anything out of the ordinary.
After a few minutes, Mr. Dumond turned to them. "You can fast-forward through a lot of this," he said. "You're probably better with this technology than I am."
Nicky took up his invitation and scooted closer to the computer, using the keyboard to fast-forward through footage.
They saw customers coming in and out of the store. Mostly elderly people, the odd family with kids. No one suspicious. They skimmed through the entirety of the last week and found nothing. Whoever dropped the photos into the shop was lucky to have gotten them in without being caught. She didn't need to look at the footage to know that whoever it was had committed a crime, but the footage could prove it.
They had to keep looking.
Nicky sped into two weeks ago, watching as people came and went from the store. Again, mostly elderly, sometimes families, or generally normal seeming people. Some went to the camera area at the back, some didn't. This was beginning to feel like a wild goose chase, until--
A man in a black hoodie entered the store, his face concealed from the camera. He looked around, but they couldn't make out his ethnicity or anything. Looking over his shoulder, the man then darted to the back of the store and did what looked like rummaging with the camera area. All the while, Mr. Dumond was busy talking to a customer at the counter.
Bingo.
"Do you remember this man?" Nicky asked.
"Oh, not at all," Mr. Dumond said. "He must have slipped right past me."
"Did he take anything?" Ken asked.
"I don't think so," Mr. Dumond said. "I didn't notice anyone taking anything."
Nicky's heart raced. This man--this blurry, faceless man--could be their guy. In fact, she was almost certain of it.
But the only thing they could make out about him was that he was male, of moderate build, and could be anywhere from twenty-five to in his forties, judging by the way he walked.
"Do you have any cameras on the parking lot?" Nicky asked.
"I do," Mr. Dumond said. "All these security systems were left from the previous owners; I've never had the need for them."
"Can we see that footage?" Ken asked.
Again, Mr. Dumond clicked the mouse, and a different set of footage began to play. This one showed the parking lot.
And there was the man, leaving the store, heading to a car. But the footage only showed part of the parking lot. They saw the man go up to a vehicle, but they could only make out the bottom half of its frame--no logo or license plate.
"Damn," Nicky said.
"You're a car girl," Ken said, "I don't suppose you can identify that by looking at the bottom of it?"
