Page 14 of All He Takes
"Oh, little one," he said, "I'm not going to hurt you. I'm here to make you beautiful."
They never appreciated the work he was doing, not enough. They didn't realize that they were part of the greatest photography exhibit the world would ever see. And it was all made by him.
He would be famous. He would earn what he had always deserved and show the world what they were missing out on by not appreciating his artistic talent.
All of those fools... he would show them all what he was worth.
This model was too beautiful to pass up. He would like to see them find someone so young and beautiful. His perfect doll.
"You're mine now," he said. "All I have to do is prepare you... tell me... do you prefer pink or red lipstick?"
He moved toward her, then, and she backed away. She knew that there was no escaping, and perhaps she would be better off if she accepted the inevitable.
"Please," she begged, "please just let me go. I won't tell anyone. Just let me go."
"Oh, doll, I'm not going to let you go," he said, and picked up his camera. "I'm not going to let you go ever. I'm going to make sure you're my little doll forever."
"No, please, I know you're taking pictures of me but--"
"But nothing," he told her, and put his camera to his face. "Smile, doll."
She tried to smile, and he clicked the camera. She was so beautiful, so innocent.
"That's good, doll," he told her. "You're a good model."
"No, no, no," she cried, "please, don't do this... please..."
He was going to take so many pictures of her. So many pictures. He'd take her to the top of the world.
The man clicked the camera again and again and again. He wanted to capture all of the beauty in one frame.
This one was going to be his masterpiece.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Nicky pushed through the doors at the Pine Grove precinct with Ken behind her. They didn't have a second to waste--Nicky was certain that the car on the security footage was a Hana Kuma sedan, and if it was, then chances were that it was the only one in town. But she needed to see more of the car, to see its exact year and model, and the officers here would surely have access to all the traffic cameras around town.
You could tell a lot about a person from their car. The type of car they drove, the condition it was in, and how they treated it, all helped to form a profile of the driver.
They walked up to the young deputy behind the desk and held up their badges. He looked up at them, shocked.
"Wow, I heard the FBI was here, but--"
"We need to access the traffic cameras," Nicky cut in. "We're looking to identify the driver of a specific car, who should have been driving through town on August 18th."
"I can definitely get that for you," the officer said. "Come on, I'll bring you to the security room."
The deputy led them down a hallway, past a few closed doors. Nicky tried to peer through the windows in the doors, but she couldn't make out anything. They walked through another door and stepped into a small room that contained three desks, each with a computer.
The deputy pointed to one of the desks. "All the footage is uploaded here. It's organized by day, and time of day. You can watch the video right there. Here are the login details."
"Thank you," Nicky said.
They sat down at the desk and the deputy left the room. Nicky turned on the computer, opened the folder, and pulled up the video.
There were a small handful of traffic cameras throughout the town, mostly at major intersections. There was a red light near Harriet Antiques, so that's what they were looking for. Nicky already knew the exact date and time to look for the car and see it at a stoplight, so she skimmed through the footage until she found the right timestamp.
The footage showed the stoplight at the intersection of Maple and Oak, and the vehicle in question could be seen in the top right corner of the screen, waiting to make a right turn. It was a dark blue sedan. Nicky leaned in, watching intently, craning her neck to get a better view of the license plate.
