Then I notice the still form of a body, rolled up against the side of the building, and slam on my brakes.
Chapter7
Tessa
“You’re sayingthere were twenty-three luxury vehicle thefts in the past six weeks in the Rockwood area alone?”
Steve Haynes sounds incredulous.I have to admit, that sounds like an awfully high number for a relatively low-density area of the city.
“That’s what I’m saying,” Detective Zuri Warner confirms with a slight edge to her tone.
She seems a bit offended her claim was questioned.
Or perhaps something else is going on between these two.There has been a definite tension since Haynes and I were greeted by the young, gorgeous, willowy detective in charge of the theft case.The woman makes me feel every single one of my forty-something years.
I ignore the two trying to stare down the other, and focus on the printouts Zuri shared with us.Twenty-three vehicles, ranging from a MINI Cooper convertible to a Cadillac Celestiq, which apparently is the most expensive vehicle made in the U.S.
Detective Warner had also provided a detailed map of the neighborhood, marking each location of the thefts with the date.
“You think these are all connected,” I observe, studying the map.
“I do.If you look at the dates, you’ll see the thefts occurred in clusters of two or three around the same date, but in different areas of the neighborhood.”She points at the different “clusters” as she calls them.“I think they probably occurred on the exact same day at the same time, but on different streets to spread the risk.”
That would make sense—hedging their bets—but that would imply something more organized.I’m about to point that out when she beats me to it.
“Of course that would suggest more than one perpetrator and requires some coordination.I’m pretty sure we’re talking about a targeted gang.The information we have from the victims also suggests there was some surveillance done on the locations.Most of the exterior security cameras were disabled one way or another.It appears a signal jammer may have been used in some cases where wireless cameras were installed.In other locations they sprayed paint to obscure the view, or they somehow managed to change the direction the camera was aimed in.I’m pretty sure those vehicles were loaded into some enclosed trailer, to be shipped off to God knows where to be sold.All of it suggesting some preparation went into these thefts.”
“So, there’s some money behind it as well,” Haynes concludes.
“I would think so.This isn’t some dinky operation by a few teenagers run amok,” Warner agrees.“They were also thinking when they picked the neighborhood.Houses and even streets are spread out, with a ton of mature trees, providing a pretty thick canopy.The whole operation is well organized, well executed.Despite the clear patterns, we have little to no information to go on.Only in four of the thefts were we able to get some video feed, and most of it is useless.”
She turns on a large screen TV mounted on the wall of the meeting room she showed us into.Then she returns her attention to the laptop on the table, hits a few buttons, and suddenly a grainy image appears on the TV.
The next ten minutes she takes us through the four video clips, all grainy, and all at a fair distance from the actual theft.In three of them we see no more than a glimpse of a dark figure, before the targeted vehicles back up or turn onto the street and drive off.
But the last video she showed us gave up a little more.In it we get a better image of the figure, who appears to be dressed in dark clothing.There is one moment in this clip where the perp turns his head in the direction of the camera—perhaps alerted by some sound—and for just a moment, we get a closer look at the guy.
“Wait!”Haynes barks as he surges to his feet and walks up to the TV screen.“Rewind and freeze it.”
I’m not sure what he thinks he sees, most of the suspect’s face is covered by a dark balaclava, leaving only the eyes visible.
“Can you zoom in on his eyes?”
Detective Warner does as he asks, but it does little to improve the quality of the footage.
“There.”
Haynes points at the screen, his index finger indicating the person’s left eyebrow.
“It’s him.His mother mentioned he got a baseball to the face in high school that left a scar.”
“Ryan Wells?”I ask, standing up myself to get a closer look at what Steve Haynes is pointing at.
“Yes.Look, you can’t see the color but you can tell he’s got the light-colored eyes.His physical description matches, so does the scar.This is Ryan.”
“When was this footage taken?”I ask Zuri.
She consults her file before lifting her eyes to me.“Two days before the missing person report was filed.”
