But Ryder was an analyst; he never relied on feelings. He focused on facts, evidence, things he could prove or disprove. He couldn’t state with certainty that their suspect was a woman. He need corroboration.
He saved that small fragment of the clip, then pulled up the section of video that Valdez had sent him earlier, the clip of the individual pushing the laundry cart away from Matt and Kara’s room. Ryder didn’t want to read anything into it because hethoughttheir suspect was a woman, but was she walking like a woman? Could he make out breasts under the loose-fitting uniform, or was he making an assumption?
“Do you have this person on any other feeds?” Ryder asked Valdez when he returned. Ryder’s eyes were dry and he blinked rapidly, forcing himself to turn away from the video.
“That’s all we’ve found during the two-hour window, but my best guy is going through every recording for the twenty-four hours leading up to the abduction, as you requested,” Valdez said.
“You’re certain you don’t recognize this person?” Ryder tapped on the frozen screen.
“No. He doesn’t work here. I personally talked to the head of Maintenance—he’s never seen the guy before.”
Ryder hesitated, not sure he wanted to plant the idea in Brian’s head. “Do you have any women working in Maintenance?”
“Sure, a few. Why?”
“Does this person look male or female?”
Brian looked at the still, then pressed Play, watched the ten-second clip. “Could be a woman, I guess. You’re thinking because of how she walks?”
“That, but also the chin.” Ryder rewound, then froze the image on the best profile shot he’d found. It wasn’t sharp because he had to zoom in.
“I see that. It’s not real clear, but could be a woman. But even if it was someone I’ve met before, I don’t know that I would recognize them from any of these images. I’d say this isn’t any of the women we have in Maintenance, but I wouldn’t swear to it.”
“You told Detective Fuentes that Garrett Reid didn’t socialize much with staff but was still friendly and well-liked. Did she ask if he had a girlfriend?”
Brian nodded. “I told her I never saw him with a woman, and his co-workers said he didn’t mention a girlfriend. You don’t think a woman kidnapped your agents, do you?”
Ryderdidthink that—but he couldn’t prove it. The only lead was a surveillance video showing someone, possibly a woman, pushing a laundry cart away from Matt and Kara’s suite toward the parking lot. But there was no proof they were in the cart.
He sent the clearest images he could extract to the team, noting that this was most likely the individual who had abducted Matt and Kara.
He’d already forwarded all available video footage to the FBI lab—from twelve hours before Garrett Reid’s arrest through midnight Sunday—along with the Ormond Beach restaurant surveillance from Saturday night. But without a clear image of the suspect, even the FBI’s advanced software and facial recognition tools would struggle to identify them. Despite the footage being better than average, processing it would still take days.
Fortunately, Tony Greer had prioritized the case. The entire tech unit at the lab was working on it. Ryder sent the head of the unit the clip featuring the person of interest, along with time stamps, and asked for image enhancement and cross-referencing with the rest of the footage. Then he texted his theory to the team.
Time wasn’t on their side. If this was a ransom attempt for Reid’s release, a demand would have come by now. If it was retribution for his arrest, Matt and Kara were probably dead.
Ryder was still deep in reviewing security footage when Jim Esteban came in and sat down. He looked exhausted.
“Did you learn anything at the crime lab?” Ryder asked, tearing his eyes away from the screen for a minute.
“Nothing useful yet. It’s a good team, and they’re working closely with both the state lab and Quantico. But even if we bump everything to the top, some tests can’t be done instantaneously. There’s also analysis and verification. It’s a process. I’m getting some of the preliminary reports tonight, and the ME and I concur on some of the chemical analysis. For example, we know the victims were drugged with ketamine, but there was another inconclusive test of a possible narcotic that we’re going to rerun at Quantico. Some drugs break up faster in the system.”
“Every little bit helps,” Ryder said.
“Dammit, kid. This is Matt and Kara.”
Jim pressed his fingers to his eyes and sighed.
“I know,” Ryder said quietly.
“I tried talking to Michael. He’s taking it hard, but he won’t discuss it. He’s like a wall.”
“He blames himself for the case against Reid falling apart.”
Jim scowled. “That’s bullshit, and you know it.”
“I didn’t say I agree,” Ryder said.
