Page 75 of Benjamin and the Thief

“Now fast-forward to when there is any activity in the area of her cell,” Benjamin ordered.

The recording showed nothing happening for almost an hour. Then a heavy-set guard appeared in front of Catalina’s cell and talked to her through the bars. Moments later, he left again.

“Speed it up again,” he demanded.

Again, there was a long time of nothing happening, then suddenly the screen went black.

Benjamin pointed to it. “What happened?”

“I don’t know.”

The guard tapped on his keyboard and clicked on different windows with his mouse, but the screen remained black. Then suddenly, the recording continued as before. The next activity showed a guard walking to Catalina’s cell and then returning to the guard office.

“That’s me,” he said, pointing at the monitor.

Whatever had happened to Catalina had happened during the time the screen had gone black.

“Fuck!” Benjamin cursed. “Somebody did this! Somebody cut the camera feed to get to her.”

Anita nodded grimly.

“I noted the time when the camera didn’t record,” she said, while scribbling it down on a pad next to the guard. “Give us the cameras that cover all exits of this building for this time span. Do it! Now!”

The guard typed a few entries on his computer before several other camera feeds opened on the large monitor. Frantically, Benjamin looked at the videos that showed exit doors on various sides of the building.

“There!” Anita said excitedly, pointing to one of them.

Benjamin’s gaze snapped to it. Catalina exited through a nondescript door and stepped outside. The door fell shut behind her. She was alone. She took two steps away from the door when she froze as if something had startled her.

“Is there any audio?” Benjamin asked.

“No,” the guard replied.

“What exit is that?”

“It’s a staff exit. Leads to the parking lot.”

“Which side of the building is that?”

“Seventh Street, close to the freeway overpass.”

As the video continued playing, Catalina finally moved.

“Somebody was waiting there for her,” Benjamin suspected.

“Looks like it.” Anita turned to the guard. “Any cameras covering the parking lot?”

He shook his head. “I have to report that she escaped.”

Anita ignored his words. “Let me get on the computer.”

“But that’s not⁠—”

“I have access, so move, unless you want me to make sure you get fired for letting an inmate escape on your shift,” Anita threatened.

The intimidated guard got up from his chair, and Anita sat down. She navigated to a different program and logged in. Benjamin watched her as she accessed her own systems remotely. He realized what she was doing: finding the closest traffic cameras that might have seen a car leave the parking lot at the time when Catalina had exited the building.

“There’s a camera near the bus stop out there on 7th. I think I can get something from that,” she said confidently.