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“Shit, I haven’t even gone up there yet. I don’t have a plan or anything.”
I leap off the sofa, angered at myself for letting so much time pass by. I thought I had more, though.
“Fuck, I don’t know what to do. I need a plan.”
Rob looks at Melanie, “That’s why she’s here.”
I glance at her, “What do you know?”
She shakes her head, “It’s not what I know, just want I think. Do you remember when we last visited and someone was there already? Remember how we had to wait to see him?”
I nod, “Yeah and I’m still baffled by it. Who would want to visit him? I don’t think he had any family.”
Melanie stands up and walks toward me, “Duke, think about it. I remember exiting the bathroom and seeing you bump into someone in the waiting room. The guy walked right out of the visitation hall and a few seconds later, we were called in. My guess is, that’s the guy that was talking to Craig.”
Realization hits me as her theory seems logical.
“Melanie, you’re a genius. Now all we have to do is find out who he is. Shit, I need to get my hands on the visiting log and the tapes.”
Rob smirks, “Already got that covered. My boss made a call to the judge and is working on the warrant as we speak. Once we get it, we’ll have access to all the visitation records and surveillance. My guess is, this visitor knew Craig before he murdered Genna, and if there’s a pattern, we’ll find it.”
I start to lay out the plan in my mind, “Okay, I’ll talk to my boss and see if we can get the police to run some facial recognition once we get the surveillance. I’m assuming he’s used an alias, so a name search will be a dead end. But he can’t hide his face. We’ll find him.”
A few days later, Rob informs me that they got the warrant and we have the approval to head to Auburn to look at the logs and the surveillance footage. So Rob, his boss, and I take the five hour trip to check it out. The whole trip there, I’m completely anxious and wired, ready to start the hunt. My thoughts always move to Raya, wondering where she is, what is she doing, is she safe?
Surprisingly, we get into the prison pretty easily. Apparently, not many questions are asked when you show up with a warrant. The security guards guide us to the warden’s office and close the door behind us. A few minutes later, the warden steps in.
He greets us and takes a seat behind his desk, “Welcome. I hear you have a warrant to view visitation logs and surveillance. Which prisoner does this pertain to?”
I take charge and speak up, “Inmate #4457. We are requesting to view his tapes and any logs pertaining to his visitation during his stay here.”
The warden makes a quick call advising the other person on the line to gather the requested information. He hangs up and advises us to follow him to the security office. We walk down a few corridors heading toward the office.
A few minutes later, the three of us enter the office and see a wall covered with surveillance monitors and equipment, scouring the entire prison.
The warden steps up to the officer sitting at the camera station, “Pull up all of the feeds for inmate #4457. Anything you can find.”
The officer nods in response, “Yes, Sir.”
A few seconds later, the feed search is complete. The three of us gather around the monitor as we wait to watch the tapes.
The office
r states, “Okay, so it looks like inmate #4457 has received a total of five visits—the first being five years ago and the last visit being two months ago. Would you like to see all of them?”
The three of us say in unison, “Yes.”
He pulls up the feed and starts to play. Craig is being pulled out of his holding cell and led to the visitation room. He is seated at an empty table until his visitor arrives. A few seconds later, his guest enters the room. I take a good look at him, trying to focus on his features. Is this the guy? Is Melanie right? I can’t seem to remember what he looked like.
Frustration brews as I can’t remember. I clench my hand into a fist as anger and annoyance fill my mind with thoughts of failure, yet again. Craig and his visitor begin to discuss his new life in jail—the food, the sleeping arrangements, and just typical small talk.
Rob asks me, “Is this the guy?”
I shake my head, “I don’t know. I can’t remember; it all happened so fast.”
Rob stares at the playback, “They’re talking about nonsense. Let’s play the next tapes.”
We all agree as the officer starts the next visit.
