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“I’m just happy everyone’s all right.”
“Listen, I don’t know if you’d be interested, but we’re in town for another two weeks. If you’re around, come by, and I’ll get you on the set.”
“Really?” Matthew said, genuinely surprised. If he could get onto the set, maybe all wasn’t lost, after all.
“It’s the least I can do.”
“That would be fantastic. Thank you. I’m actually free tomorrow if that would work.”
“Great. Give me your number. In the morning, I’ll text you where to meet us.”
20
Teddy hung around the set for another hour, hoping one of the cops would divulge what they’d learned so far. But the only additional information he gleaned came from a rookie cop who was working crowd control.
“You saw the video, didn’t you?” the officer asked.
“What video?”
“Of the shooting.”
“There’s video?”
The cop bobbed his head side to side. “Sort of. Here.” He opened a video-sharing app on his phone to show Teddy. “A fan was standing down the street, trying to getshots of the stars as they left. This was uploaded before we even arrived at the scene.”
The title of the video wasAdriene Adele Escapes Death!It already had more than five thousand views.
The shot of the street was focused on the back of a man walking away from the camera. Matthew, if Teddy wasn’t mistaken.
A voice off-screen said, “I don’t think he’s anybody.”
“Are you sure?” a second voice asked.
“I don’t recognize him. Do you?”
“Nah. I guess you’re right.”
Matthew grew smaller in frame as the shot started zooming out. It had widened enough to catch Adriene and Stacy exiting the pathway onto the sidewalk.
“Ooh! That’s Adriene A—”
Gunshots drowned out the rest of what the unseen voice said.
The image jerked around as whoever was holding the camera took cover. The person maintained enough awareness, though, to keep the lens aimed at Adriene, Stacy, and Matthew.
The rest of the action played out exactly as Stacy had described it.
When it became clear Teddy would learn nothing else, he returned to his car. He’d just settled into the driver’s seat when he received a text from Kevin.
This is as far as I can push it without the audio degrading beyond recognition.
Teddy tapped the provided link, and the kidnapping video played on his screen. Though there was still some distortion to the voice, the audio was cleaned up enough for him to tell that the speaker was male and had a European accent.
As he started to listen to it again, his phone rang with a call from Kevin.
The instant Teddy accepted it, Kevin said, “You’re going to want to see this right away.”
“See what?”
