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Her shoulders relaxed slightly. She went into her room for the box, and the two of us carried it downstairs.
Selena and I sat down at the kitchen island. I brought out the two laptops that Aiden had agreed she could use, although they had the wifi cards removed. Selena just smirked at that, shaking her head.
Together, the two of us began to connect the various hard drives that had been confiscated from her childhood home as part of the investigation of her parents' murder.
She dove into her work with an intensity that made me worry about her.
But I had to admit that it was impressive to watch her go, her fingers flying over the keyboard to break the encryption on her parents’ files, the way her beautiful, thickly-lashed dark eyes swept quickly back and forth. Her pretty, heart-shaped face was reflected in the computer screen. There really was no one quite like Selena.
For hours, we worked together. We set up the external hard drives and connected them to the laptops. Then we began to arduously go through the files, looking for anything hidden, or anything that might indicate a motive for their murder.
"The police never identified a motive?" I asked.
"No," she said. Then, bitterly, she added, "Not that I think they really tried."
I thought of how Gavin had bought off the local police force. Whoever had murdered Selena's parents must have that kind of pull as well.
Then I found a file labeled 'doors'. I began to go through it and found it was full of security from a camera that Selena's parents must have rigged to watch their backyard and their front porch. Most of the videos just showed cars cruising past or parked outside, which made me search harder for a reason why they would've kept them.
"Selena," I said quietly, and she leaned into me to watch. Her shoulder brushed mine and her soft, glossy hair swayed against me.
As we watched the videos, something caught my eye. Sometimes, a man was visible briefly in the car across from their house, either in the driver's side or the passenger side. Someone had been watching the house.
"Do you have any idea who that is?" I asked Selena, who was watching the video with me.
"I’ve never seen him… that I remember." she replied, her voice tense. "But we need to find out."
We continued to watch the videos, looking for any clues that might lead us to the identity of the man. As we watched, I couldn't help but notice Selena's body tense up each time a car pulled up to the house, or someone walked by.
"Are you okay?" I asked, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.
She shrugged and turned to me, her eyes dark with emotion. "I'm fine."
I nodded.
"It won't show the night those men came into our home," she said quietly, sounding defeated. "These are the videos my parents found suspicious enough to save."
"Then what happened to the original footage? Surely the police would have saved it."
Her lips twisted bitterly. "Maybe. Maybe not."
As we watched, I caught another glimpse of one of the men as he shifted in the seat. For a second, he was silhouetted, his beaked nose and domed forehead in sharp relief against the night.
He looked familiar, and I leaned forward, squinting to get a better look at him.
I couldn't place the man at first, but it hit me like a freight train when he turned his head. It was Carl Quincy, a low life gun for hire who Gavin employed occasionally. But Quincy definitely wasn't loyal to Gavin. He wasn't loyal to anyone.
"What the fuck?" I muttered, rewinding the video and pausing on Quincy’s face. I turned to Selena. "Do you know him?"
I knew it was a long shot, given how young she'd been for the murders.
She shook her head. "No, I've never seen him before. That I know of."
"I'm going to track him down," I promised. "See what he knows."
“Not without me!”
“I can’t put you in danger,” I said. “Aiden would kill me. But don’t worry. I’m good at finding out what people don’t want me to know.”
