will. But I’d like to have a pretty good idea who he met there so if he thinks about lying to us again, I can nail him.”
Before Risa could respond, the ancient department phone on Nate’s desk rang. He reached out to snag the receiver. “McGuire.” After listening for a moment, he bolted out of his chair. “On my way.” He dropped the receiver in the cradle with a clatter. “That was the captain. IT just dropped off a dub of the tape we found at the scene.”
Morales already had a wheeled cart with a TV/VCR combo sitting in his office when they got there. Nate took a moment to wonder where he’d dug up the system. From the thick coating of dust everywhere except on the freshly dusted screen, no doubt it’d been resurrected from the tombs of the basement.
“Karen Loomis. Detective Nate McGuire. Marisa Chandler.” Morales made short work of the introductions as they crowded around the TV. “Ms. Loomis is from IT. She’s going to explain what we’ve got here.”
Loomis was a foot shorter than Nate and probably only twenty pounds lighter. Her dark brown hair was sticking up in odd spikes all over her head. After a moment he decided the style was deliberate. But she carried her weight lightly and sounded authoritative when she began speaking.
“What you’ve got is one very old tape.” She tapped the panel covering the tape insert. “Well, not the copy we made, but your original. It’s well worn and I’m guessing it might be a relic from the eighties. Mainly because that’s the decade the camera heralds from. But given the wear on the tape, it was either used over and over or it’s aged, as well. Or both.” She punched the buttons to turn on the TV and the VCR. If the unit came with a remote, it was obviously missing.
There were a few moments of blank screen before the recording came into view. Nate saw immediately what she meant. The picture crackled with static before settling into view. And the scene had his throat drying out.
“Ah, Jesus,” he whispered, when he saw the flames shooting skyward. They were imprinted on the inky blackness of the surroundings. A macabre beacon against the night sky, gilding the dark figure at their core.
“Is there sound?” Morales demanded.
Loomis turned up the volume. The crackle of the flames was heard. In the distance was a barking dog. But nothing else.
It took a moment for Nate to find his voice. “The other victims weren’t gagged. Liz didn’t mention finding anything to suggest this victim was either. Chances are he was dead by the time the tape was turned on.”
“Which begs the question of why the tape was started at that time.” The captain was frowning fiercely at the television screen. “Either he wants to film the entire scene to relive later or he wants to catch the crime scene being discovered and worked. Each way means he’s coming back for the tape.”
“Maybe he’d already filled one tape,” Risa suggested. It was the first time she’d spoken. Nate glanced at her. Her face was bloodless. Her eyes fixed on the screen.
“Possible,” Loomis answered cheerfully. “And no way for us to know for sure. What we can be certain of is that this particular tape was set to record for eight hours. Which means, of course, that you get a lower-quality recording. And you’ve only got about six hours of recorded material here. The first hint of a live person in the area comes sometime around dawn.” She fast-forwarded the tape until she found the bit she was looking for.
An unseen woman’s voice sounded. “Buster. Buster, stop it. Damn, would you just . . .” An excited barking was heard. “Yeah, I see it. What is that? It looks . . . ohmyGod, ohmyGod . . .” They all listened in silence as a still unseen Heather Bixby called 911, described what she’d found.
Afterward they watched as the woman moved onto the screen, pulled by the large mastiff, and got much closer to the smoking body than she’d led them to believe. Her next call, as expected, was to Crowley.
“Baby, you’re not going to believe this. There’s been nasty doings in the park last night.” She stopped. Listened. Gave a bray of laughter. “No, not that kind of nasty. You have a one-track mind. Yes, you do! Oh, shit.” She fumbled with the phone as she tried to pull the straining dog away from the pad