Doubt (Caroline Auden #1) - C. E. Tobisman Page 0,78
revenues.”
“Fine, so they have a motive to suppress the science that could sink SuperSoy.” Eddie scanned the screen. “But there’s still no link to Annie Wong.”
“We’ve got one more clue.” Caroline’s fingers danced across the keyboard until she’d pulled up the video message. “Dr. Wong sent this to her boyfriend about a week after she left town. It’s possible she shot the video wherever she’s hiding out. But don’t get your hopes up. There’s not much to see. I’ve already watched it about a hundred times.”
To prove her point, Caroline played the message.
Annie Wong stood in the half light between dusk and darkness. A wind stirred her jet-black hair. Even in the dim light, her face looked tired.
“I’m sorry, Henrik,” she began, her voice tinny on Caroline’s speakers, “but you’ve got to stop calling me. I don’t blame you for not understanding. I barely do myself.” The words were spoken quickly, as if she were afraid to stop her momentum. But then she paused. “Even if it doesn’t seem like it right now, please know that I really do love you. I hope you can move on.”
“Wait.” Eddie pointed at the screen. “Right before the message ends, there’s a flash.”
“I know. I saw it. I think she was standing near a highway,” Caroline said.
“Maybe so. Play it again,” Eddie said.
Caroline obliged. Yes, there it was. A flash right before Dr. Wong had hit “Stop.”
“That doesn’t look like headlights to me,” Eddie said. “It’s too fast.”
“I’ll slow it down.” Caroline configured the video feed to respond to the speed at which she tapped the space key. “I’m going to play it frame by frame,” she said, tapping the bar. Dr. Wong’s face moved in exaggerated slowness, the sound of her voice dragging and distorted. Six frames from the end, the light appeared. Right over Dr. Wong’s left shoulder.
Caroline froze the image. Eddie was right. The flash didn’t look like a car’s headlights. It was too high in the frame.
“There’s a sound in the background. Right at the end there,” Eddie said.
Caroline turned up the volume and hit “Play” again, advancing the visual and audio feeds together, frame by frame, split second by split second. And this time, when she reached the end of the message, she heard it. A low sound, right when the flash occurred. A horn. A flash.
The conjunction of light and sound, linked in a memory of seashores.
“It’s a lighthouse!” Caroline said.
She searched online for lighthouses with operational lenses and horns.
She found three in California. One in Mendocino. One near San Diego. One near Eureka.
“Guess it makes sense,” Caroline said.
“Huh?” Eddie asked.
“Nolan has asthma. The coastal air is good for him.” She pivoted around to meet Eddie’s black eyes again. “Okay, so assuming Annie didn’t keep moving after she recorded the message, we know she’s near the coast.”
“Yeah, but which coast? We’ve got three different lighthouses at three different locations.” Eddie shook his head. “I don’t know how we’re gonna figure out this one. I’m a lawyer, not a private investigator . . .”
Caroline leaned back in her chair and ran her hand through her unruly hair.
Suddenly, she sat straight up.
“I know how to figure it out. There’s someone I need to talk to,” she said.
CHAPTER 12
Caroline spotted the artist talking to a group of patrons in the center of the cavernous warehouse art gallery. Henrik’s shaggy mane of blond hair stood out above the group of men in suits interrogating him about one of his canvases. The artist had dressed up for the occasion. Instead of the paint-splattered jeans and loose tank top he’d worn the last time Caroline saw him, he wore khaki pants and a collared shirt. Only his wild hair hinted at the temperamental passion simmering beneath his now affable demeanor.
Upon seeing Caroline, Henrik’s light-blue eyes ignited with interest.
He excused himself and strode over to her.
“Did you find Annie?” he asked, his voice pitched low so no one around could hear.
“No. Not yet, but I’ve got some ideas where she might have gone,” Caroline answered.
Henrik exhaled, his disappointment written across his face.
“I’m getting close,” Caroline said. “I’m pretty sure she’s either in Mendocino, Eureka, or San Diego. Do you know if she had any connection to any of those places?”
“I have no idea why she’d be in any of those places.” His eyes narrowed. “Are you fucking with me?”
“No, I am not fucking with you. But I do need some more information.”