The Sentry - By Robert Crais Page 0,62

jimmied the window did it during those three hours. Three hours isn’t so bad.”

Cole nodded, but it was a slow nod, and Pike knew he was thinking. Cole thinking was a good thing because he came up with good ideas.

“Tell you what, let’s start earlier that morning. If you’re right about the killer casing their place, he might have made two or three passes before he entered the property. He also might have followed Wilson home from his shop, so we might catch him on the follow. You see?”

Pike nodded. Good ideas.

“Also, if we get a glimpse of the abduction, we might see what kind of vehicles were involved and get an idea what condition Dru and Wilson were in when they were taken. This might help us find them even though Mendoza and Gomer are dead.”

“Start whenever you want.”

Pike wanted to get on with it.

Cole used the skip-reverse button to jump back through the recording in one-hour increments until the morning of the abduction. As the still images moved backward in time from night into day, Pike was relieved to see the images gained clarity, depth, and color.

When the time counter showed AM05: 13:42 on the morning of the abduction, Cole clicked the play button, then increased the playback speed. Though dim in the early-morning light, the real-time image now grew sharper. The landscape remained frozen, but the ambient light changed and colors grew richer as the time counter advanced.

They saw the first sign of life at 5:36. A figure zipped past on the far left side of the screen, and vanished before Cole hit the pause button.

Cole said, “Jogger.”

He reversed the recording, then replayed it in real time. A female jogger appeared out of the left edge of the screen with her back to the camera. Because the camera was parallel to the street, she looked as if she was coming from behind the left side of the camera on a slight left-to-right path, and was visible for only four seconds.

A second jogger appeared at 5:54, this time a young man with ropy Rasta hair who ran toward them on a path past the camera. Cole froze the image to study him.

Pike said, “Can you print his picture?”

“Sure. Think it’s him?”

“We’ll see.”

Pike had no feeling about the man either way. He wanted pictures of all likely males who passed the house.

They saw no one else until 6:22 A.M. when the silver Tercel raced past at fast-forward speed.

Pike said, “That’s them.”

Cole reversed the recording, then brought it forward frame by frame until they had the best possible view of the driver. The frozen image was grainy, but Wilson Smith’s face and features were clear enough. He was alone in the car.

“Wilson. This is when he’s on his way to the shop.”

Cole printed the image, then resumed play at the faster speed.

The activity on the alley grew with the morning hour. They stopped the image every time a figure sped by, then rewound and advanced in real time. The silver Tercel reappeared at 6:55, emerging from the left edge of the screen as Wilson returned home. The angle made it impossible to see Wilson behind the wheel, but no one else appeared to be in the car.

Between 7:00 A.M. and 8:00 A.M., they stopped the recording eighteen times and printed seven photographs, but none of the twenty-two people they saw appeared to be more than ordinary people out for a walk or a jog. Two cars passed the field of view as residents left their homes between 7:20 and 7:45. Neither was the silver Tercel, but Pike and Cole were encouraged in both cases because the outbound drivers were clearly visible.

Pike watched with a dull hope Cole was right, and he would see them leave before Mendoza arrived, but Jared came past the wall at 8:07 A.M. He quickly grew larger until he disappeared past the camera.

Pike said, “Okay. Sometime between now and when Jared returns is when Mendoza and Gomer arrive.”

Cole nodded without looking away from the screen.

Two women with small dogs walked past, then another man jogged. At 8:42, another figure passed quickly from left to right, and Cole stopped the image.

“That’s Jared. He’s back.”

Jared was carrying a plastic grocery bag. The moo.

Cole glanced at Pike, then shook his head.

“Real time, Mendoza and Gomer are at their house right now. This is when Jared saw them.”

“They used the pedestrian bridge.”

“Yeah. And if your killer used the bridge and stayed at the end of the alley, we’re not going