Hidden - Laura Griffin Page 0,37
typically tried to avoid. But some of his favorite people worked down there, so every so often he had to make the trip.
“I was wondering when you’d turn up,” Gabby said as he stepped into the lab. They kept the lights dim, and Gabby’s face was a ghostly blue in the light of her computer screen. Jacob couldn’t tell for sure, but it looked like her short brown hair was streaked pink today. It changed week to week.
“Where is everyone?” he asked, glancing around. Someone had a Muse concert playing at one of the workstations, but Gabby was the only person in sight.
She plucked out her earbuds as he walked over. “Brian took off for the night, and Luis is grabbing dinner.” She nibbled on a red gummy worm and regarded him with a suspicious look. “Where have you been? I was expecting you hours ago.”
Jacob sat on the edge of her desk and set down his case file. “I’ve been slammed.”
“What’s that?” She nodded at the photo clipped to the folder.
“The victim had this tattoo. I’ve been trying to find someone to translate the words.”
She pulled the file closer and studied it. “Looks like Chinese. You should ask Luis. He speaks Mandarin.”
“He does?”
“One of his hidden talents.” She held out the bag of candy. “Want some?”
“Sure.” He dug a worm from the bag and popped it into his mouth as he looked at her screen. “What’re you working on?”
“The footage from the nature center camera. Camera two, to be precise.”
“How many do they have?”
“Three.” She sighed. “So far, nothing resembling our victim.”
“Did you get the footage from the boathouse camera?”
“It’s next on my list.”
Gabby tapped her mouse to pause the video and swiveled to face him. “You know, some feebie called today and asked for copies of all this.”
That was news to Jacob, but he wasn’t surprised. “What’d you tell him?”
“What do you think? I gave him what he wanted. He made it sound like they were taking over the case.”
“And yet you’re still going through footage.”
“Yup.”
Gabby handled video evidence for the department’s high-priority cases, which might include anything from hit-and-run accidents caught on film to sex abuse. She had an eye for detail and an uncanny ability to spot hidden clues in even the most mundane surveillance footage. Gabby’s work had provided a key break in more cases than Jacob could count, and he never missed a chance to hit her up for help.
But this time, helping him could get her in trouble.
She crossed her arms. “Look, you asked me to comb through and look for our victim. That’s what I’m doing. I figured if you wanted me to stop looking, you would have said so.”
Jacob watched her, trying to read her expression.
“Do you want me to stop looking?”
“It’s a sensitive case,” he said.
“That’s not what I asked.”
“No.”
“Then I plan to keep going,” she said matter-of-factly. “If I find something useful, you’ll be the first to know.”
Luis walked into the room. “Hey, you’re here. I just left you a message.”
“I got it,” Jacob told him. He stood up and gave Gabby a hard look. “Let me know if you get sidetracked.” In other words, if another case fell into her lap and demanded her attention. “And keep me posted on that security footage.”
She put her earbuds in and shooed him away. “Go. You’re distracting me.”
Jacob joined Luis at his cubicle, which was actually two cubicles combined into one. Luis had two desktop computers and a laptop, plus numerous power cords. One entire side of his workspace was dedicated to cell phones, and he had chargers of various shapes and sizes plugged into a power bar.
Jacob recognized the black cell phone he’d rescued from the muck behind Jay’s Juice Bar.
“You won’t believe what I got.” Luis sank into his chair.
“What’d you get?”
“I got it working, for starters. You believe that shit? This thing was dead. I thought it was hopeless.”
“So, you were able to turn it on?”
“Yes.” He leaned back in his chair, lacing his hands behind his head as he smiled at Jacob. “And retrieve the call history.”
This was why he loved working with Luis. When he set his mind to something, he was tenacious as hell.
“Tell me about the call history.” Jacob pulled a chair from a neighboring cube and sat down.
“Well, it was weird.” Luis frowned and leaned forward, hunching over the phone.
“Weird how?”
“Like, sporadic. I only found two outgoing calls.”
“Two since when?”
“Since ever. Like I told you, this thing is a burner. She only ever