Mission: Without a Trace - Nicole Edwards Page 0,69

was deleted from the server early this mornin’.” She leaned in. “A few minutes before eight to be exact.” JJ sat back, sighed. “You’re probably not gonna like what I found.”

Reese watched as a video began to play. The timestamp in the bottom left reflected 0207 this morning.

Guy appeared in the hallway, but his face was obscured by the cowboy hat on his head. Despite the fact it wasn’t quite cold enough, he was wearing a heavy coat that covered his arms, hiding any chance of them getting a look at some sort of identifying mark.

“He seems a bit overdressed for the weather,” Baz noted.

“My thoughts exactly,” JJ agreed.

The four of them watched as the man on the screen knocked on Corinne’s apartment door then poked the doorbell. The camera was at the end of the hall, so it didn’t provide a good angle.

“Any way you can get closer?”

JJ clicked a few keys; the camera zoomed in. A minute later, the door opened, a few words were exchanged, but that was where the friendly encounter ended.

“That’s a gun,” JJ said, pointing to the spot on the screen where the weapon was.

The man was doing his best to conceal the handgun beneath his jacket, motioning with it. Without audio, there was no way to tell what he was saying. Corinne’s face never appeared, but it was clear she went back inside. The man stepped forward, part of his body hidden from the angle of the camera, but the light was still spilling out into the hallway, which meant the door was still open.

Next thing the camera captured was Corinne stepping out into the hall. She looked nervous as the man put his arm around her shoulder in a casual move, tugging her against him, the other hand pinning the gun to her side. The video showed them walking down the hall, back toward the elevators.

JJ keyed in something again, the image flipping to another camera, a different angle, this one in the hall with the elevators. Guy pushed the button, stepped back. A few seconds later, he was urging her forward, into the elevator. Right before she slipped inside, Cori’s face lifted, her eyes locking on the camera she obviously knew was there. She mouthed the words help me, stark terror reflected in her stare.

Reese winced, fury igniting in his veins, made worse by the fact they couldn’t find this bastard and make him pay for taking her.

“Son of a bitch,” Brantley muttered.

“That’s the last we get of them,” JJ explained. “Based on the feeds from the lobby cameras, they didn’t go out that way.”

“Or someone managed to erase their exit,” Brantley grunted.

Yep. And there wasn’t a single inch of the guy’s face revealed, which meant he knew where all the cameras were. In order to know that, he would’ve had to be familiar with the place. Or cased it before hand. Ruled out the guy she met at the wine bar. Wouldn’t have had enough time to do that.

“Could you go back?” Baz suggested. “To when the guy gets to the door.”

More keying, then the feed started again with the man stepping up to the door, raising his hand to knock.

“Pause it there,” Baz instructed.

JJ did.

“Back just a little.”

More adjusting

“There. Can you zoom in on his hand?”

JJ dragged the image closer, but it obscured as she did. The four of them leaned in at the same time.

“Looks like a tattoo,” JJ noted.

Yeah. Problem was, the image was too grainy to make it out. There was something inked on the guy’s right hand, peeking out from beneath the cuff of the jacket.

“I can play with it,” JJ stated. “It may take some time, but I’ll see if I can clean it up.”

Reese glanced over at Brantley, noticed the man was still staring at the screen.

“Son of a bitch,” Brantley muttered again.

Yeah. His sentiments exactly.

***

JJ hadn’t expected her day to go this way, but she couldn’t deny it was a nice change of pace.

And yes, she was referring to the handsome detective who had joined their little task force, if only temporarily.

While JJ had gotten to work on the video, attempting to clean up the image in an effort to identify the tattoo Baz had noticed, the men had continued to discuss the case, outlining what they could on the whiteboard. And every time Baz spoke up, JJ’s ears perked. There was something intensely erotic about his voice. It wasn’t so much deep as it was raspy, every word spoken like he