Series: Little Cakes Series by Pepper North
Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 45066 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 225(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45066 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 225(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
“I’m going to fast forward it,” Trace announced and moved his cursor to the correct place on the screen, speeding up the videotape.
They watched the desk area empty out for lunch. A custodian wandered into the frame. Instantly Avery leaned forward. Something about him seemed off. She watched him carry a spray bottle and a few rags into the room.
“Is that the uniform our staff wears?” Avery asked. “The badge is correct, but there’s something off about what he’s wearing.”
Trace froze the frame and took a screenshot. He immediately sent the photo to the human resources department to ask that exact question. By the time, he manipulated the cursor back to the play button, a response popped on his screen.
This is not the approved attire for the custodial staff. Who is this employee?
“That answers that question. Good eye, Avery,” Trace commented as he pushed play.
The group clustered closer to the screen as the man looked around surreptitiously as if he were checking out the area. When no one drifted in for several minutes, he moved quickly to Avery’s desk and abandoned his supplies to get busy. Opening all the drawers, he rifled through the contents before abandoning the desk but carrying the spray bottle and rags to head directly to Wyatt’s.
“He’s not touching anyone else’s desk. Avery and Wyatt appear to be his only targets,” Ed said in shock.
“He’s going through all the folders,” Avery observed. “I’d say he’s deliberately looking for something. What is it?”
“That’s the file we stashed the paperwork into.” Wyatt gestured at the screen. “I marked it with an X so we could find it easier.”
They fell silent as the man grabbed everything in the folder and stuffed it in his shirt just as the door opened and Ed walked in. The detective immediately seemed to sense something was up. Ed scanned the far side of the room before the squeal of the drawer caught his attention and he zeroed in on the man hidden behind the desk.
Immediately, the man explained his presence and finished his supposed task of cleaning up a mess. Gathering everything to his chest, the fake custodian walked nonchalantly through the door and disappeared.
“I guess we just got a new case to pursue,” Ed observed as Trace marked down the time stamp when the man walked out of the squad room and rewound to the moment he entered.
“I’ll call HR and find out whose badge was detected in this area at that time,” Avery volunteered.
“Ed, would you come with me to video surveillance so we can track this guy through the building? You got the best look at him,” Wyatt suggested, pulling the other detective into the hunt.
“Let’s go,” Ed accepted without hesitation before looking up at Trace. “Boss, something’s not right here. That guy should have never gotten through the hallways to reach the interior offices.”
“You’re right, Ed. Looks like we need to tighten up our ship. Let’s get to work. I’ll either need to update everyone to be on alert at our afternoon meeting today or we’ll have some news to share.”
“I want to commend Detectives Ed Barlowe, Avery Reynolds, and Wyatt Hazelton. We don’t have all the details nailed down yet but there’s a man waiting in interrogations who illegally collected reports from the squad room this afternoon. It does not appear this is a one-time event but has been an on-going process to take sensitive documents from the arrest records of individuals. The individual is the brother-in-law of a well-known defense attorney who’s had great success in having cases dropped due to lack of evidence in the last year. We do not know for certain that these two are in collaboration with each other, but it definitely fills in the how and why.”
“Isn’t all that stuff in the computer, Captain?” a voice called.
“It is eventually. This individual seemed to have insider information on the lag time between when busy detectives collect their evidence and have time to electronically file their reports.”
A rumble grew in the briefing room, revealing many detectives’ frustration with the paper-pushing demands of their jobs. Trace held up his hand to signal for silence and continued.
“I will immediately begin working with the technology department to devise a better way to handle paperwork than juggling files and reports for several days before they can be filed together and processed. We need to work smarter and more efficiently. We also need to keep observant criminals away from our weaknesses. In addition, I need to know if there’s a problem you’ve noted. Wyatt and Avery reported they were having discrepancies with their paperwork. I would bet more of you have noted missing documents or moving files but chalked it up to a miscommunication between partners.”
Avery watched as the detectives looked at each other with awareness. Trace’s knowledge of the daily routines of the detectives had allowed him to zero in on the potential cause of the problem quickly.