He decided to skip the other lobby camera and move to the one covering the front entrance. In and out, in and out. People coming and going and returning and leaving again. On the screen the day grew later, then night descended, but the flow of people never stopped. In and out, in and out, in and—
Jake tapped Pause, then leaned over the desk, bringing him a few inches closer to the monitor on the wall.
“See something?” Parker asked.
Jake stared at the image. Two men had just come outside. A doorman — not the one who’d let Jake in earlier — was holding the door open for them. They were both dressed casually, dark pants and dark shirts. One was even wearing a dark gray sports coat. They didn’t look like they were together, but there was something Jake couldn’t quite put his finger on.
The camera had captured a good shot of both men’s faces. Neither was remarkable. If he’d met either of them before, that might explain the feeling he was having, but he couldn’t place their faces, which meant this was the first time he had ever seen them. His memory was exceptional. He’d never forgotten a face before, and was sure he wasn’t forgetting one now.
So why did I stop?
“Hey, you all right?” Parker asked.
Jake pulled his eyes off the screen. “What?” he asked, confused.
“You were studying that pretty hard. I was just wondering if you’d seen something interesting.”
Jake quickly donned his neutral cop look. “Not sure. Maybe. Is there a way to print out images?”
“Sure,” Parker said. “We have a mavigraph. Gives you a nice glossy print. We’re not supposed to use it too often because it’s expensive, but I’m sure Mr. Evans wouldn’t mind.”
“Excellent.” Jake nodded at the screen. “Can I get a print of that?”
“You got it.”
Parker fiddled with a computer keyboard, then a few moments later a machine in the corner behind them began to hum.
“It takes a little while to print,” Parker said. “But it’s got the image now, so you can continue looking if you want.”
Jake nodded, then hit Play and watched the men walk out of frame. He stopped the footage, reversed it to just as they were coming out the door, and noted the time stamp. He then switched over to the feed from a lobby camera right on the other side of the entrance. Using the time code as reference, he went to the corresponding point.
On the screen he could see the backs of the men as they were passing through the door. He began scrolling the footage backwards. As he noted from the other angle, though the men were leaving at the same time, they didn’t seem to be together. He followed them to the extent of the camera’s range, then found the next camera they were on, then the next. The lighter-haired one had stopped in the lobby, and put his cell phone to his ear. The other, dark-haired one had walked backwards all the way to the elevator where he entered/exited the number two elevator.
Jake turned his focus on the man in the lobby, until he, too, walked to the elevators and went up, in his case riding in car number four. Jake switched to the interior footage from car four, and followed the man in reverse all the way up to the eighth floor. No feeds covered the upstairs hallways, so he couldn’t see which room the man went to.
“Here you go,” Parker said, setting something on the counter beside Jake’s elbow.
Looking down, Jake saw the promised glossy print of the two men outside the hotel entrance. There was a wide white border around the edges that almost gave it a retro feel.
“Thanks,” he said.
He returned his attention to the screen, then hit Play, watching in normal speed, forward motion this time. The light-haired man reentered the elevator on the eighth floor, then headed down. The car made three stops before it reached the lobby: on the sixth, fourth, and third floor.
Jake hit Pause again, scrolled back a few seconds, then let it play once more. When a man entered the car on the third floor, it looked like the light-haired man had given him a tiny nod. Jake played it a couple of times. The movement was so slight it was hard to tell.
The man who had just gotten on turned and faced the door. It could be they’d only recognized each other from when they were checking into the hotel. Then again, maybe it hadn’t been a nod at all. Just a tick, or even a glitch in the camera.
Jake continued forward.
It wasn’t until the dark-haired man entered the lobby from the number two elevator that Jake stopped again. He’d missed it before but now there was no mistaking it. The light-haired man and the dark-haired man had shared a look. Brief, yes, and most people who saw it would probably have dismissed it, but Jake saw it for what he was sure it was — a signal of some kind. The moment they looked away from each other, the light-haired man put his phone in his pocket and headed for the door. The dark-haired man had then headed in the same direction, a few feet behind him.
Okay, Jake thought. There’s a connection between the men, but absolutely no connection to the murder out on Goodman Ranch Road. They could be anybody.
Then his fingers reached out and slammed the Pause key.
The dark-haired man had slowed next to a table, his hand hovering over a bowl filled with matchbooks.
A tingling feeling ran across Jake’s shoulders.
He scrolled forward, frame by frame. The man’s hand inched downward, first touching the stack of blue booklets, then picking one up and slipping it in his pocket.
Jake stared at the screen, no longer seeing the image it held.
He knew this still didn’t prove a damn thing. Dozens of people must have taken matchbooks from that bowl every day. That, and the fact Jake’s interest in the man was based on no more than a feeling, made it all the more unlikely. Yet, he continued to have a sense that the men were…were…
Different.
That was it. There was something about them that set them off from others. He couldn’t put his finger on exactly what that difference was, but he knew it was there.
He finished watching the men exit the hotel. There were no more causes to pause, no more what-the-hell moments.
He checked his watch and was surprised to see he only had a half hour to get to the substation. Where had all the time gone?
He was about to thank Parker and tell him he was done when he remembered the man who’d entered the elevator on the third floor. He knew his sense about this man was even weaker than his feelings about the other two, but it was best to play it safe.
He found the appropriate footage of the man exiting the building a few minutes before the other two did, and paused the picture. The guy was probably in his early forties, in decent shape, and had a bit of a scowl on his face.
He looked at Parker. “Can I get a print of this, too?”
As Jake walked back through the lobby, he considered stopping at reception. He knew there was a very high likelihood that the men had been guests at the hotel, and if one of the women at the desk could ID them, then Jake would have names. The thing that stopped him was the promise he’d made Conway about not asking for any guest information without the proper warrants. If he reneged on that, he’d once more open the possibility of his superiors finding out about his visit.
There was a less official way he could at least get some basic information, though.
As he reached the exit, a different doorman than earlier pulled it open for him.
“Thanks,” Jake said as he passed through.
“No problem at all. You have a good day.”
Jake slowed. “Say, can I ask you a question?”