Why Not Murder

57. Revealed

57. Revealed

After Maya had told Dog all about her trip to the cemetery and Crawford Mills, Dog said "I have something to share with you too. I was helping Harriet search through all the unlabeled USBs that are in a box in the residence basement because she was searching for the backup of Winnie's creative writing and couldn't find it anywhere. It may have become confused with other USBs when she was moving stuff into the office on the top floor. I did find the back up. The label had become detached and I also found this." He opened a video file on screen. The name Reliable Security Systems Inc ran continuously across the bottom of the screen and in the top right hand corner was the date and time. Maya immediately recognized the date as being that when the executives were assassinated. The screen showed the boardroom of XX Fuel operation headquarters. One of the executives said that the others were expected any moment. Then in rushed Team B and the executives were lined up and shot. Dog closed that computer file and opened another. It was the camera in the hallway leading to the boardroom. Team B was coming quickly towards the boardroom and entered. Shots were heard.

"I have more to show you," Dog said, "These records were not deleted from Reliable's system but removed. If they had been deleted a record could have been uncovered. Someone or some devious virus hacked in and removed the files. How they ended up on USB at the Laymuir residence, I can only guess."

"It doesn't seem that an alarm was sounding from those records we just saw," Maya said.

"No," Dog said, "It was disabled."

"So, somehow, unbeknownst to the security company, the alarm system was not operating, and after the fact, the video records were removed," Maya said, "Did whoever was responsible want the record or was it possible to turn off the cameras before the event?"

"I think they had a motive for having a record," Dog said, "whatever it may have been."

"Makes sense," Maya said, "If they were savvy enough to disable the audio alarm, they probably had the expertise to turn off the cameras. Maybe they wanted proof in case of need but didn't want anyone else to have it."

Dog nodded in agreement and put on another file. "This is one of the cameras outside the building," he said, "Looks like it was hidden as the subjects don't seem to be aware of it." Two vehicles were parked side by side and away from the majority of parked cars. One had four people in it, the other, three. People inside the vehicles were preparing to get out and were pulling on their face masks. Maya gasped as their faces could be zoomed in on. The drivers stayed in the vehicles and the others hurried inside the building. Dog zoomed in and enhanced the faces but it was still nearly impossible to see them clearly because of the vehicles' glass windows and the reflections. Then as Team B was exiting the building the drivers drove towards them and the perpetrators boarded. Dog brought some details to Maya's attention about the executioners that could possibly help in identifying them at some future time. One of them had a particularity in the stance, as though he or she had recovered from a knee injury. Body weight distribution was another factor. Some of them seemed male and others female. The license plates were legible. "The plates will have been changed since then," Maya said.

"This is on a different topic, but sure to interest you as well," Dog said and another file started. This one showed Mitchell, the reporter, talking in an intimate way with an assistant working at a desk outside an executive office. Both Mitchell and the assistant were smiling in evidence of their attraction towards each other. The desk was covered in files, some open, others closed, loose sheets of paper and three computer screens. The assistant had her hand on one small file and then removed it. Mitchell slipped the file under his coat.