Duchess Trilogy: Book 1: Mafia

Chapter Ninteen: The Search Goes on

Ryan's POV

I stayed in the interrogation office to watch the tapes. Open bar, snacks, and some adderall pills that can keep us awake for a good week. I glance at the clock and see that it is six in the morning, and I still find nothing on the tapes. I go to the bar to open a drawer, pull out one of the five-hour energy bottles, and drink the whole thing. I needed to stay awake. I needed to search for answers. I sat back down and continued with the tapes. Another couple of hours fly by, and Simon comes into the room.

"Hey, did you need a break? I can look into the camera and see if you overlooked anything," He offered in a neutral tone, coming in with casual attire.

I let out a sigh, looking down at my suit from the wedding. I finished the glass of water that was beside my chair. "Yeah, maybe a set of fresh eyes will help out greatly." I stood up to stretch and thanked Simon for the handoff. Oddly, though, at the corner of my eye, I noticed the time was changed from 934 to 943 within a second. I glanced at Simon, and he seemed to see what I saw. We rewind the tape and still see the same time switch at both of those times. I immediately pulled out the tape, and we both headed to the tech room in the estate in a dead on sprint.

I called Mark, who handles all of our technology side of things, and demanded his availability. He was already in the room when I completed the call and then shut my phone. We head down into the basement and see Mark right away sitting at a chair with multiple screens displaying.

"We found a time glitch at these times; do you think you can get the footage between those times?" I ask directly, feeling my heart race, trying not to raise my voice as I hand him the tape.

"I can try; you'll have to give me a couple of hours, though, for audio." He said politely, studying the time on the tape. "It does show that there was nine minutes of footage missing. I'll call when I have it."

"Can you try to do the video footage as well, too? We are in a time crunch right now!" I say questionably.

"Video will take a good three days of work with me along -"

"Then call your other buddies and do different time gaps per minute! I'll pay triple for the hard work! Hire more men if you have to! This footage has valuable information on a possible kidnapping between two of our family members! DO IT NOW!" I yell loudly, banging my hand on the table in anger. I startled him, and he looked disappointed in me. I then walk off in aggravation and storm down the hall, trying not to break anything else around me.

Simon caught up to my pace. "Do you think Alex would go out of his way for Brie, sir?"

I stopped to look at him directly. "I hope not, or his head will be mine." I walk off, knowing that I need to get some sleep. We turned the corner and glanced at the front doors before turning up the stairs, but I stopped when I saw Carmine with his four other capo men. He glances our way and questionably walks my way. I stop to study him and his four other family members.

"Did you happen to find anything?" Carmine asks, approaching me down the hallway.

"No, but we did see that the camera was tampered with. We sent it to Mark and his tech buddies to see if there was any video footage to reveal." Simon admitted I turned towards him, and he then realized he wasn't supposed to say anything.

Carmine nods and looks at my clothes. "Have you been up all night watching the tapes, Ryan?"

"Eh, well, if anything involves our family, you just have to find the answers. You can sleep when you're dead." I say, rubbing the back of my neck.

He chuckled and nodded, agreeing with me. "Yeah, my ex-fiancé ran off with someone else close to our wedding day almost a year ago. I was awake day and night trying to hunt down the bastard that stole her from me. So, I do get what you mean."