Haunted by the Past (Original)

Chapter 44

"There, I've sent the IP address and login credentials for the surveillance system to your tablet. Find out who he talks to from the second he steps into the building and where he goes once the interview is over. I'm going to work on getting external footage. No detail is too small so make note of everything you find along with timestamps," Eli instructed.

All I could do was nod solemnly. Sure, I knew Jorge was dead, but we had mistakenly assumed he had been in the police's care when he was taken. Somehow the thought of him being kidnapped outside of his home was more unnerving. Did he even leave the studio? I thought back to the aged stage and lighting rigs. Was he killed at a forgotten studio within the station building? Was he only a few thin walls away from the station's security?

"Eli, maybe he was killed in the building, at an unused set," I pointed out.

"No, he wasn't. I know that the scene Triple-6 had laid out made it seem like an old TV studio set, but the phone never pinged the station's Wi-Fi," he explained. "Even if you turn off Wi-Fi, your phone will track available networks. I also doubt the station has any unused studios."

"So they went elsewhere," I thought out loud as I looked down at my tablet in my lap. The idea of watching a dead man's last moments of freedom was unnerving to say the least. I had to remind myself that this was for Jorge. This was for justice for his death. "I'll see what I can do."

It took me a while to get acquainted with the intricacies of the TV station's camera software. It certainly was not the most responsive system and its menu system appeared to be at least 10 years old. Still, I managed to work out the cameras that mattered the most and how to swap back and forth. The next problem was finding Jorge in a building of hundreds, if not thousands. I didn't know what time he arrived or even how he arrived. As far as I could tell there was the main street entrance, the side alley entrance, the underground parking garage, and a loading dock at the rear of the building. I could've gone through the feeds for each one in order of likelihood until I found Jorge, but I realized it was smarter to start with a definite time and location, then work backward from there to determine when he arrived. That definite time and location? When he was sitting in the studio for his interview.

Even though I had seen his interview, watching it from the perspective of the security camera was surreal. The first thing I took note of were all the people, presumably staff, watching the interview. Of course there were a few people on the cameras, some more monitoring the spotlights, and another supervising the sound board. There were also the makeup and hair people paying more attention to the interviewer than to Jorge. You also had your producer, your assistant producer, and your assistant to the assistant producer, never mind the gofers running in the background. It was clearly a tightly run ship and everyone looked like they had a reason to be there. Yet I took notes on each individual, detailing their appearance and their level of interaction with Jorge. The ones that didn't even come within six feet of Jorge had considerably less detail. At the end of the interview the assistant producer was thanking Jorge for coming in, probably confirming that his check was in the mail by the grin on Jorge's face. He certainly seemed as though he had won the lottery.

As I watched him leave the room, I debated internally with myself whether I should track him back to when he entered first, or whether I was ready to possibly watch the moment he was taken by Triple-6.

**

"Dani, I'm going to be fine, ok? There's a cop posted outside my house. My parents are downstairs and planning to stay up all night. There's no way he can break in without being noticed," Brodie said confidently over the video chat.

"Are you sure that's enough though?" I sighed. "Shouldn't we all go over to help keep watch?"

"No, no," he shook his head vehemently. "That's completely unnecessary. And there's no way I'll allow you and Vic to put yourselves in harm's way for little ol' me."