Hold My Hand (Sequel to Saved: Adopted by Brendon Urie)

Chapter 48

Brendon had stopped looking at the photographs.

Not because he didn't want to.

Because he had seen enough.

They covered the hotel table in overlapping rows. Different days. Different streets. Different moments of his life that had seemed ordinary when they happened.

A venue entrance.

A restaurant.

The hotel.

A coffee shop.

The National Gallery.

And in the background of so many of them, the same grey vehicle.

Sometimes obvious.

Sometimes barely there.

Always close enough.

Detective Collins stood at the opposite side of the table, one hand resting against the back of a chair.

"You said three weeks ago."

Brendon looked up.

"The storage unit."

"Yes."

Collins glanced toward one of the officers sitting at the laptop.

"We've got something."

Brendon straightened.

The officer turned the laptop around.

"We pulled the access records again."

Brendon frowned.

"I thought you already had those."

"We did."

"So what's different?"

The officer pointed to the screen.

"The date."

Brendon stared at it.

Three weeks earlier.

The date they'd already discussed.

"The unit was accessed at 11:18 in the morning," the officer said. "We knew that."

Brendon nodded.

"We also knew whoever accessed it didn't successfully retrieve anything."

"Right."

"But we didn't know what vehicle they arrived in."

Collins stepped closer.

"Until now."

The officer clicked.

A map appeared.

Then another screen.

A series of camera captures.

Brendon leaned forward.

The first image was poor quality.

Traffic.

Buildings.

A grey SUV.

He felt his stomach tighten.

"That's it."

Collins looked at him.

"You're certain?"

"I'm as certain as I can be."

The officer brought up another image.

The same vehicle.

Different angle.

Then another.

And another.

"This vehicle appears on an ANPR read shortly before eleven," the officer said. "Then again at eleven-twenty-six."