The Deceptive Detective

Chapter 7

A few minutes later Cole dropped Miranda off next to her car. He helped her into her car and then leaned in and pecked her cheek. "I'll see you later."

"Sure thing," she said. Just as she was going to start the car, a man walked out of the front door of the museum, and spotting Cole he walked over to him.

"Detective, just the man I want to see."

"What can I do for you sir?" he asked.

"We have video surveillance of another person from that mess last night."

Cole frowned and looked at Miranda. "I had better go and check on this. I'll see you later, okay?"

She nodded, and starting her car, she backed out. She waved at him and drove away.

He turned to the curator. "Another person?"

"Yes, but we don't think they were involved in the mess. We think they came to help."

"Why do you say that?"

"Come and watch the video," the man said, leading Cole inside.

The two of them headed to the security office. A man sat at a desk, facing several monitors. "Hal, pull up the surveillance from outside the building last night."

The man nodded and pulled up the video. "We didn't get a good look at whoever it was, but they were small, almost the build of a woman."

Cole frowned at that. "What would a woman be doing here at that time of night?"

The men shrugged as Cole watched a shadowy figure sneaking around to the back of the building, and then climbing the ladder. They disappeared over the roof.

"We don't have cameras on the roof, but we are having them installed as we speak," the curator said. "I didn't think anyone would be so brazen as to come through the skylight. It is 200 feet up."

"Desperate men I suppose," Cole said. "So what makes you think this person was helping?"

"Well, you guys found those two thieves knocked out on the roof, and the ropes were untied and dropped into the room as if the person wanted the crooks caught."

"Are you sure it wasn't just someone that turned on the men?"

"I don't think so. Whoever it was didn't arrive in the cars with the others. They walked here."

"They walked here, and no one saw them?"

"Nope. There isn't another business close by with cameras, and there wasn't a car nearby, and watch this," he said, stepping forward and fast-forwarding the tape. He pointed at a figure leaping from the roof to another.

"They are nimble," Cole observed.

"Extremely. I am not sure how the camera picked that one up, considering the cameras are more angled to our building, but they caught this person going to the rooftop of the other building."

"And no one saw this person at all," Cole frowned.

"Nope. I guess you could talk to your crooks and see if they saw anyone."

"I will," Cole nodded. "If it was just some vigilante out serving justice, how did they know that these men would hit the museum at that time?"

"I don't know, detective, but it would be interesting to find out."

"Yes, it would. I will go and talk to our prisoners and see what they know."

"Thanks, detective, and please invite your girl to the revealing of the crown jewels tomorrow, we would love to have you as our guests."