James Buchanan Taking the Odds 3 All or Nothing(Cop)

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.288 James BuchananAs the camera moved, Brandon saw it. Wait! He yelled inNicky s ear. Stop the video.Jerking back, Nicky fumbled the mouse and then managed toclick the pause. What? Go back like five seconds or less, Brandon hissed. Okay. Nicky glared at him for a second and then did whathe asked. What did you see? He clicked play.As the feed came up near that spot, Brandon felt the excitementthreading through his nerves. Right there. For the first time indays he felt like a cop: proactive instead of reactive. There, hepointed at a figure frozen at the far left of the frame. That chick,she came by the house yesterday morning. That s Jen, Nicky hissed.He turned to Brandon. Howcould you pick her out like that? Cops, you got to be good with faces. What the hell wasthat chick doing there? Remembering people. Nicky shiftedand Brandon realized why.Brandon s brain may have made theconnection, but Nicky just seemed confused.Brandon triedto prod him along. Why would she be there? Think about itNicky. It s the strip. Nicky s tone and attitude brushed him off. Tons of people go to the strip. Yeah, but why is she holding a camera? He d seen thepictures Nicky received at his office.The detectives brought overcopies and had everybody review them to see if anyone lookedfamiliar. It looks like she s taking pictures. If she was there,taking pictures, they could have been from her.If she took thepictures, she might be involved.Nicky repeated, Lots of people take pictures of the strip. She lives here, Brandon reminded Nicky of what seemedobvious to him. Why would she take pictures? It s the holidays. Nicky shot back and glared. Lots ofpeople take pictures of the big casinos all decked out.Nicky obviously wasn t making the mental connection. WhatALL OR NOTHING 289about the other pictures? What about what? All the pictures that someone sent you.Remember? He triedto jog the mental connection. Some in front of the penguindisplay thing. Nicky just stared at him like he d grown an extraear. Remember we had that old lady take a picture of us? Therewere pictures in that bunch like someone stood over off to theside.Same pictures, weird angle& we talked about it.There wereones of us at the mall.Us at the mall. Brandon made the mentalleap. I bet she was there.One time that might be a coincidence.Nicky, the bitch is stalking you.Shaking his head, Nicky still minimized. She s just a littleobsessive. Obsession is the cornerstone of stalking.Nicky snapped, Cause you re an expert on that, right? Ifhe was agitated that meant the scenario hit a little too close tohome for him. Ah, hello, I m a cop. Brandon rapped the side of Nicky shead with his knuckles. Yeah.And Nicky, has she been actingreal strange? She s Jen, Nicky shrugged, strange is a relative term.Brandon figured he needed to spell it out for Nicky. Okaylook, people involved in things like kidnapping and murder showup at like events around it. The Vegas cops had gone over itat the first briefing, but stuff like that might not have stuck inNicky s head. What do you mean? Press conferences.Media events.Shit like that.Have younoticed her at any of them? She was at the initial press conference, but so were a lot ofpeople. Nicky shut down the video.The WYSIWYG editor forthe website popped into the front window on the screen. Andshe s like crushing on me and I was there.So it means nothing.Nicky sucked in a deep breath. And I see where you re going290 James Buchananwith that.Jen wouldn t do anything like that. Still in denial mode,Nicky shook his head again. She s a mouse.She doesn t have theballs to complain when the other staff screws her over on shiftsand shit.No way she d be involved in something like this, heinsisted. Nicky, people who are obsessed do unpredictable and crazyshit. Why would she hurt Shayna? I don t see it. Because you were treating her like your own. Brandonpointed to one of the pictures on the screen.Nicky, his handsunder Shayna s arms, spun her; both captured forever in midturn. If she s this nutso stalker, she d remove anything that gotbetween you and her.Staring at the screen, Nicky chewed on his bottom lip. If thatwere true she d come after you. He crossed his arms classicdefensive posture over his chest.Trying to give the words more impact, Brandon touchedNicky s shoulder. And you don t think taking my kid is comingafter me? Then he let his hand drift down Nicky s arm. You know what I mean. Nicky didn t shake him off, but hedefinitely didn t relax either. Look, maybe you re right and she s not capable of that bigstep. Brandon figured he had to concede a little.Probably Nickyneeded to take baby steps to move past his mental block. But,if she s a little nutso, and if someone who wanted to hurt me oryou, found Jen& Brandon let the thought hang heavy in the air. An obsessive chick, like Jen, if that person fed into her fantasy, itwould be a great place to get information. Brandon didn t pointout that the last set of pictures Nicky got were sexually explicit.That equated to the classic escalating stalker pattern. She d spouteverything to some asshole just to be able to discuss her favoritesubject: You.If she was talking about you, then she d be talkingabout me, too. And if Jen was escalating, who knew what she dbe capable of all on her own. I don t see it.ALL OR NOTHING 291Brandon crouched down enough that he and Nicky were eyeto eye. My gut tells me she s involved. Your gut told you to blow your brains out yesterday, too,Nicky huffed. How reliable is that?Brandon stood and cupped his hands behind his head.He bitback the expletive and tried to be calm. Nicky, this is serious. Okay. Nicky hadn t uncrossed his arms.That indicatedhe still wasn t sold on the idea.He kicked his legs out from hisseat and crossed them at the ankles. Then we should call thepolice. They ll tell you to get a restraining order. Brandon droppedhis hands and shoved them in his back pockets. That s aboutit. Wait Nicky sat up straight. You re the cop and you retelling me it has to be this way, he spread his hands like hecouldn t comprehend the situation, that she s blown a gasket andcapable of taking Shayna. His expression echoed the confusionin his body language. But, now you re saying the cops are onlygoing to tell me to get a restraining order. Look, Brandon tried to give Nicky a sense of the proceduralproblems, They ll file it with the investigation notes and maybefollow up down the line.It s a lead, but not a critical one. Okay, you re nuts. Nicky returned to the crossed arms,crossed legs stare down position. Cops won t do anything evenif you, the cop, think it s something.That s about as random asyou ve ever been. First off, fuck off, Brandon snapped. I m thinking clearerthan I have in days. Then he took a minute to try and order theexplanation in his own mind. Second, there s this whole set ofhurdles we have to overcome to convince the cops that I m right.Things like, you re a guy and she s a chick.Most stalkers are menstalking women. Brandon ticked the points off on his fingers. You have no history with her.She s a co-worker, not someoneyou ever dated or slept with.Nicky s expression went sour. Like I would ever sleep with a292 James Buchananwoman, much less Jen [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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