By lunchtime, Rodney and Kate both sat back, their eyes sore and weary. They had picked up two more recent shootings, and there was even one more shooting from three years ago.
“So,” Rodney said to Kate, “you think he just, out of the blue, started up again, only twice as ferociously?”
“That means this guy wasn’t around for some reason between the events of three years ago and now.”
“If he just got out of jail?” Rodney offered.
“Yeah, that’s possible,” Kate replied, “or if he, well, depending on why he’s doing this, maybe he had cancer or something, and there’s a recurrence of it now.”
Rodney looked at her with respect. “You know what? That’s a valuable point too. If we’re thinking that’s why he’s killing these healthy young males, then seeing the recurrence of an illness that he thought he’d beat could trigger him in a way that set off the same reaction.”
“And even more viciously,” she murmured.
He nodded. “Agreed. But we still haven’t really found much.”
“No, we haven’t,” she said, frowning.
“When searching the videos, to see if our shooter was coming back to the scene of the crime, I’m finding it hard to see anyone standing out in the crowds gathered at the scene. I was looking more for the hat.”
“Interesting,” she said. “I wasn’t. I was taking the hat off, assuming that would be one of the best disguises.”
“And yet, if any camera caught him,” Rodney said, “he would be caught then.”
She frowned and said, “Why don’t we switch?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I saw all of these ones, and I didn’t see anybody show up to all of the recent shootings. Why don’t we switch? You take a look at mine, and I’ll take a look at yours.” Once she started looking, she saw it almost immediately. “Here,” she said. “Take a look at this one.”
He rolled his desk chair toward her desk, took a look at it, and said, “See? I was looking for the guys with the hats.”
She moved over to the closest unmanned computer, switched to the city camera and the video that she was looking for, and finally, after twenty minutes, she said, “Here it is.”
He looked at it and whistled. “You know something? I think you’re right.”
She nodded. “And if he was at two—”
“Then maybe he was at all of them. Yes!” he said, and that started a frenzy of searching. In the middle of it all, her phone rang. She answered absentmindedly. “Yes?”
“It’s Louisa,” she said. “Did you think any more about the laptop?”
She frowned into the phone. “It’s in Forensics,” she said. “As soon as I can get the material off it that we need, I can get it back to you.”
“In Forensics?” Louisa said nervously. “I don’t know what that means.”
“It just means that they’re the ones who deal with electronics,” she said, trying for reassurance. “Simon did tell me that you wanted it back early.”
“Yes, yes,” she said eagerly. “I do.”
“Well, I’m doing the best I can,” she said. “Give me a day or so.” And, with that, she said, “I’m sorry. I’ve got to go,” and she hung up on the woman.
Rodney looked at her in surprise, “What was that?”
“The wife of the one jumper, David. She wants his laptop back.”
“Any particular reason?”
“Something about wanting stuff for the eulogy.”