A significant moment passed while the woman processed all of this. Then she nodded and said, “Would you like a tour of our security room? We sometimes offer that to our guests so they can see how we take ensuring their safety seriously. I can even have my personnel show some actual footage from the parking lot from today, say around the time your sister checked in?”
“Thank you,” said Pine with a relieved smile. “Thank you so much.”
“I’m someone’s sister, too,” the woman said demurely.
CHAPTER
44
TEN MINUTES LATER PINE AND BLUM were sitting next to a woman in uniform in a small office near the hotel’s business center. The woman was hitting keys on her computer, and footage was coming up on the screen.
“Okay, here we go.” She manipulated the footage to speed it up to whenever someone appeared in the parking lot. They saw people come and go in their cars.
Then Pine said, “Hold it right there. There!”
The woman froze the footage, and Pine and Blum stared at a very tall person in a hoodie getting out of a car. The film quality was poor, black-and-white and grainy.
“It’s hard to make out much,” said Blum. “Including whether it’s a man or a woman.”
“Can’t see the face at all,” Pine added in a disappointed tone. “Only the profile. Can you let it go frame by frame?” she asked the woman.
The security officer nodded and hit some keys. They watched as the person walked slowly away from the car and toward the hotel, with a duffel in hand.
“Still can’t make them out, and I couldn’t see the license plate, either,” said Pine. “Can you go back and enhance it?”
“Sorry, that’s the best I can do,” the woman said. “But the car’s make and model are clear. It’s a Honda Civic. Looks to be really, really old.”
“Yes it does,” said Blum.
Pine said, “Thank you for doing this.”
“No problem. Hope you find the person.”
Pine and Blum walked out and headed toward the elevator.
“I can’t believe this. She was right there and now she’s gone.”
Blum said, “Why do you think Mercy is involved in all this now?”
“She must have seen the FBI’s PSA. And that’s a problem.”
“Why?” asked Blum.
“The way the Bureau worded it, she might think they’re after her for Joe Atkins’s murder. Shit, I should have asked Wanda if Mercy was worried about that. But I can phone and ask her when I get back to my room. Since she called my cell I have her number in my phone list.”
Blum said, “Can you get the Bureau to change the message? We know she didn’t kill Atkins, not after Desiree confessed.”
“I tried to do that before, but they wouldn’t relent. You know they try to walk a fine line at all times. I can try again after what we learned from Desiree, but I’m not going to hold my breath.” She suddenly brightened. “When McAllister gets here tomorrow I can ask him about it. He might be able to persuade the higher-ups to go for that.”
“In the meantime you can put out an APB for a Honda Civic.”
Pine said, “I can and will, but would you like to take a guess how many of them there are? And we couldn’t even tell the color.”
“Well, you can put out a description of Mercy. She does stand out. And now we have an updated description of her.”
“Yeah, I can do that, too.”