Mitch shook his head but remained silent. She could tell he was thinking the same thing.
“But the guy who owned it before that was Titus Matthews. Pretty unique name, so I Googled him and found out that he’s an investment banker at a firm in Manhattan. I gave him a call and told him that I was moving into the area and asked him who he used for security when he lived at that address. People love giving recommendations.”
“You’re kidding! You just straight out asked him?”
“Yeah. And he straight out told me. He said he went through this small start-up company called Stealth Surveillance because the founder was a client of his.”
“Sweet!” said Johanna, grinning from ear to ear. “Please tell me they kept records for six years?”
“Hey. I was getting to that.”
Johanna spun a hand in the air. “Get there faster, Kev.”
“You women, always demanding,” he joked.
Mitch shot her a wink.
“Yes. They kept records all the way back to their first day of business.”
“Yes,” cheered Johanna. “Like I told you in the text I sent you, the house was for sale on that date. There probably wasn’t a lot of action. Did you see anything?”
“Yeah. I most definitely saw action,” said Kevin.
“You got the picture I sent, too? Of the realtor I was looking for?”
“Yup, I did.”
“And did she show up?”
There was a pause, and then she heard Kevin’s voice crackle through. “She most definitely did show up.”
Chills shot down Johanna’s arms and legs. Her head snapped up to look at Mitch. The blood drained from his face. As they stared at each other in stunned silence, Kevin’s curious voice shot through on the other end. “JoJo? Is that good news? Did you want her to show up?”
Johanna winced. “I don’t know if I can call it good news or not, Kev. Because either way, the woman in the picture I sent you was murdered not long after that footage was taken. But we had been told that she never showed up there. Having video surveillance showing that she was indeed there sheds new light on the case.”
“Well, in that case, then I think you’re definitely going to want to see the tape for yourself.”
“Why’s that?” asked Johanna, trying to prepare herself for whatever Kevin was about to tell her.
“Because that woman in the picture you sent me wasn’t alone.”
Side by side, Johanna and Mitch trudged through the blustery cold parking lot to Kevin Donovan’s Jersey City office.
After learning the night before that Johanna’s brother-in-law had found images of Mitch’s late fiancée on the surveillance video, he had wanted to drop everything that night and head straight for New Jersey. But Johanna had instead set up the appointment with Kevin for the next day at his office, and Mitch had volunteered to drive the two of them over there on his lunch break.
Mitch had tossed and turned that night, and he’d also gotten very little done at work that morning. He was too consumed by the snowstorm of thoughts that swirled inside his head. It was as if his brain were a snow globe that someone had shaken, and now bits and pieces of his mind were scattered everywhere. All he wanted was for everything to settle once and for all so he could move on with his life. He was starting to feel things he hadn’t felt in years, but he couldn’t relish the feelings because pieces of his past were now haunting him.
“I wish we’d asked him for a little more information while we had him on the phone last night,” said Mitch, guiding Johanna towards the front door of the building with a leather-gloved hand on the small of her back.
“Me too,” she sighed. “I didn’t sleep very well last night. All I could think about was the possible scenarios that could have happened. Felicia could have met anyone there. It could have been Janet. It could have been Dutch or maybe another client.”
“Or just some random off the street,” said Mitch, feeling his intestines twisting. The image of someone hurting Felicia killed him inside. He had six years of anger towards her killer pent up inside him, and the minute he saw footage of someone laying a hand on her, he was scared of what he might do. He pulled the heavy door open. The bitter winter wind fought it, but the minute Mitch got it open, the wind tried to suck it off the hinge and he had to pull it shut.
“Boy, the weather is horrible today,” he said, looking up into the sky.
“And still not a flake to be seen,” sighed Johanna as they strode into the lobby.
“You want snow?”
“It’d be nice to have a white Christmas, wouldn’t it?”
“If it could snow on Christmas and then melt the next day I’d be fine with it.” He looked at the sign between the pair of elevators.
Johanna pointed at the words: Cyber Solutions, Third Floor. “Kevin’s company.”
He nodded and pushed the up button.
When the doors opened and they stepped inside, she crossed her arms over her chest. “We have to be prepared for the fact that maybe we won’t see anything useful on the tapes.”
He nodded. “I know. I thought about that last night too.” As he stood with his back against the side of the elevator, his eyes finally had a moment to drink her in. In the car it would have been too obvious that he was gawking, even though all he’d wanted to do on the entire drive to New Jersey was to stare at Johanna.
She wore her wool jacket and her cute little newsboy cap again today. Her shoulder-length brown hair poked out of her cap in all directions, thanks to the wind, but not only did the woman not seem to notice, she also didn’t seem to care. Johanna Hughes wasn’t like any other women he’d met before. She didn’t appear consumed with looks, with clothes, with fancy jewelry. In fact, when he’d first met her, she’d been wearing the most hilarious pink dog hat with pink puffballs that draped down to her breasts and a hideous coat like he remembered girls wearing back in college. He’d yet to see her wear a single piece of jewelry or fuss with her appearance in any way. It was refreshing, to be honest. To meet a woman who valued her career, but who didn’t put a heavy emphasis on stuff. Instead, the thing Johanna Hughes put a heavy emphasis on was her dog, and he found that endearing.
“Earth to Mitch,” she said with a half-smile. “Come in, Mitch.”
“Oh, sorry,” he mumbled. “Did I disappear?”
“Yeah. Where’d you go?” she asked, tipping her head sideways and staring at him with her big, almond-shaped brown eyes.
He cleared his throat. “I was just thinking about what we’re going to see on that tape,” he lied. He was fairly confident that the other thing Johanna Hughes didn’t put a heavy emphasis on was dating.
“Yeah,” she said quietly.
The doors slid open and the two of them walked side by side towards the Cyber Solutions door. He wanted to reach down and take her by the hand again, as he’d done the night before in the park. But it had caused her to freeze up. That was when he’d realized just how skittish she really was about dating. Instead, he’d take it slow. A hand on the small of her back was all he’d chance for now.
He led her to the doors and opened them for her.
“Thanks,” she whispered. “Kevin Donovan, please. He’s expecting us,” she said to the receptionist.
“JoJo?” asked the woman.
Johanna grinned and glanced back at Mitch. “Yeah.”
“He just called up here to tell me you’d be here any minute. Go on back. You know where his office is, right?”
“Yeah, I know my way. Thanks.”
Johanna led Mitch to her brother-in-law’s corner office. She knocked.
“Come in!”
Slowly she pushed the door open. “Hey, Kev.” She grinned.
The tall man behind the desk stood up and walked around his desk to give his sister-in-law a hug. “Hey, JoJo.”
Mitch stepped inside the office and Kevin’s eyes immediately swung up to check him out. He let go of Johanna and put a hand on his hip. “Who’s this?”
“Let me guess. Is this Mitchell?”
Mitch lifted a brow as he glanced over at Johanna. She’d told her brother-in-law about him? “Yeah. Mitch Connelly.” He held out a hand.
“Kevin Donovan. I’m Melissa’s husband. It’s nice to finally meet you.”
Finally?
Johanna’s face was beet red now. “Finally? Really, Kev? I mentioned this case to you yesterday.”
“Well, yeah, but you mentioned—”
“So what did you find out?” asked Johanna, sprinting around the desk to look at his computer screen. “Is it pulled up?”
“Hey, don’t touch anything,” said Kevin anxiously, following her around the desk.
Johanna pulled her hands back and held them in the air. “I’m not touching.”
“Why don’t you two have a seat, and I’ll put this on the big screen?” he said and pointed to a flat-screen TV hanging on one wall.
Mitch pulled out a chair, spun it towards the screen and gestured for Johanna to sit. When she’d sat, he pulled up a chair and sat next to her.
Kevin clicked on his keyboard. “Okay. There’s not a ton to see, but I think it’s definitely the woman in the picture.”
As the TV on the wall fired up, Mitch and Johanna sat side by side. He sucked in a lungful of air and then reached out and covered Johanna’s hand with his own. It was a split-second decision, but he needed the support. He felt her freeze momentarily, but it only took her a second or two to loosen up slightly.
Footage from the exterior surveillance video popped up. Cars passed by on the narrow street. A couple pushing a stroller with a toddler’s legs poking out from beneath the visor went by. And then two teenagers with a basketball moseyed past. And then, a woman in a cream skirt, blazer, and heels came rushing up the street.
Mitch felt his heart stop. “Felicia!” he gasped.
24
“It’s definitely her?” asked Kevin, pausing the tape.
Mitch nodded, his jaw slacked. “One hundred percent. It’s her.” Mitch fought to keep his emotions under control. He knew Kevin thought Johanna was only doing research for a book and that he had no idea that Mitch had been engaged to the woman in the video.
Kevin nodded and pushed a button on his computer, and the video started playing again. Mitch couldn’t take his eyes off the screen. The three of them watched as Felicia hustled up the front steps. She fiddled with the lockbox on the outside of the house, and seconds later she disappeared inside.
Mitch’s heart had begun thumping wildly in his chest the minute he’d seen her. So much so that he almost felt out of breath. His fingers curled into two tight fists. “Do you have tapes of the inside of the house?”
“I found footage of the interior foyer, but not the rest of the house. I’ll show it to you, but first, let’s give it a minute and see what happens next.”
Cars continued to whiz past, people strode up and down the block, and then a black car with darkened windows pulled up to the curb. A man stepped out of the back passenger side and approached the house. In two wide strides, he was to the top of the front steps.
“It’s Dutch.” Mitch’s blood ran cold and he felt his jaw clench up tight.
“He lied to us,” breathed Johanna. “He told us Felicia didn’t show up for the showing.”
Mitch’s right hand unsnarled and he unconsciously ground his left fist into it. “That bastard!”
“Hold up, hold up,” said Kevin, tamping the air with an open hand. “There’s more.”
Kevin pushed a button on the computer and the view changed from a street view to the entryway of the house. They watched Felicia greeting Dutch Erickson with a handshake. Then she extended a hand towards the rest of the house, inviting him in.
Mitch struggled to remain calm. He wanted to leap into the video and grind Dutch Erickson into the ground. Whether he’d been responsible for her death or not, he’d lied to them and he’d withheld valuable information from the police. Mitch leaned back in his seat and extended his legs while the tips of his fingers massaged his temples. He couldn’t believe that everything about the mugging had likely been a lie. Had they known all these details years ago, the person who had committed Felicia’s murder might have been behind bars by now!
Kevin hit the fast forward button. “They’re in there for about ten minutes, and then they come back out to the entryway.” He pointed at the screen as Dutch and Felicia returned to the entryway and shook hands, and then Dutch exited out the front door.
Mitch bolted upright. “He left!” As much as it sickened him to think it, he’d half-expected Dutch to kill her in the house and then take her body to the park. But they all watched as Felicia went back into the house, the lights in the foyer went out, and then Felicia reappeared in the entryway. She opened the door, went outside, and pulled it shut behind her.
Mitch stared at Kevin with his mouth hanging open. “That’s it?!”
“Can we see the exterior shots now?” asked Johanna.
Kevin nodded. “Yeah, here we go.” He flipped to the other camera. It began as Dutch exited the townhouse. He looked at his phone as he bounced down the stairs, opened the back door of the dark car and got inside. Seconds later, the car pulled away from the curb.
Mitch looked at Kevin. “Are you kidding? The guy just leaves?”
Kevin nodded. “Keep watching.”
With their eyes glued to the screen, they watched as Felicia came down the same stairs only a minute or two later. She turned back in the direction she’d come from, and then she was gone.
“She’s gone!” Mitch slid to the edge of his seat and swiveled to look at Kevin. His mouth agape. They’d driven all the way to New Jersey to see that she’d shown the house, but nothing had happened? Had she just been walking back to her car when she was mugged? Was that what had truly happened?
Kevin nodded. “I know it looks like a pretty cut-and-dried house showing, but I wasn’t satisfied that that was all that happened. I Googled this woman and found out that the police said she was mugged in the Hudson River Park. It was never stated that she showed a house to Dutch Erickson only hours or minutes before her death. So, I was curious too. I rewatched the tape about ten times before I realized this…”
He rewound the footage and then played it again in slow motion. This time he pointed to the upper right corner of the screen. “Look. See that car?”
Johanna and Mitch nodded.
“I watched the tape from further back and found out that that car got there only a minute after Felicia arrived. It was there when Dutch’s car pulled up.” Slowly, the car inched forward. “There, see it? Once they’re done with the showing and Felicia is down the block a little bit, it takes off in the direction that she went.”
“You think the car was following her?” asked Johanna.
Kevin tipped his head sideways. “Well, it’s a long shot, but I think it’s very possible.”
Mitch squinted at the screen. “How about a license plate? Were you able to get a license plate number off the car? Maybe if you blow it up?”
Kevin sighed. “No. The angle wasn’t right to catch the plates, but when it goes by right here, you can see something on the door of the car.” He rewound the video, played it again, then paused it. “Right there. See it?”
“It’s like graphics or letters or something!” said Johanna. It was too grainy to make out what it said.
Mitch pointed at the door. “Felicia had that on the door of her car too.”
“How do you know?” asked Kevin, jerking his head back in surprise.
Mitch suddenly realized what he’d done. He scrambled to fix it without revealing to Johanna’s brother-in-law who he really was. “Well, Felicia was a realtor. Wouldn’t you assume she had graphics on the side of her car too? I mean, that totally looks like a company logo or something.”
Johanna caught his drift. Her eyes widened
and she nodded her head. “It does look like a realty logo. Especially the Four Seasons Realty logo.”
Mitch shook his head. He couldn’t believe it. For years he had fought to convince himself that the police were right and Felicia had been killed by a mugger. That meant he could put the issue behind him and move on with his life. And then, knowing that Felicia had gone to the showing, last night he’d convinced himself that Dutch Erickson had been her killer. Now, Dutch Erickson was long gone, and there was a Four Seasons Realty car following Felicia. He didn’t know what to believe anymore.
“Can you zoom to see who’s in the car?”
“I tried. The camera is at too high of an angle to see who was driving, plus it’s so grainy at that distance.”
Mitch let his head fall into his hands. His fingers combed through his hair. He struggled to know what to do next.
“You seem to be taking this very personally, Mitch. Did you know the girl?” asked Kevin, crooking a brow up curiously.
Johanna squeezed Mitch’s hand. “He’s just really invested in this story. You know… for me.”
Kevin nodded. “Ah. I see. Well, Mitch. Now that I’ve got you here, you’re planning to come spend Christmas with the family at Uncle Jack’s, right?”
Mitch glanced up at Johanna. They’d only just discussed Mitch going to Christmas with her the night before. Was it odd that Johanna had already told her brother-in-law that she was bringing a date? “Umm, yeah. Jo and I talked about it last night. I volunteered to be her non-date date.”
“Her non-date date?” asked Kevin, lifting a brow and glancing pointedly at Johanna.
She shifted in her seat uncomfortably. “I just don’t want the family getting the wrong idea, you know?”
“But you said that—”
“Listen, Kev,” interrupted Johanna. “Thanks so much for everything you did. You have no idea how helpful that video was.”
Kevin nodded. “I only wish I knew if the rest of the buildings on that street had surveillance cameras. If I had all the footage, we might be able to piece together how far Felicia got or see if someone else snatched her up!”
Snow Cold Case_A Mystic Snow Globe Romantic Mystery Page 19