A Cavanaugh Christmas by Marie Ferrarella Read Free Book Online

Kait declared. “We’ll print it.”
    Tom was ready to oblige. There was only one problem. He looked around, but didn’t see what he needed.
    “Great,” he said to Kait. “Now all we need is a printer.”
    Clark instantly brightened up, like a puppy eager to do a trick and be rewarded for it with a treat. With a little bit of fanfare, the clerk reached under the counter, right next to his magazine.
    “Got it right here,” he announced. Taking the printer in both hands, Clark relocated it to the far edge of the counter.
    Kait looked at it, then at the clerk. Her expression was incredulous.
    “You’re kidding, right?” The printer Clark had produced was an early-model dot matrix.
    Crestfallen, he protested, “Hey, we don’t throw money away on luxuries. This works. Sometimes,” Clark added as an afterthought and in a much lower, almost inaudible voice.
    Beggars couldn’t be choosers, she told herself. “All right, print it up—and send a copy to this email address,” she added suddenly.
    The instruction was to Tom rather than the clerk. She suspected that was the only way she would be able to get a colored version of the license photograph, via email that she would print herself. As for the black-and-white copy that the dot matrix struggled with, that might just give them something to use with the facial-recognition program. With luck, they might be able to match the man to something or someone that wasn’t located out in the middle of the ocean.
    “You keep all the rental cars out back?” she asked.
    Clark bobbed his head up and down again. “We sure do.”
    She was taking nothing for granted. “And that camera you have mounted in the back lot, it works?”
    The clerk was beaming as he gestured toward the small screen that was feeding them back the picture from the parking lot. “Look for yourself.”
    Seeing something on the screen wouldn’t do her any good if the recordings hadn’t been kept. “Do you keep the recordings?” she asked again.
    This time Clark appeared a little sheepish. “I’ve been meaning to erase them so we can use ’im again. Quality ain’t too good after ten or twelve times, but like I said—”
    She suppressed a sigh. “You don’t have money for luxuries, yes, I know. I—we,” she corrected herself as she felt Tom glancing her way, “need the recording from the date the van was rented.”
    “Okay,” Clark replied in such a vague way, Kait had the impression that she was losing him.
    “Has it been brought back?” she asked, enunciating each word as if trying to communicate with someone who was more than a little mentally challenged.
    “Not yet. But he paid for two weeks up front, so I don’t figure it’ll be back before then.”
    So much for going over the van with all the technology the CSI had available. “Of course not.”
    A movement on the screen caught her attention as she took the black-and-white photograph that Tom had finally finished printing for her. When she got a better view of the surveillance monitor and saw what was happening, she was startled.
    The next second, she turned on the heel of her boot and raced out of the office and straight to the parking lot.

    Chapter 4
    G ut instincts had Tom taking off after the woman.
    “Why are we running?” he called after her.
    It surprised him that she could run faster than he’d given her credit for. Tom found he had to step up his own pace to catch up—which he did just before she rounded the side of the rental building. She was obviously heading for the parking lot in the back.
    “There are three thugs trying to steal your car,” Kait tossed over her shoulder.
    “Good reason.”
    Tom had pulled out his service weapon and had it at the ready before she could even finish answering his question.
    What happened next, when Kait reviewed it in her mind later, had all taken place incredibly fast and yet, somehow, it felt as if it was unfolding in slow motion, as well.
    At least it did to her.
    One second