Alessia sat in her office at Kane Enterprises, her hands gripping the edge of her desk as Christian paced the room. His sharp suit and calm demeanor belied the tension in his voice as he recounted what he had uncovered.
“I had Marcus dig deeper into the footage,” Christian said, glancing at her. “It turns out there was someone else at Zane’s building the day Pamela died. A man—he wasn’t an employee, and no one seems to know who he is.”
Alessia frowned, her mind racing. “What do you mean? Someone suspicious? What was he doing?”
Christian stopped pacing and leaned on her desk, lowering his voice. “He was seen walking in and out of the building several times in the days leading up to the incident. The footage shows him hanging around near the elevators, the garage, and even the lobby cameras—when they were working.”
“Why wasn’t this caught earlier?” Alessia demanded, her tone sharp. “And do we know who he is?”
“That’s the problem,” Christian said, pulling out his tablet. “When Marcus isolated the footage, this is what we got.”
He handed her the tablet, and Alessia’s stomach dropped. The image showed a man wearing a black ski mask, his features completely obscured. The figure stood near the building entrance, glancing over his shoulder as if to ensure he wasn’t being followed.
“Are you kidding me?” Alessia said, her voice rising. “A ski mask? In broad daylight? How has no one reported this?”
Christian nodded grimly. “That’s exactly what makes this so strange. He’s careful—only appears in areas where he thought the cameras wouldn’t be an issue. It’s like he knew the system’s blind spots.”
At that moment, the door to Alessia’s office swung open, and Victoria and Zayden walked in. Both had clearly been summoned by Christian, their faces a mix of worry and determination.
“What’s going on?” Zayden asked, his tone serious as he glanced between Alessia and Christian.
“We may have found something,” Alessia said, passing the tablet to her father. “There was a third party seen around Zane’s building.”
Victoria peered over Zayden’s shoulder as he studied the image. Her eyes narrowed. “A ski mask?” she said, incredulous. “That’s not just strange—it’s incriminating.”
“It is,” Christian agreed. “We’re working to figure out who he is, but with this mask, identifying him directly isn’t possible.”
Zayden handed the tablet back to Christian, his jaw tightening. “What about other cameras? The ones outside the building or across the street? Someone must’ve seen him.”
“That’s exactly what we’re doing,” Christian said. “Marcus has been collecting footage from nearby buildings. And we got something.”
He swiped through the tablet and pulled up a new video. This one showed the masked man getting into a black sedan parked across the street from Zane’s building. The license plate was partially visible, though grainy.
“Zoom in,” Zayden said immediately, leaning closer.
Christian enlarged the image, revealing most of the license plate numbers and letters. “It’s not perfect, but we can make out enough of it to start tracking the car.”