A THIEF OF ANY MAN (Food Truck Mysteries Book 6) Read Online Free Page B
Author: Chloe Kendrick
the remote and began to speed through the footage. The image didn’t really change over time, since it was focused on the register, an inanimate object. Any changes would represent a movement in the food truck where none should be.
We were probably about four hours in when I saw some motion. We watched the section twice, but the images looked to be shadows. I wondered if it could be one of the guards walking around the lot that had caused the change in lights. The time suggested that the sun would be setting, and the automatic parking lights would be turning on. The movements stopped after a few minutes and the tedium began again. We didn’t find any images of people at the register, so I continued on. We were nearly at the six-hour mark, where the feed would turn to live viewing, when I saw another motion.
This time the cameras caught a person in the food truck. I sat up straight with the remote gripped tightly in my hand. We both watched in silence. Land had been right. Sure enough, the woman stepped to the register, opened it, and pulled out a few bills and some coins. Nothing too much, and nothing that would cause immediate alarm.
She turned and faced the camera. I had never seen her before. She was not a guard, and I hadn’t seen her collect a vehicle when I arrived or left the lot.
I looked to Land. “Do you know her?”
He shook his head. “New to me.”
We watched as the woman turned again and started to make her way out of the truck. She stopped as the shadows moved across the screen again. I couldn’t see what was stopping her, but I wondered if she’d been apprehended by a guard.
However, in the next second, I knew that wasn’t true. Two hands, unattached to a body from the viewing angle we had, reached up and began to strangle the woman. The hands grasped her by the neck and squeezed. I’d never seen anyone actually killed. I knew that most crimes did not have an eyewitness, which meant that circumstantial evidence has to solve the crimes. I’d seen people in the moments after death, and after they’d been found dead, but I was watching the live-action murder of this woman.
Land wasn’t speaking. I couldn’t believe that he didn’t seem to have a reaction at this viewing. I knew that I’d be having nightmares for ages.
After what seemed like an age, but I knew was only a few minutes, the hands moved back, and the woman’s body fell limply to the floor. Even though the feed did not have any audio, I heard the sound of her body hitting the floor in my head. I shivered at the noise.
Land pried the remote from my hands and rewound it enough to watch the woman crumple to the floor.
Chapter 3
After watching the video feed for a second time, he threw me my cellphone, which had been sitting on the coffee table. “Call 911. Tell them what you just saw. I’ve got a call to make too.”
I did what he said. I knew the steps to reporting a violent crime to the police, but I’d been flummoxed by the images of what I’d witnessed. Land’s instructions revitalized me. I called the number and explained to the operator that I’d just witnessed a murder in progress. She had a lot of questions to ask before letting me go. I couldn’t seem to get her to understand that I was not physically present at the crime but had been watching it on a video feed. I hung up and sank back on the sofa, moving in closer to Land.
I tried half-heartedly to listen in on Land’s call, but I could learn little of the conversation, besides that he’d called Detective Jax Danvers, one of Capital City’s homicide detectives, about the murder. Danvers had made a point of not coming to Dogs on the Roll once Land and I had announced that we were dating. Suddenly, he was too busy to get a cup of coffee or a dog on the house. I had noticed the absence, but there was really nothing I could do about the situation. I wasn’t his friend. I was just a woman who had a knack for getting involved in murder cases. Danvers
We were probably about four hours in when I saw some motion. We watched the section twice, but the images looked to be shadows. I wondered if it could be one of the guards walking around the lot that had caused the change in lights. The time suggested that the sun would be setting, and the automatic parking lights would be turning on. The movements stopped after a few minutes and the tedium began again. We didn’t find any images of people at the register, so I continued on. We were nearly at the six-hour mark, where the feed would turn to live viewing, when I saw another motion.
This time the cameras caught a person in the food truck. I sat up straight with the remote gripped tightly in my hand. We both watched in silence. Land had been right. Sure enough, the woman stepped to the register, opened it, and pulled out a few bills and some coins. Nothing too much, and nothing that would cause immediate alarm.
She turned and faced the camera. I had never seen her before. She was not a guard, and I hadn’t seen her collect a vehicle when I arrived or left the lot.
I looked to Land. “Do you know her?”
He shook his head. “New to me.”
We watched as the woman turned again and started to make her way out of the truck. She stopped as the shadows moved across the screen again. I couldn’t see what was stopping her, but I wondered if she’d been apprehended by a guard.
However, in the next second, I knew that wasn’t true. Two hands, unattached to a body from the viewing angle we had, reached up and began to strangle the woman. The hands grasped her by the neck and squeezed. I’d never seen anyone actually killed. I knew that most crimes did not have an eyewitness, which meant that circumstantial evidence has to solve the crimes. I’d seen people in the moments after death, and after they’d been found dead, but I was watching the live-action murder of this woman.
Land wasn’t speaking. I couldn’t believe that he didn’t seem to have a reaction at this viewing. I knew that I’d be having nightmares for ages.
After what seemed like an age, but I knew was only a few minutes, the hands moved back, and the woman’s body fell limply to the floor. Even though the feed did not have any audio, I heard the sound of her body hitting the floor in my head. I shivered at the noise.
Land pried the remote from my hands and rewound it enough to watch the woman crumple to the floor.
Chapter 3
After watching the video feed for a second time, he threw me my cellphone, which had been sitting on the coffee table. “Call 911. Tell them what you just saw. I’ve got a call to make too.”
I did what he said. I knew the steps to reporting a violent crime to the police, but I’d been flummoxed by the images of what I’d witnessed. Land’s instructions revitalized me. I called the number and explained to the operator that I’d just witnessed a murder in progress. She had a lot of questions to ask before letting me go. I couldn’t seem to get her to understand that I was not physically present at the crime but had been watching it on a video feed. I hung up and sank back on the sofa, moving in closer to Land.
I tried half-heartedly to listen in on Land’s call, but I could learn little of the conversation, besides that he’d called Detective Jax Danvers, one of Capital City’s homicide detectives, about the murder. Danvers had made a point of not coming to Dogs on the Roll once Land and I had announced that we were dating. Suddenly, he was too busy to get a cup of coffee or a dog on the house. I had noticed the absence, but there was really nothing I could do about the situation. I wasn’t his friend. I was just a woman who had a knack for getting involved in murder cases. Danvers
Readers choose
Michael Abbadon
Megan Morgan
Becca Jameson
Lauren Hawkeye
Kari March
Robert Orben
Gayle Callen
S. T. Haymon
Nicole Young