Chapter 8

Stella woke the next morning refreshed and ready for the day. It was the best night sleep she'd gotten in a long time. She debated for a long time if she really wanted to get out of bed. But to spend a day in bed was not like her. With a plan in her head to enjoy the day without thinking of murder, blood, weapons, and evidence she shuffled to the coffee pot and flipped the switch to get it going. It was an older model that needed some sweet talking to get it working. For a long time she considered buying one of those automatic coffee machines that she could program, but that just screamed laziness. Plus she never wanted to be so busy in her life that she couldn't wait on a pot of coffee to brew. That time, the few minutes it took the rich liquid to drip into the pot was her time to lean against the counter and play 'Anywhere But Here' in her brain. She could fantasize about being anywhere in the world other than where she was.

While the coffee dripped she pulled herself together for the day. Her most comfortable pair of jeans and an old team shirt was lazily pulled onto her frame. Out of habit she found her phone to attach to her waist. A glance at it showed a new text from Adam.

"Stella, you have to see this."

Her plans for the day went out the window. The coffee was poured into her travel mug and she was out the door.

**

The conference room atmosphere did not match the frantic state she was in when she entered. The room was quiet and mostly dark. Adam was not in sight. She dialed his number hoping to find out where he was and jumped when his distinctive ring tone sounded from behind her. Adam jolted awake behind the computer in the corner. The impression of his sleeve was stamped into the side of his face. As he jumped up he hit the desk and it was enough to jar the mouse and wake the computer up. Stella saw the projected image at the end of the room come to life. It was the same sixteen framed windows that Adam watched the night before. The action was paused and it clearly showed the house on the island in full sunlight.

"Adam, what was it you wanted to show me?"

"Kendal, all night, cameras, oohhhh bad." He was still half asleep.

Stella waved him off. She did not want to hear anything about Adam's love life with Kendal, and what it had to do with cameras all night or how 'bad' tied into it. "Adam, I'm here, what do you want to show me? As soon as you show me you can get back to Kendal and the cameras."

By the time Stella stopped talking Adam had woken up completely and didn't understand what she was talking about but he tied the clues together and made sense of his babbling. "Kendal's going to be so mad I spent the whole night here because I got into the video feed of the cameras."

"Adam, that's fantastic. You cracked the site."

"Not exactly."

She looked skeptical. "What do you mean 'not exactly'?"

Adam got up and pulled the thumb drive out of the computer. The images of the crime scene disappeared. Stella panicked. He waved her off in the same manner as she did moments ago. "Don't worry, I can make that come back again…I got this yesterday." He held up the small object that looked small enough to be a money clip. "It was delivered to my desk yesterday. I thought it was a book I ordered, but when I opened the envelope a note and thumb drive fell out." Stella looked at Adam handle the items from his explanation with bare hands as he talked and wanted to question him about fingerprints. "I know what you are thinking; I processed everything and found no prints on either the note or the drive and there was no DNA on the flap of the envelope. Whoever sent this must have used a sponge to close it and wore gloves. Anyway I plugged it in and instantly I was looking at the island and its cameras."

"Who was the note from?"

"That's the thing, it's from Mr. Owen." The two shared a look before he went back to his computer.

"Adam, that means Mr. Owen in still alive?" It was definitely more of a confused question that a statement.

He inserted the drive into the port on the side of the computer and what Adam had just explained happened again and they were looking at the house on the island with the morning sun starting to brighten the views. The time stamp showed that what they were looking at was happening right then. The cameras that were inside the house still stayed somewhat dim, but the exterior of the house was shown in all its glory. Adam once again hit the 'restart' button and all the cameras went blank. The panic showed on Stella's face again.

"Whoa back off. I have seen this happen three times now. Just watch." Stella watched the video feeds and Adam watched Stella. She went into amazement much like he did when the first camera came online. She turned to him, mouth hanging wide open.

"We have the whole weekend captured digitally?" She looked at him in awe.

"Digitally and in stereo. It gets a little noisy with sounds from sixteen cameras I bet. But we have the whole weekend and the week leading up to it."

"How far did you watch?" She questioned.

"I fast forwarded up until the Gordon's showed up on Wednesday, from the day and night cycles, the cameras were installed on Monday the fourth. Davis was there on the island with them." He gave the name the smallest bit of emphasis as proof that once again Davis coordinated all of it.

"We need to get everyone back in here and watch this. Sixteen cameras for only two people are overwhelming and we have over a week of footage to watch. Call Kendal and tell her what's going on and that I owe the two of you a night out with babysitting and dinner. I'm going to call the rest back."

"You got it boss-lady."

**

Lindsay stormed into the kitchen where Danny was busy entertaining the kids with his skills flipping pancakes with her phone in her hand. Lindsay stopped her husband and listened to the squeals of laughter that came from her children but it did not curb her bad mood. She had to concentrate on what she was going to say so that she did not utter something the kids might repeat out in public. With teeth gritted she started. "Honey?" Danny looked up and missed the flapjack that was flying in the air and it landed on the floor. "Stella's calling us back in. Something must have come in about the case." He drooped like someone had let air out of him. There went their day off with the kids.

"Are your parents available to take them today?" She already knew the answer but it was polite to at least ask. His parents were always available. She walked away from the kitchen cursing the NYPD for ruining her day. Instead of walking into the master bedroom to get ready she went into the kids' room and started packing a overnight bag. Knowing this case, Stella was going to chain them to the desk. She was surprised they were released so easily the night before with advice to forget about the case until Monday. It didn't look like Stella was doing that. A grunt came out of her and clothes were thrown into the bags not nicely placed.

On the drive from his parents' house into the office her mood just kept getting worse and worse, he had to ask. "Monroe, what's going on?"

"I miss my kids."

"Linds, we just saw them and we will see them tonight."

"I miss seeing them for longer than a couple of hours each day."

"We see them longer than that." His hand took her as a sign of comfort.

"Really? We see them for the few minutes in the morning that it takes to wake them, clothe them, shove something that hopefully is nutritious down their throats for breakfast, and then drop them off wherever they are going to spend their day. After work we see them long enough to get them fed again, get them clean, and into bed after maybe one or two stories. Artie is starting to cruise around the apartment, but we are so busy that I can't take the time to enjoy it and I have to pick him up to move along quickly."

"What do you want to do about it?"

"I don't know."

"Think about it and let me know." He had to let go of her hand to make the sharp turn into the dimly lit parking garage.

It was Saturday, it was beautiful weather, and someone else was taking her kids to the park…again.

**

"Okay, what's so important that you took away a perfectly good weekend off?" A grumpy and very casually dressed, Don Flack stumbled into the room while holding onto Angell from behind and towering a head above her.

"We are going to watch the movie version of our case." Stella answered him smartly.

"Will there be popcorn and Twizzlers?" He laughed pulling a seat out for Angell and then taking the one next to her for himself.

"That's up to you."

When everyone assembled into their seats, Stella explained what happened the night before and Adam filled in the blanks. They were all shown the footage of the first camera coming online. It was the same amount of footage that Stella had seen already and she was ready to get into the real meat and potatoes of the video. A signal was given to Adam and the team around the table watched in awe as cameras came online. The location of each one was announced as it came online: left side of the house outside facing west and north, dining room, foyer, living room, right side of house outside facing east and north. Each camera was marked on the master house plan that was tacked on the wall. It already had the details of who died in what matter with what weapon.

There was a time gap between the time that the camera on the right side of the house came alive and the first camera in an upstairs bedroom flickered on. The cameras caught nothing for a while and then the technicians going up and down the stairs carrying equipment. Terrance Davis walked down the stairs from the second floor and shocked everyone.

"Has he been up there the whole time?" Someone at the table asked. Others who were watching wanted to shush them as if they were in a movie theater but then caught themselves at the last minute.

"Yeah, I guess he was."

"Wonder what he was doing up there the whole time?"

"We may never know."

All of the questions and answers were made without taking eyes off the large screen at the end of the room.

The cameras on the second level of the house started coming online and activity was now taking place on more than one screen at a time. Terrance Davis was working downstairs and the tech was working on the cameras upstairs.

"Someone watch Davis and let us know what he is doing." Danny spoke out.

I've got him." Flack called.

The camera in Taylor's room activated.

"He putting figures on the table in the dining room."

The camera in Dunbrook's room activated.

"He just slipped the recording into a drawer under that old record player."

The camera in Pierpont's room came to life.

"He went out to the porch and got a box of liquor and it stocking pantry, kitchen, and small wet bar in the living room."

The camera in Meyers's room flickered on. Loud pounding was heard from one of the cameras downstairs. "He's hanging pictures in the dining room…It's that Ten Little Indians poem that was found in all the rooms."

"I bet that is what he was doing upstairs while the cameras were being installed on the lower floor." Lindsay looked at all the feeds from the room's where the cameras were active and she saw the poem was hanging in each room. The camera in Redman's room came on and the poem was above the dresser.

"You don't think that Terrance Davis was behind all this, do you?" Flack asked. All the other eyes looked back at him at his end of the table. It was not something that they all considered. "Set up a situation of fear and isolation and hope that something goes wrong."

"Why would he do it? What's his motive?" Angell asked but no one could come up with a feasible answer.

"How would he have gotten all the information about the victim's?" Hawkes asked.

"He was part of the New York crime bottom feeders, I bet word of the crimes and the details traveled. Once he picked who he wanted to play with it just took asking the right questions to the right people to get any information that he wanted." Adam pressed pause so that nothing was missed and listened intently. "He could have been the third party. He just played up that there was someone else to keep all eyes off of him when it all came down."

"He died even before anything on the island took place. He was found dead on Friday morning before any of the guests went out to the island. If it didn't go the way he planned, what was he going to do if he was dead?" The thought was pondered and then Stella gave Adam the go ahead to start the action back up again.

The camera in Truby's room flickered to life almost unnoticed because everyone was watching Davis. The watched him disappear into the kitchen and pantry where there was no coverage.

The camera in Zimmer's room activated.

Davis reemerged again from the unknown and went back out on the porch. He pulled a paper from his pocket and studied it. "Adam, you said this can zoom and pause right?" The younger man's head dipped. "Is he at an angle where we can get a good look at that paper?"

The next few minutes were spent watching Adam try to zoom in but the angle were all wrong.

"Sorry." He looked away from the monitor that was taking all his attention to the group. "Was it found in his apartment?"

"There was a lot of paper in that place. Didn't know what to look for. We can go back and look again." Angell answered.

"What do you mean 'we'?" Flack questioned.

"If I am going, then you are going." She busted his chops.

It was an ongoing thing with them to mess around like that. He defied little against comments she made just get a reaction out of her. It was often wondered why they didn't just go ahead and get married. Danny really rode him about it after he himself married Lindsay and then again after she was shot and Danny hoped that the whole 'life is short' would kick in. The conversation was always headed off with "can't find the right ring," "the church was busy the weekend we wanted it," "she told me no when I asked." Each was an empty excuse and they were happy not being married.

"Looks like I am going back to Davis's apartment later." He smiled back at his girlfriend with a twinkle in his eye. Even after all the years between them he still loved her like the first day.

"Hey, Wargrave's camera just came up and it doesn't show the whole room. It's not even in the same place as all the cameras. Every other room the camera is in the far corner." Sid noticed.

"Wargrave's room was smaller and shaped differently because the back stairs are in the corner hall behind his room. They led down to the Gordon's room and linen closet then to the pantry and kitchen." Stella showed the configuration on the floor plan.

All the cameras were now online. All the poems were hanging, the figures were on the table, and the record was in place. All that was missing was the ten people. Davis and then techs met back on the front porch. A large envelope was handed over to the two men who had labored on the island for hours. It was assumed by all that it was some form of payment for the job.

The front door was locked the men walked away from the house and off camera.

"Okay, from what I understand the Gordon's show up in two days. We're gonna fast forward through the next 36 hours. We're gonna do this in shifts of two people watching. Go get lunch or something to snack on. Angell and Flack hit Davis's home again and see what paper work might be there. This is going to be long and tedious. I'm going to tell Larson and Maine to meet us back here on Monday. We will start watching the feed from Friday, August 8th."

**

They took turns in pairs to watch the video. Names were drawn from a hat to set the schedule. Danny quietly told Lindsay that he would take her shift so she could spend time with the kids.

It was predictable, but nothing happened between the time that the surveillance team left and the Gordon's arrived. The wind blew and birds flew. Leaves visited the front porch to take a rest out of the wind before they were drifted off again to another part of the island. During his boring time watching, Hawkes kept a count using tally marks of how many birds landed on the front porch. Nothing changed in the house. There was nothing there to change it, but they wanted to watch just in case there was another visitor.

The Gordon's showed up bring and early on Wednesday. A grocer followed along with a dolly full of food. The Gordon's and grocer let themselves into a house and set straight to work. The sounds of food being stacked in place could be heard on the camera that covered the dining room. The Gordon's traveled from room to room inspecting each room, each inch, and every space. The grocer left.

Somehow Flack and Danny were the two watching when the first night set in. Linda and Jerry decided to go wild and have sex all over the house. Because they were watching it in fast forward and at double the pace it took two or three glances to see what they doing and then the disgusted groans escaped their lips. They really did not want to watch, but morbid sick male curiosity kicked in and they peeked from between their fingers. Quickly the sounds changed from groans to hoots and howls of laughter as they watched the couple jack rabbit from window to window, camera to camera while having sex. The peals of laughter carried to Stella's office and she had to go see what the noise was all about. Soon she too was laughing at what Danny and Flack were seeing.

Thursday dawned on video and Jerry and Linda got busy preparing the house for the guests. They left the house mid afternoon to meet the boat at the dock. News and mail intended for them would be delivered along with fresh supplies that were needed. While thumbing through what he was given, he found a letter from the island's owner.

"That's the note describing who needs to have what room and also that the host will be delayed until Saturday." Stella told Angell during their viewing time.

"Where was he supposed to sleep? There wasn't a room for him."

"I never thought about that." Stella told her viewing partner. "Was there anything in the attic that might have doubled as a bedroom?" From her seat she twisted around to check the almost memorized diagram of the house.

"No."

"There's proof that whoever did this never meant to show up. Maybe that's another indication that Davis could be the one behind this."

Sunday afternoon in real time saw the afternoon of August 8th starting to arrive on video. "Adam pause it right there. We're ready for tomorrow. I'll see you bright and early in the morning." The video was halted. She looked around at the screens and marveled at how peaceful it all looked. It was hard to imagine what might have happened for ten people to be found dead just days later. Stella and Adam left the room, the lights were turned off and the door was locked. The secrets would be frozen until the morning.

It was a little nerve racking to just walk away. Stella looked at the locked door and knew how easy it would be to unlock it and start watching on her own or even to fast forward through all those hours of footage to see who was left standing at the end. She was anxious to start the mystery and watch as the events happened. Would it go anything like the journal entries listed? Sleep would not be her friend that night. She wasn't even going to try and go home. Other cases and issues needed her attention. There were papers that needed to be signed, overtime to authorize (mostly for those who were working on the North Brother Island case), and purchase orders need to be put thru. All those hours that she thought that Mac was sitting in his office and stewing over a case were really spent in paper work hell.

After an hour, she went for a cup of coffee. As it spun in the microwave she imagined the Greece sun warming her skin while she flitted in and out shops in a small town far away from the modern noisy city. Long walks down narrow streets with no cars or honking horns. Everyone around her was open and friendly. She was lighter and care free. The timer on the microwave beeped and Greece was gone. Machines whirred and people hustled even at the late hour. The heaviness of her life invaded her body and it was time to get back to work.

Wednesday was my birthday so I took a few days off and ignored writing for a while. This was a long chapter and I apologize but there did not seem to be a good place to break it up. Enjoy.