Ava was going cross-eyed watching the computer screen all morning. She decided it was time for a break. After refilling her coffee and getting a snack she walked around the room a couple times. Something was irritating her about the video footage for some reason. She rubbed her neck and stretched her arms while pondering what was bothering her. Seated back behind the computer she thought she would give it another try.
Ava hadn’t seen anything of interest concerning the first three women within the two week time frame and was starting on the fourth. As she started reviewing the footage from Susanna she noticed something odd. The time stamp was skipping in places. That’s it! She thought to herself. She checked back on the previous video of the other missing girls and she was correct! There were multiple periods of time that were missing from the surveillance.
How could that be she wondered? Maybe faulty equipment or bad reception, or maybe someone deleted it! She gasped as that thought entered her mind. After considering the implications of this she had an idea. Maybe I’ll get lucky if I look back further than two weeks. With that idea in mind she set to work and was rewarded.
Ava started about a month before Christine disappearance and worked her way forward. About three and a half weeks before Christine’s disappearance she found something that might be of interest. Christine was walking through the lobby towards the elevator and a young man with brown hair was slowly walking behind her. It looked suspicious, so Ava watched it in slow motion to see what was happening. She was starting to get worried by what looked like an abduction, but then she realized the man had turned Christina around and held both of her hands right in front of the elevator. They looked into each other’s eyes deeply and smiled. Ava printed that shot.
The next footage Ava thought might be helpful was a few weeks before Susanna went missing. It showed her outside the front of the resort talking to a tall blonde man standing beside a white car. Lea reached up and touched his face and went around and jumped in the car. The camera on the lamp post beside the driveway captured a great shot of both of their faces. That was the second shot Ava printed.
Ava was shocked yet delighted to learn about this discovery. It made her worry though, that someone in this resort might know more than they are letting on, but whom? She settled back in at the computer, coffee in hand, and started reviewing more of the video footage.
~.~.~
Meanwhile, Sophia was trying to find Max. She was puzzled as to why the spare keys to each room would be missing. They had either been misplaced or someone has taken them, but why?
Sophia checked at the front desk, but Max wasn’t there. The woman working there told her that Max was in the kitchen talking to Hemi. Sophia thanked her and headed to the dining room. Upon entering she saw Max talking to Hemi by the buffet, so she went to say hello.
“Hello Sophia! How are you?” Max said surprised to see her.
“I’m good, thanks. Hi Hemi,” she smiled.
“Hi hon! You looking for lunch? We were just discussing options for the buffet,” replied Hemi. “I saw David and Luke take off earlier, you think they’ll be back to eat soon?”
“I’m not sure. They went out to the beach to look around. We are supposed to meet back here later,” Sophia said to Hemi then directed the rest of her question to Max. “Is it ok if I talk to you Max?”
“Yes, definitely Sophia, what’s going on?” he asked taking her by the elbow and directing her to a quiet corner.
“I was talking to Irene earlier about the girls and wanting to get the spare keys to their rooms. She said all four of the spare keys are missing. Did you know about that?” Sophia inquired.
“No, I didn’t!” Max seemed surprised. “I wonder when that happened. I will talk to her about it. If you’d like I can go to the rooms with you and open them with my master key.”
“I would appreciate that, thank you,” said Sophia. “Who else knows you have a master key?”
“Just Irene,” Max stated. “I received it about three years ago when we had all the locks changed in that building and I never told anyone that I had it except her.”
“Can we go over there now?” she asked. “I’d like to look through the rooms and take some pictures before they guys get back.”
“Yes, let’s go,” Max replied as they said their good byes to Hemi and left the dining room.
“See you back here for lunch,” Hemi called out after them…