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As if she could ever forget.
That was the thing about trauma and loss. One might push the memories into a box and lock them away somewhere in the recesses of the mind, but they were never truly gone. They lingered, lurking until triggered to reappear.
But this isn’t about me. She fixed her gaze on Elijah. He’s what’s important right now.
She hit play and watched as the van sped away. Leaving Elijah and his aunt Genie safe.
She restarted the video, watching the driver. Damn. If he really was Dewey Talley, the man was in good shape for his age. Rick Gates was smaller than the driver, but Rick was still at least five-nine. Maybe one-sixty.
Dewey Talley had been in his early fifties four years ago. The photos she’d seen back then had shown a beefy middle-aged man with a bit of a beer gut. The more recent photo, the one recovered from Sandra Springfield’s thumb drive, showed him to be leaner. More muscular. It was difficult to tell from the newer photos if he was as muscular as the driver, though. The clothes he wore in Sandra’s photos were loose-fitting, his sleeves long, the angle not the best for seeing details. But there were enough similarities for Val not to completely rule him out.
If he was the driver, he’d clearly been working out during the time he’d gone under.
Good to know. Especially if he came after Elijah and she had to take him down.
The driver was a big man. Big and muscular. Her blood chilled as much older memories swirled to the top of her mind. Like always, she shoved them away.
It was with a swell of relief that she heard the footsteps approach her office door. Val never used earbuds in both ears. She wasn’t willing to be unaware of her surroundings at any time, even though here, in Burke’s office, she was safe.
Once a person had been sneaked up on... Well, Val didn’t know how other people handled it, but she’d found solace in control.
She looked up and waved Molly Sutton into her office, smiling as her friend sat on the corner of Val’s desk. Molly was Burke’s second-in-command. A former cop, she mostly investigated cases, providing security when Burke was low on bodyguards. She was kind but had a spine of steel.
She was also one of Val’s dearest friends.
“Hey, you,” Val said quietly.
“Hey, yourself, stranger.” Molly glanced at Elijah, who still sat at Val’s little table, then pointed to her screen and whispered, “Brave little boy.”
“He is,” Val whispered back. He was immersed in whatever he was watching on his tablet, or at least he pretended to be. He still wore his headphones, but the kid was smart enough—and curious enough—to figure out a way to eavesdrop without an ounce of shame. “He reminds me of myself when I was that age.”
“You had Harry Potter glasses?” Molly teased.
“I had Velma from Scooby-Doo glasses,” Val corrected. “Velma was the coolest of the Scooby gang.”
“She was,” Molly said. “Elijah’s okay? Last night was... too close.”
“He’s doing as well as can be expected.” She restarted the video and pointed to the van’s driver as he ran around the vehicle. “Burke and Mr.Cardozo think it might be Dewey Talley.”
“Yeah. I got the skinny from Joy. Are you sure you’re going to be okay with this case?” Because Molly knew who Dewey Talley was and what he’d done.
“I’ll be fine,” Val said brusquely. “I wonder if Antoine can get this video any clearer. I want to see the driver’s eyes.”
“Because?”
She paused again on the driver as he slung Rick Gates over his shoulder. “Because I know what Talley’s eyes look like.” She’d stared at the man’s image for too many hours. “And because the driver told Elijah to run.”
Molly’s eyes widened. “Oh. That’s an un-Dewey-Talley-like thing to do. You doubt that Talley was involved?”
“Keeping an open mind. If Antoine can get me a clear view of his eyes, that would help.”
Their IT guy was a jack-of-all-trades and expert of all when it came to computers. Val had no idea how he accomplished ninety percent of what he did.
Molly hummed her approval. “If anyone can, it’s Antoine.”
Val opened an email to Antoine and listed the video enhancement as her first request. “I also want to know where Dewey Talley’s been for the last four years.” Because I looked for him.
“Even Antoine might not be able to get you that.”
