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“What the fuck are you doing?”
Felix barged through the door with both hands pressed firmly against his hips, his eyebrows furrowed.
“I know you are not conducting a search inside of my club without a warrant.”
“Calm your tits, you rainbow shitting pineapple,” Spike sneered near the end of the bar. “I’m just trying to find the security cameras. And speaking of which.” He pointed a finger up to the ceiling, at the camera facing the hall, bathrooms, and the back door/emergency exit. “You never gave us the footage for this camera.”
“That’s because there’s none to give. That camera and the one just outside the Red Room broke like three, maybe four days ago.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Spike roared at the same time I politely asked Felix why he failed to mention this to us ahead of time.
Felix had the decency to smirk at me. “You didn’t ask. You told me to give you all the footage I had available, and so that’s what I did. Obviously, I can’t provide you with what I don’t have.”
Spike drew in a powerful breath and blew it out, scrubbing his hands down his face. I knew he was agitated but I couldn’t translate if it was really with Felix or with himself. Felix may have been a ridiculing smartass and massive thorn in our asses at times, but he did have a point. Neither one of us had bothered to ask about any malfunctioning cameras once we had the warrant in our hands. And to make matters worse, we were so consumed trying to find this guy that we made a rookie mistake and hadn’t recognized we were missing evidence.
“What’s this really about, Detectives? I thought everything went well last night.”
“It did,” Spike answered as he ambled across the lounge. “The problem is that whoever the fuck this bull mask guy is, was smart enough to elude detection.”
He kept walking and passed by the entrance to the Red Room, pausing to glare up at the nonfunctional camera attached to the ceiling. He studied the trajectory all for a small moment and then turned, locking eyes with me.
“And I think I just figured out how he did it.”
For the third and hopefully last time, I asked, “What are you thinking?”
“Felix,” he said first, sliding his sight over to him. “The back door, do you keep it locked when business is open?”
“I do not. The dumpsters are out there and it’s easier letting the staff come and go as they need as opposed to constantly having to run off and unlock the door every ten minutes.”
“God, I fucking hate you,” Spike whispered in a low grumble, sighing as he squeezed his eyes closed. When he opened them, he looked at me and said, “The reason why our perp isn’t on any of those tapes is because he came in through the back door. The camera near the end of the bar is angled directly toward the bathrooms and the other is just outside the door to the Red Room. Had they been working, we’d have him on camera, but since they weren’t, that leads me to presume the guy knew those cameras were down.”
Which implies this attack could’ve been premeditated after all.
“There aren’t any cameras inside the Red Room and unfortunately, the others don’t give any direct shots of the entrance or of anyone coming and going, which really fucking sucks because we still can’t account what time our perp arrived. Anyway, I believe he was in the Red Room. Delilah walks in looking for Justin, he sees her, waits for her to leave, then makes his move. He corners her, knife drawn, and then he takes her to the bathroom and assaults her.”
“Here’s what I don’t understand.” I started moving and didn’t stop until my eyes zeroed on the emergency exit at the end of the hall. “Why run for the front door when there’s a perfectly functional door right there?”
“That may be my doing,” answered Felix. “While I do tend to keep the door unlocked most of the night, I do lock it up from ten to midnight due to them being our busiest hours. I don’t know when that poor girl was attacked but if it was within that timeframe, then that’s probably why.”
Spike and I shared a look then.
“Are you sure you have no idea who this guy could be?” I asked, shifting my attention back to Felix. “You don’t remember selling a bull mask or something similar to that animal recently?”
“God, no. I remember every mask I’ve ever sold in this place so trust me, I’d know if I’d sold anything resembling a bull. However, you two should keep in mind that not every mask worn in this place has been purchased from my shop. Members are free to buy elsewhere, and it doesn’t even have to be anything animal related. It’s preferred, but it’s not required. As long as you’re a member and you walk in with the top half of your face covered, you’re good to come in. All masks have to be worn at all times or you’re gone. It’s that simple.”
Shit.
“Alright then, Felix.” Spike let out a sigh and tiredly rubbed his eyes. “Thanks for the help. Per usual, we’ll call or drop by if we need anything else.”
He started for the door first, and it was quiet for a long time even after we’d entered the car and hit the road. Not that it did me much good the first time, but I wanted another coffee.
“You want one?” I asked when I pulled up at the drive thru.
“Yeah, I’ll take one.”
I recited our orders and after another whopping round of silence, we had our drinks and were heading back to the precinct.
“You good?” I asked Spike in the passenger seat.
