Schilling muttered something about the evils of technology before resuming the video.
The blurry man squatted next to her and grazed his hand across her legs. She kicked and clawed at his face. Watching Eva in the street helpless and alone infuriated James. A few minutes went by before the man offered her his hand and pulled her to her feet. He supported her weight with one arm while bending over and scooping her legs up with the other. Cradling her in his arms, he strolled to the passenger side of the car. Gently, he placed her in the front seat. He lingered inside the car with her before shutting the door. The blurry man then casually walked over to the driver’s side door, opened it, and climbed in.
Winslow interrupted the silence. “Something happens in the car because they don’t leave for another seven minutes, but you can’t tell what from this angle. So that’s all she wrote, folks.” He handed James the file.
“At least we now know for sure that she was abducted,” Schilling offered.
“Yeah, but there’s no audio and we can’t see his face,” James stated.
"The tech team put it through all of their fancy filters. No luck. Sorry, chief." Winslow shrugged and started to walk away. “Oh.” He snapped his fingers and turned back to the detectives. “Almost forgot. They found her car parked by TU’s performing arts center. There are no cameras covering that parking lot, though. Word is spreading around campus to contact us if anyone saw anything, but nothing so far.”
“Next time bring some good news,” Schilling said with a grunt.
The file contained several stills from the video. James looked at each of them before handing them off to Schilling.
“He has to be wearing some type of mask or something that’s messing with the camera,” James said. “Why else would everything in the picture be clear except for his face?”
“Rookie mistake number ten. Getting bogged down in the details. We don’t need to see his face.”
“You don’t think that’s important?” James sat back down at his desk.
“This guy gets in her car and waits for an hour. In the backseat for an entire hour. Even if he was watching her leave to the hotel, he wouldn’t know that she was coming back, unless…” Schilling let James fill in the blanks.
And James did. “Unless he knows her.”
Sixteen
The life ablaze in Alek’s chest longed for the Oracle. The supernatural sparks boiled inside of him, pushing him to continue his search. He shook out his shirt and slid the rough fabric over his head. He brushed off the dust and glanced over his shoulder at the sound of fast approaching footsteps.
“Hey, wait there! I need to talk to you for a second.” The officer waved; his navy blue uniform was black with sweat.
Alek let out a sigh and turned around. If it came to it, he could subdue this man easily, but fighting drew attention. “What is it you need?”
“Whoa, calm down. Tulsa Police. Just want to ask you a couple questions,” he said.
“Apologies, I thought you were a member of the campus police.”
“No, I have a real badge.” The cop chuckled and tapped the gold star. “A few other officers and I are canvassing the campus. A young woman by the name of Eva Kostas has gone missing. We found her car over in that parking lot.” He pointed to the large lot behind him. “Just wondering if you were out last night. Maybe you saw something that might help. It may not have seemed like a big deal when you saw it, but any little detail could end up being important.”
“You said her name is Eva?” he asked to clarify, nervous sweat dotting his forehead.
“Yeah, Eva Kostas. You know her?”
“No, I uh, I am simply saddened by the fact that she or anyone may have disappeared,” Alek replied. “How long has she been missing?”
“Since around two o’clock this morning. About…” He squinted down at his watch. “Ten hours or so, now. Here’s her picture.” He handed Alek one of the flyers he clutched in his perspiring hand. “If you see her or hear anything about her, there’s a hotline number at the bottom for you to call. This isn’t the first student to go missing, so tell your friends to keep their eyes open when they’re out at night. You too. We don’t know what kind of creep is out there. And pass that around if you get a chance, will you?” he said before waving another pedestrian down and rushing away.