Gabe pulled out his notepad, already scribbling down answers she gave about his description. “Whoever he is, you’re not the only one he’s watching out for. We’ll run it. And if you see him again—”
“I’ll tell you,” Laurel said, meaning it. “But I don’t think he’s the threat.”
“No,” Bennett murmured. “I think he’s something else entirely.”
She swallowed. “What do you mean?”
Instead of answering, Bennett’s gaze shifted toward the back door. “Need to check your camera feed out back.”
Gabe tucked his notepad into his jacket. “Let’s pull the footage.”
Laurel watched them head for the small storage room behind the kitchen but didn’t follow. Something about Bennett’s voice and the way it had gone flatter, quieter, had lodged under her skin like a sliver she couldn’t quite dig out.
She’d seen him alert, annoyed, amused. But this? This was closed off. Controlled. And that control made her stomach twist.
Annie shifted beside her on the couch and took another sip of tea. “He knows something,” she said quietly.
Laurel nodded. “Yeah. And he’s not ready to say it.”
“You going to let him get away with that?”
“For now,” she replied with a sigh. “But only because I want to know what that footage shows.”
She stayed still for a beat, then pushed to her feet.
Annie raised an eyebrow but didn’t say a word as Laurel slipped out of the office and crossed through the back hallway.
By the time she stepped into the storage room, Bennett was standing at the small wall-mounted monitor, arms crossed as Gabe queued up the footage. The screen flickered, time-stamped video playing in jittery black and white.
Laurel moved to stand beside them, her gaze scanning the feed.
“Go back a little,” Bennett said.
Gabe rewound to five minutes before Annie stepped outside.
The alley sat quiet. Still.
Then a shadow moved in the far corner—quick, barely noticeable. A man stepping into frame, glancing up at the camera. Rick Nolan.
Then…nothing.
The screen fuzzed briefly. A single skip. Less than a second.
“Did he just—?” Laurel started.
“Tampered with the lens or covered it,” Bennett muttered. “Right before Annie came out.”
Gabe slowed the speed as the next few minutes played. The feed returned just in time to catch Bennett rounding the corner.
Gabe straightened. “That’s not a random act. He knew where the camera was. He was buying time.”
Laurel folded her arms tight. “To do what? Threaten Annie without a record?”
“Or deliver a message,” Bennett said. His voice was quiet again, but not distant this time. Focused. “That’s not something you do unless someone told you exactly where to stand. Or he cased the place first.”
Neither of those sat well with her.
“We’ll know soon,” Gabe said. “I’ll run him through the system and see who he’s worked with.”
