I awoke to my phone ringing on my nightstand. My eyes felt like they were full of sand and my body felt heavy. I suppose lying awake listening to my brother and his wife argue until 2 AM and then crying myself to sleep thinking about Louis and my dad and Mom didn't do me any good. 

It took a moment, but I managed to reach over and grab my phone, answering it without seeing who was calling. "Hello?" My voice came out scratchy.

"Hi, this is Mr. Buckley from the music store. Is this Brenda?"

"Yes, it is." I sat up and cleared my throat, hoping to get my voice to sound better. 

"Good, good. Well, Miss Brenda, I was just calling to see when you can start working."

That woke me all the way up. "I can come in Tuesday," I said without giving it a second thought.

"Sounds good. I'll see you here at eight Tuesday morning then. Have a good day."

"You, too." I hung up and stared at my phone for a long moment. I had a job. I had a real job. I threw the blanket back and rushed into the kitchen where the scent of coffee was coming from. Lilly was sitting at the table, looking very much like she'd just rolled out of bed and nursing a cup of coffee. "I got the job!"

She slowly looked up at me, her eyes squinted. "Job?"

"Yeah, at the music store. Remember?"

Her face was blank for a moment before she smiled. "That's wonderful! When do you start?"

"Tuesday at eight." I looked at the coffee pot. "Is that mine or Ben's?"

"Ben's. We ran out of coffee and he hasn't gotten up yet. Sorry."

I shrugged and checked my other messages. "That's fine." One from Jimmy, asking me out to breakfast about an hour ago. Oops. "I think I have plans, anyway." I walked back to my room, texting back an apology and would he still like to have breakfast together? As I began to pull on some warm clothes my phone rang again. Without checking, I again answered, assuming it was Jimmy. "Hey, are we still on? I can meet you in a few minutes."

"Um, didn't know we were on in the first place," said Kev. 

I flushed and dropped the fleece-lined jacket I was holding. "Officer Jarvis! Sorry, I thought you were someone else."

"Obviously," he said, chuckling. "That's okay, though. I was just getting back to you about that financial stuff. I can't exactly get bank statements, but I did make a few calls to local lawyers and as it turns out Rob filed for bankruptcy a month ago. The business is doing well, but his personal finances seem to not be the best."

"Wonder why?"

"I don't know. I didn't turn up anything, but it could be that he went all out for Louis? I mean, it seems like a decent possibility."

A brand new kitchen flashed in my mind. "Louis recently remodeled his house. Rob could have helped them out a bit. According to Heather he loved Louis a lot. That on top of paying for a funeral could have sent him over the edge. After all, a month ago is when he would have had to pay for it." I swallowed around a sudden lump in my throat, but willed the tears and the pain in my chest to go away.

"Very true. I hadn't thought of that."

"It's kind of hard for me to forget." There was a heavy silence as I took a moment to regret my words. "I'm sor-"

"Don't worry about it," he said firmly, cutting me off. 

I was silent for a moment. "Thank you," I said faintly. I cleared my throat. "I feel like we're still missing something."

"Security footage."

"Right. He kicked me out when I went in there last time."

"You told me. Just make sure he's not in there next time."

"Next time?"

"You'll never get anything done if you give up."

I bristled. "I'm not giving up."

"Then you need to go back."

---

After having breakfast with Jimmy, I wanted to go try to check out Rob's office, but I couldn't do it while he was there. That meant I had to wait around until I knew he'd left and then go inside without the employees seeing me and figuring out what I'm up to. Which meant, in turn, I had to sit right here in this diner and watch from the booth I shared with Jimmy.

And that was a complication: Jimmy. He'd undoubtedly follow me inside, and I couldn't risk him being seen or being noticed by anyone there. It wouldn't end well if either of us were.

In the meantime, I tried to figure out what to do as we sat and talked and snacked and had so much coffee I was surprised I wasn't shaking. When it got close to lunchtime, I began to worry he wasn't going to leave even though most of his employees had by this point, but then there he was: opening the door, walking out with a handful of other employees, and walking down the street to the fast food place.

I stood up. "Um, I need to go do something, but you can stay if you want. I'll probably be back in about fifteen minutes." Without waiting for him to say anything, I left Jimmy watching me go with an open mouth.

The office only had three people inside when I peered into the window, but they were all in the back, sitting around a table in another room. There was a bell only tied to one door, so I went in the other one. Silence. 

Emboldened, I walked over to my brother's former work station. I had to pass by the door to the break room and one of the people inside noticed me. She stepped out and asked if I needed something. "Oh, no," I said. I gestured at the desk I was heading towards. "I'm just here to see if anything of my brother's still in his desk or if the police took everything."

She nodded with a half shrug. "Okay, then." I watched her turn around and take her seat at the table again. Sure that no one else was watching, I changed course and went to the door to Rob's office. It opened silently and I slipped inside, closing it quietly. 

First, a cursory glance at the safe. Mint condition. Ben said Rob left the code lying around, so the person probably didn't have a problem opening it. A peek at the corner opposite it was a camera mounted on the wall.

The computer was on with a screensaver playing on the monitor. I moved the mouse and the desktop came to life - with one window open for the security camera. I slipped my backpack off and pulled out a thumb drive. I searched through the folders and found what I was looking for. Once the footage I wanted was moved over, I removed it and put it back in my bag. I closed out everything I'd opened. 

When I stood up, something caught my eye: an alarm keypad. I turned and searched the door leading to the alleyway. Sure enough, there was a sensor there. Just opening the door would set the alarm off. What about the front door?

Knowing I was on a time constraint, I left the office just as quietly as I'd entered, quickly went through my brother's desk, and left, making sure to wave at the people in the break room and check for another sensor as I exited. My heart was pounding in my ears so loudly it felt like they should hear it too, but no one batted an eye at me.

The walk back to the diner was almost relaxing. Except there was something niggling in the back of my mind but refused to be known.

Jimmy was still sitting there, waiting, when I plopped down into my seat. He looked at me and leaned back in his seat. "You about ready to leave?" he asked.

I glanced out the window at the office. "Ready if you are."

He nodded. "How about first you tell me why you went into the office down the road?"

I tried to not show that his question startled me. I didn't know he'd watch to see where I went, though, when I thought about it, I should have. "To check my brother's desk," I said casually. "I was there when the police came to collect his stuff, and I was seeing if they'd left anything. I had to wait for Rob to leave, though."

He raised an eyebrow at me, but he left it there. I felt a small pang of guilt for not telling him my real reason for being there. There was just this need to keep to myself what I was doing for fear someone would tell me I couldn't or shouldn't do it.

---

After dinner that night was the first time I'd had all day to talk to Kev. I texted him to ask if he was free for me to call. Instead of answering, he called me. "I'm always on the job," he said by way of 'hello'. 

"Good to know," I said with a laugh. 

"So, what's going on?"

"I found the footage we were looking for today."

"Great! What's on it?"

"I haven't watched it yet."

Silence. "Why not?"

"This is the first chance I've had all day!" I sighed, shaking my head. "I was actually about to watch it." I wasn't sure I wanted to watch it, but that was a different matter. As I clicked on the video, I began wondering why I was so afraid. If Ben really was innocent, this would prove it. I took a deep breath and watched the silent video.

It showed only the camera in the main part of the building. It was focused on the storefront. I frowned.

"It only shows one of the cameras," I told Kev. "There are two inside the building at least, but it only shows footage from one, and Ben's not even on it."

"It must save the other recordings separately," he said. "Do you see anything on there?"

At a far edge of the screen, I could see movement - Ben getting up from his desk. He must have gone towards Rob's office because everything else was on the other side of the camera. "Ben just got up from his desk," I said. On the screen, a car pulled to a stop on the other side of the road. A police car. All the lights were turned off, even the headlights. I wouldn't have been able to see it if it wasn't for the streetlamp they parked under. "A police car parked across the road, but the officer didn't have any of his lights on," I reported, puzzled.

A woman came up and knocked on the window. The glass lowered and they spoke. I leaned in closer and squinted. When the woman turned around I sucked in a breath. "What?" Kev asked. "What is it?"

"The news lady - she's there already." I paused it and looked at the time stamp. Ten minutes before the alarm sounded. "They're waiting," I breathed into the phone as I realized. "Kev, they're waiting for him," I said louder, something like panic coloring my voice.

"Calm down, Brenda," Kev pleaded. "Please, calm down and just watch the video and tell me what happens." 

I hit play. They talked for another couple of minutes before the woman walked away. I watched as the officer turned on his siren and then got out. He walked quickly into the building, his partner following him. A minute later Ben was being led out of the building in handcuffs and the news woman and her cameraman were there. 

"They turned on the sirens and lights and just got out and arrested Ben," I said, my voice faltering slightly. I was feeling that feeling all over again, as if I was just watching this for the first time. 

"Who are the officers?"

"I don't know them."

"I'll come over tomorrow night and you can show me the footage."

"I could just bring you the drive it's on - I'm not really using it."

"No! I mean, I don't know who those guys are, so I'd rather not risk it being stolen. I'll be there tomorrow night."

"You can't come then. We're getting ready to leave for our ski trip, so it would have to be the day after we come back. Tuesday."

He breathed out through his nose. "Fine. Tuesday night. I'll come over and watch the video."

We hung up not long after that. I watched the footage again. After the second time watching it, I realized what had been bugging me: the officers. Someone on the force had to be working with Rob, as did the news people. But if the investigating officers were afraid of being caught, they'd leave the security videos alone. According to Kev, they were going about this investigation very strangely, which meant they weren't investigating. They took my brother's stuff from his desk, but they didn't take anything that could be evidence - not even pictures it would seem.

Very odd indeed.

But then there were those two brief seconds of Ben on the edge of the video. He'd gone to the office more than ten minutes before the alarm went off. Who had he seen? And why wasn't he telling anyone anything?