The video was critical evidence — a key lead. If whoever filmed it had turned it in right away, it could have helped crack the case much earlier. And they would've collected the ten-million-dollar reward Silas had posted.
So why the silence before? And why this sudden, very public move now?
Captain Finch exhaled heavily. "We suspect it was deliberate. Whoever sent it wanted to stir things up again."
"We've tried tracking the sender, but the message was anonymous. The IP was masked. We can't trace it, and we can't make contact."
Silas jumped in immediately. "Can't you use the surrounding surveillance cameras to track down the man in the video?"
"He couldn't have appeared out of thin air and vanished into nothing. Check every camera within a few miles of the scene — there has to be footage of him coming or going."
Captain Finch said nothing. He turned to Myron Dickerson, the forensic technician seated at the computer beside him.
Myron kept his eyes on the screen as he reported: "We're pulling surveillance from every storefront and municipal camera within a two-mile radius of the crime scene. We've gotten through about seventy percent so far, but we haven't found the man from the video."
The words had barely left his mouth when Captain Finch's phone rang.
"Captain, we just spotted someone during our street canvass — a limping man whose build and clothing are an exact match for the figure in the video."
Finch shot to his feet. "Stay on him. I'm on my way with a team."
Silas and I followed Finch to the car.
They moved fast.
Twenty minutes later, we pulled up outside a run-down apartment complex.
Several officers were already waiting downstairs. The moment they saw Finch, they approached.
"Captain, we asked around the neighborhood. The guy goes by 'the Limping Man.' He makes a living collecting scrap and recyclables — people see him wandering the streets all the time."
"He lives on the ground floor. Went inside and hasn't come back out."
Finch nodded, then led a few officers toward the Limping Man's door, their footsteps careful and quiet.
I stayed close behind Finch, my heart hammering so hard I could feel it in my throat.
Silas was even more worked up. He gripped his wedding ring, knuckles white, murmuring under his breath: "Julia... we're finally going to find the monster who killed you and our baby."