* * *
Dinner at Ray’s was quiet. Bunny tried to ignore me while I ate,but whenever I glanced over at her, she was staring at me and quickly looked away.
I went home alone after I ate. I needed a night off. I had a couple books I wanted to read, and I tried that but couldn’t get into either one. The case had me preoccupied. I was dead sure that one of those three people had killed Vitole, and I hoped the DVD would prove it. If it didn’t show anyone opening the trunk, then the culprit had to be Ramon or Missy. Neither Buford nor Sanford were stupid enough to keep a murder weapon where the cops would find it. And Serena had an air-tight alibi.
I went outside and tried walking up and down the sidewalk without my crutch. That was almost a success. I only fell down once.
A man came running up and helped me to my feet.
“You should get a cane,” he said.
I thanked him and went back to the apartment to get my crutch. I drove to Walmart and bought a ten-dollar cane. That worked well, and I went home and put the crutch in the hall closet next to its brother.
I mulled everything over for a while thinking about the case. I couldn’t stand it any more. I went outside and drove to the office. I hoped I didn’t slip with the cane and fall down the stairs.
I made it upstairs, went in the office, and got the DVD from the safe. There was no way to watch it in the office. Normally, we’d use Rodney’s laptop, but he’d taken it home with him. Maybe Willa’s computer could do it, but I didn’t know how.
I went back to the apartment and watched the DVD. Rodney had done a good job of editing. It started with Buford’s Rolls pulling up to the curb at about nine in the morning. Serena got out and walked away from the car.
I could’ve stayed right there watching Serena walk, but I had work to do.
The scene changed to the parking lot where the Rolls pulled into a space. Ramon got out and walked away. The scene faded out and then back in when the car left the parking space. The time stamp showed it to be about eleven o’clock.
The next scene, at about noon, showed the Rolls returning, pulling up to the curb, and letting Missy out. Then the car parked in another space, and Ramon got out and walked away.
So far, the video bore out what Ramon had told me. The surprise came next.
At about one-thirty a panel van pulled up next to the Rolls. I could make out the Arnold Locksmith and Security logo on the side. The driver got out and looked around. The resolution of the video wasn’t good enough to clearly show his face, but it was William Sproles, there was no doubt about that. The shape of his head, his hair, and his mannerisms all fit. I wished we could do what they do on CSI and zoom in and sharpen the image, but that’s only on television.
Sproles was holding a box. He took the box to the rear of the Rolls and opened the trunk.
Sproles returned to the van, got something else, which could have been a gun. He put it in the trunk of the Rolls and closed the trunk lid. Then he returned to the van, got in, and drove away.
This was what I needed, a video of someone, anyone planting something in Buford’s Rolls where the cops had found the gun. It being someone closely related to the crime made it that much better. Of course, none of the details in the low-res video could clearly identify him or verify without a doubt that that’s what he was doing. Any moderately competent defense lawyer would have a field day shooting down the evidence, particularly since it was obtained with a bogus warrant, and given the quality of the video. But maybe it would be enough to coerce a confession.
I was satisfied. I went to bed.