Chapter 28 Chapter Twenty Seven

Becky angrily walked into the tense case room.She couldn't believe how miserable she was in that house that morning.Everyone knows that she can take down two men at once when necessary, but an empty house almost doesn't scare her out of her wits.How on earth can chaotic emotions drain a person of all strength and determination?Well, to hell with that, she's going to get her old self back.She didn't want to be cowardly and incompetent like a frail dame in the eighteenth century, who could faint at the sight of any surprising thing.What the hell. She strode over to her desk, her mouth drawn into a determined line, and Tom glanced at her and gave her a slight nod.Tom is happy to see that Becky is finding her confidence back.Everyone here has seen that sad woman a few weeks ago, and now they're going to see the real Becky Robinson.

"In light of what happened this morning, I'd like to call everyone together and review our progress. Do you have any questions, Tom?" Before Tom could answer, Becky's cell phone heard the sound of receiving a message, and at the same time she heard Tom's cell phone vibrate. It's Jumbo. "You both need to see this, found it in Jasmine's bedroom notebook," the text read, along with a picture.Becky opened the picture and stared intently at the screen.She looked up and met Tom's eyes just in time. "Damn!" Becky cursed softly.She uploaded the picture to the computer, then bent over to make it the right size.When it was done, the picture looked just as disturbing.She quickly printed a few copies and handed one to Tom.

"What did he do to them, Tom?" she asked, knowing he didn't know much more than she did.Before Tom could answer, she went to the evidence board and pinned one of them on it. The room suddenly became quiet.Everyone turned their heads to Becky, and they all realized what had happened. The pictures from Jasmine's notebook didn't dampen Becky's resolve, but at the moment she felt a weight on her chest, a suspicion that she had let these children down, and that suspicion shattered what she had just built. confidence. The team members walked to the bulletin board without saying a word, and Becky sent them several printed pictures.Tom pushed his chair back a little closer to the desk, and sat down on the edge of it.

Beck stood up, looking at the picture again before speaking.They have already learned that Jasmine is a child who will complete school assignments meticulously. Judging by this picture, her painting level may be slightly higher than that of her peers, because every part of the painting has been carefully depicted. In the painting is a small room.They could see two corners and three walls, all painted dark gray by Jasmine.The room had no windows and was unfurnished except for a red box.That is, nothing but three children huddled in a corner.They seemed to be kneeling on the floor, and in the center was a girl with long black hair, and on either side of her sat a little boy, both of whom had yellow, blond, Becky thought.The girl is holding a child in one arm, and the youngest child has some small black oval-shaped things drawn on his face, which may be tears.There was an open door in one of the walls, though it was far from the ground.At the bottom of the painting, Jasmin wrote: Hide from enemies.

The team members were engrossed in studying the meaning of the painting, and the room was silent.Becky let them think for a while. "Well, none of us expected this, let's all share our thoughts." She said to the quiet crowd. "Do they have a cellar?" Ryan asked first. "No, there isn't even a single cupboard in the house big enough to do that. We're going to have Jumbo remove Olivia Brooks' car to make sure there's nothing under the garage floor, but I'm against that. Doubtful." "And does he own any other property, like locked up somewhere?" Nick added.

"It hasn't been found yet, maybe we need to investigate further. The problem is that Jasmine painted this painting before they disappeared, otherwise it wouldn't have stayed in the house. So, this should be somewhere they have been to before. A place, unless it's all her imagination. Does anyone believe it?" A silence is the answer. "We assume that the enemy they are avoiding is Robert, but is this assumption too much? Is it possible that this has something to do with their mother? Ryan, Robert took the children to the so-called weekend without telling Olivia You were there. Did she make you feel like she was the kind of person who would hurt kids, or keep them locked up somewhere?"

This time, there was no arrogance on Ryan's face.It was the first time Becky had seen him so serious. "It's possible I'm mistaken, but I'll say she's absolutely horrified by what Robert did to the kids. I don't really see her hurting the kids, but ask Superintendent Stanley for his opinion. .” Becky looked at Tom, who nodded silently, agreeing that she should go and talk to Philippa, though Becky was pretty sure the answer would be yes. "Could it be someone else? Anyone else think of anyone?" There was silence again, and Becky wasn't surprised.I remembered that Robert had hinted that Olivia and Jasmine might have concerns, but what they were most worried about was that others hated them.

"Okay. It goes without saying that we all have to find this place, that's our priority. Whatever happened to Olivia, it's possible that the kids have taken refuge in this hideout. They're likely to be safe and on the way Desperately waiting for help, or maybe they're locked up and there's no escape. Every clue, every hint, we need to know. And the neighbors, we're going to re-investigate them, but not just for information, And look for sheds, basements, attics. Did any of them take in those kids? Nick, I'll leave that to you, okay?" Nick nodded and returned to his seat.

"Okay, now let's talk about this woman." Becky tapped three times hard on the enlarged photo on the bulletin board of the woman who had been posing as Olivia Brooks at the hotel. "We don't know who she is and although we know Robert has seen pictures of her, he deliberately didn't tell us someone was posing as his wife. Why would he do that?" Someone in the back of the room raised a hand. "Is it possible that Robert arranged for this woman to stay in the hotel, and he hurt Olivia and the children? Maybe she was hired by Robert to cover his tracks for him. Looking at his daughter's painting, it looks like a little girl I'm really afraid of someone."

Becky nodded slowly. "That makes sense. Anyone else have any ideas?" I saw Tom standing up. "We found Olivia's and Jasmin's passports at the house this morning. Both had Iranian visas on them, and it was half term last October, when Olivia was supposed to be in Anglesey The island is. So it seems that she may have concealed her previous whereabouts from Brooks, is it possible that she just abandoned him, and the woman at the hotel may have helped Olivia instead of Robert?" "Is she actually in Iran with Jasmin - or - is Danash Jahand also? If so, where are the two boys? Or is she locked up somewhere? Or did Robert find out that she was going to elope with Jahande, and that was the beginning of it all? Everyone must know that the first priority is to find out who this woman is." Becky poked her finger at the photo on the bulletin board again, " Why did she pretend to be Olivia, and who told her to do it? I think it is necessary for us to consider applying to view the surveillance video."

Everyone was silent for a moment.Becky couldn't help thinking that she must be missing something, but couldn't remember.They have to go on. "What else did we find? Okay, Erica, tell me." Becky said, pointing to a tired-looking woman at the back of the room.Becky knew that Erica had four children, and guessed—not for the first time—that she had been miserable looking at them this morning. "Mrs Preston told us that Robert came home on Wednesday night, Thursday morning to be precise, and left when she got up. This statement was also corroborated by another neighbour, who Goes to work at six in the morning and walks the dog at 5:15. He says Robert's car swerved out of the driveway and almost knocked him over." "Can we assume that he came back to see where his wife and children are, or where they have been. If he did, he might have been back on other nights. Oh, the CCTV at the Newcastle hotel Any good news?" Becky asked. "Brooks was not found in the lobby area. But the manager said that there are other exits in the hotel, and not every corner can be covered. If he doesn't want to be found, he can also go out from the kitchen." "What about the parking lot?" Tom asked next. "We asked for footage, but just got it, and it was pulled from another company, not the hotel. We'll start working on it as soon as things here are over." "Start on Wednesday night," Becky ordered, "but I want all the footage of him being in the Newcastle hotel. I want to know what he's been doing every second he's been out of the garage." Just when the team members were in the brief tranquility of digesting the information they had, the door of the project room was pushed open violently, and Jill, who was wearing red shoes, almost rushed into the room. He looked serious and a little angry Out of breath. "You're going to really want to see this," he said. Becky hated to be interrupted, but Jill's panic showed that the matter was serious.He put down the laptop with a thud, poked his fingers on a few keys, and the computer connected to the whiteboard via the wireless network.There are words written on the board, but the image is still quite clear, and everyone can see it clearly. A video appeared on the screen, and Becky knew it was the Brooks kitchen.The kitchen door opened and Robert Brooks walked in, holding a large bouquet of white flowers and a shopping bag with what appeared to be bottles, and what looked like a children's cartoon under his arm.He tossed the pile onto the table, and although no sound could be heard, it was obvious that Brooks was calling out "Olivia" and looking around.Then he came out of the kitchen and appeared in the bedroom, looking around the room quickly, looking confused.Finally Jill taps something on the screen, and the scene cuts back to the kitchen.Robert slams the door open — and even though there's no sound, everyone watching the video winces as the door slams against the cupboard.Then Robert grabbed his wife's bag, turned it upside down on the table, and checked the contents. Jill turns off the video. "Friday afternoon—just when Robert said he was home." Becky looked around at the confused faces and asked, "So where did you get this video?" "Go on to the next paragraph, and then I'll tell you." Jill just said this, and then clicked another icon on the screen. A woman appears in the shot.The video was taken from somewhere above her, and she walked with her head slightly down so she couldn't see her face, but Becky was sure it was Olivia Brooks.She watched Tom ask for proof, and he nodded emphatically at her, his eyes still fixed on the screen.The video is still silent, but it looks like the woman is making herself coffee while turning her head to talk to someone behind her.Then a child came into view, but this time only the top of a blond head could be seen.Judging by his size, the child was about four years old.Then the two of them walk out of the camera, and the scene reappears after a second of blankness - this time in the living room.Olivia walked towards the sofa, sat down, picked up a magazine, and took a sip of the cup of coffee she brought from the kitchen. The entire project room was silent. No doubt they were all overwhelmed by what they saw. Jill turned off his laptop and turned to his audience. "I'm hearing from you guys that this isn't such an exciting video," he exaggerates, "but, my friends, it's just the tip of the iceberg. Robert's computer hard drive is full of the Brooks family's work." Videos of all sorts of things, completely crammed. There are hidden cameras in every room of the house except the kids’ bedrooms and the various bathrooms. It’s nice to know that Robert Brooks does have a face.” Becky glanced at Tom, and found that his eyes were only slightly squinted, and his expression remained unchanged. She knew Tom didn't like Robert.The idea of ​​a man secretly filming his wife's every move was so horrific that Becky shuddered.Does Olivia know about this?No, it was impossible for her to know that no one could stand such surveillance.Or is this a kind of voyeurism?Would Robert be excited to see a picture of his wife?Will they get an answer? Jill wasn't done yet. "The cameras were all very cleverly hidden above the cabinets. But I think we've got them all out now. They're all motion-sensitive and set up above a certain height to respond to movement. Apparently he's only interested in candidly filming his wife, so every time she walks into the room, the camera starts recording. Apparently the kids will be in the footage with her, but they're all too small to be Activating the camera. The catch is that the camera only captures the top of their heads, so we still don't have a usable photo. I can only assume that Robert turns off the camera via his computer every night when he comes home from get off work , because apart from the most recent one, he has not appeared on camera at all." Jill turned and smiled at everyone, though the smile never really reached his dark, tired eyes. "The time stamp on the video shows that Olivia's last video was taken on Friday, about an hour before Robert Brooks returned. Until then, she and the kids looked fine and at home .” There was a buzz in the case room.Everyone had a theory, but it seemed to Tom that no one was quite right. "It's pretty clear from here that Robert is telling the truth when he says he wants his wife to be home when he gets home," Ryan said. "Does everyone agree with that statement?" asked Becky. Nick raised his hand hesitantly. "Let's say Robert Brooks has all these cameras in place and he usually turns them off when he gets home, so he knows he's being filmed, right? Hence, when he calls his wife's name Facing the camera, he might just buy a gift for others to see. Personally, I don’t think it proves anything.” Good boy, Tom said hello to him silently.That's exactly what Tom thought.But on the other hand, Olivia was at home an hour ago, to find out if Robert was in the only hour that was missed here - the time between Olivia's stay and Robert's arrival - It was an easy drive home from the Newcastle hotel. Suddenly, an idea hit his mind. "Becky, in that video Olivia made herself a cup of coffee, didn't she? And she put milk in it. Didn't you say there was no milk in the fridge and empty bottles in the trash?" Becky looked at him and nodded silently.What is going on?