A/N: Sorry it took so long to update but life had to intervene. I hope everyone enjoys the chapter and as always reviews are welcomed.
If Munch had thought it would do any good he would have gladly beaten the computer with his fist. He had been researching Jessica Johnson for the last few hours and was unable to come up with anything. There had been no activity on her social for the last two months, no tax returns filed for the last two years and the only driver license on file had been suspended almost two years ago, as well, for a failure to appear warrant, on a felony drug possession charge, that was still valid.
The only physical address on file for her was for a building that had been torn down at least five years before she ever registered at the address. Munch shook hi s head you had to love the government at times. Her mailing address was a P.O. Box at a mail and more in the South Bronx that was frequently used by every low life imaginable. Over the years and several investigations every detective had discovered that they rented more boxes than they actually had. If you ever questioned the clerk on duty it was always the same response hey man I don't know they paid for like six months in advance in cash when I wasn't here.
Just like every other avenue of research that he used and went down this too was a dead end. It was almost as if she had dropped off the face of the earth. Had this been any other case or victim he would have let his mind run rampant on one of his many conspiracy theories that he had. The one that seemed to be prominent in his mind though was she was a spook. This wasn't a regular case or victim so for once he kept his thoughts too himself.
"What do you have?" Morales asked walking in.
"Nothing" Munch said flipping the screen off "I'm working on an old case. I had gotten a new lead but turned out to be another dead end."
"Here" Morales said walking over to the screen and inserting a disk "Let me show you what I have on Olivia's shooter."
"Please tell me they smiled for the camera."
"Unfortunately no." Morales said disappointed as the screen came to life "But here they are getting out of a vehicle that was parked to the side. A few frames later there they are with their gun pulled."
"At Olivia."
"Just to make sure I ran the camera's side by side." He stated opening another window on the screen "Here is Olivia when Alex bumps into her. Now if we watch them together then we see the assailant pulling the gun and Olivia shoving Alex to safety. The assailant is shouting something but there is no audio. Here we see Olivia look toward Alex's direction and the assailant fire their gun."
"Damn it was as if they were waiting for her to be distracted."
"Only way to get her."
"So where is the frame that shows us the shooters face?" Munch asked.
'There isn't one."
"Then why did you feel the urge to show me Olivia getting shot on tape."
"Because of this." Morales said pointing back at the screen "The street cam's images are too grainy to get any detail from them. At one point it looked as if they looked right at the camera before getting in the vehicle. I thought I would use the street cameras to follow the vehicle to see where it would lead us."
"Please tell me that lead us somewhere."
"It did. About a mile up they ran a red light and that activated the camera which captured their license plate."
"I never thought I would say this but for once I'm glad big brother is watching us." Munch said as he started typing the license plate into the computer.
"No need to trace it detective, I already have and it was reported stolen this morning about an hour before the shooting."
"Then what is the purpose of this display then?"
"For this." Morales said with a smile coming across his face "The car comes to a stop here and the driver gets out. We follow her on the cameras into this store, The Stop and Shop. Believe me detective I have shopped there several times and when I say they have cameras on every aisle and corner of the store I'm not exaggerating."
"That is the best news I've heard so far." Munch said reaching for his phone and hitting the speed dial button.
"We've got it Captain" Munch said as soon as he heard Cragen answer "Morales was able to follow her on the streets and to a store called The Stop and Shop. He says they have camera's covering every inch of that store and with any luck we should be able to get a clear image of her from their cameras."
"I'll meet you there." Cragen said quickly disconnecting the call.
In less than twenty minutes Munch was pacing in front of the store waiting on Cragen. He was just about to enter the store without Cragen when he pulled up. He simply nodded as he opened the door and followed Cragen into the store.
"Ma'am, I'm Captain Cragen with the Special victims Unit" He said showing her his credentials "I need to speak to the store manager immediately please."
The girl who looked like she couldn't be more than twenty years old popped her gum before reaching for a paging system.
"Jessica you're needed to the front please." She said before turning the system off.
The two men looked at each other with the same thought running through their mind. There was no way this could be the same Jessica they were searching for? That would be too easy.
"Hello gentlemen I'm Jessica" A female who only appeared to be a few years older than the cashier said as she approached "How can I help you?"
"I'm Captain Cragen and this is Detective Munch with the Special Victims Unit. If you don't mind what is your last name?"
"Chandler."
"Miss. Chandler yesterday at approximately 1330 hours there was a person that entered this store after abandoning a stolen vehicle. We would like to obtain your security footage to get a clear picture of the suspect."
"All of this for a stolen vehicle? When my Honda was stolen it didn't get this type of attention."
"No ma'am the person we're hoping to get a picture of is also a suspect in another crime."
"So that explains it." She answered with a smile "You can have all the footage you want as soon as you show me a warrant."
"Excuse me?"
"Show me a warrant and you can have everything that is listed no questions asked. Until then forget it. Big brother has his hands in too many things as it is no. Automatically allowing you to have the tapes just gives the government a bigger hold."
"That will not be a problem ma'am. This detective will stay here till I return with a warrant in about an hour. He will be here to make sure that you or a member of your staff doesn't erase the tape. Please understand if you tamper with those tapes you will be arrested and charged with Obstruction and destruction of evidence. Do you understand?"
"I do."
"Good" Cragen said as he turned toward Munch "Have her show you where the security room is and post guard outside of it. I want no one in or out of it till I return."
"Follow me then detective" Jessica said as she turned to head toward the security room and Cragen quickly left the building.