Chapter Two
Theora sat cross-legged in bed, staring at the picture of Ian Stewart that was on her laptop computer before her.
Ian was the prime suspect in the Morgan Egg robbery. He was seventeen, thin, and had a lanky aspect about him. He had short, spiky dark hair and blue eyes.
There's just something … OFF … about all of this, Theora thought.
He's not a hacker. At the very least, BRYCE has never heard of him.
Assuming he did it, how did he get into the safe? Did he memorize the combination? There's no evidence of forced entry ... so there was no butchering his way into it.
It's all too convenient.
"Max!" Theora called out to the room.
Max Headroom appeared on Theora's laptop. "Yeesss?" He cooed.
"Tell me about the Morgans' security system," Theora commanded. "Is there a camera on that safe?"
Max Headroom disappeared. In his place, an image of the Morgans' wall safe appeared.
According to the police report, the Egg was stolen from THAT safe, Theora thought.
"Play back the most recent security footage."
Video of Tom Morgan opening the safe and removing a small leather case suddenly appeared onscreen.
"Stop," Theora commanded. The video froze
"Zoom in on that case."
An image of Tom's hand carrying the case filled the screen.
"Pull back a little," said Theora.
The video zoomed out to reveal the case, Tom's hand, and his forearm.
Theora made a few keystrokes and called up the police report. Agnes described the Egg as being approximately six inches tall.
"Is this the most recent footage?" Theora asked Max as she made a note of the video timestamp. June Twelfth. Two days before Tom reported the Egg stolen.
"Y-yes, Th-th-Theora," Max replied. "Th-th-That's all I f-f-found found."
"Was anything deleted?" If I were the prosecutor, I would be accusing Ian of being some super-hacker who had the power to remove incriminating security camera footage.
"N-nn-Not th-th-that that I-I-I'm-I'm a-a-aware-ware of-f-f," Max replied.
"Thanks."
The next morning, Theora's smartphone buzzed on her desk at Network 23.
She picked it up to find a text message from Nicky, a friend and confidential informant.
The message read: Meet me 8th and Harrison. Found Stewart.
Ian Stewart? Theora texted.
Yeah Nicky replied.
Will do. Theora texted. She then touched a button on her keyboard.
"Edison, I'm switching you to Harris," she said. "I just got a call from an informant."
"What about?" Edison inquired.
"It's about a story. I can't go into detail right now. He wants to meet me. I'll call you later with the details."
"Roger that," said Edison. "Keep me posted."