Hey friends! A little shorty as the work week begins again- or for some of us, me included, continues. May you all have a wonderful New Year. Thanks for the love and support.

They searched the nearby buildings until nightfall, finding no trace of their illusive killer.

The interview with the two teenagers who had discovered the body was nondescript, offering little but an additional piece to their timeline of when the body had been moved and how long it might have been exposed to the elements.

Despite their lengthy review of the murder scene and everything surrounding it, the crowd of onlookers never left. If anything, they were joined by an equally strong army of news vans filled with nosy reporters and intrusive cameramen trying to catch a glimpse.

For that very reason, the body had been moved to the morgue as soon as possible, hoping that Perlmutter would be able to give them additional details by morning, if not later that night.

The last thing on Ryan's list had been the electronics store that might offer them a glimpse of the killer's vehicle- if not even the killer himself.

Joined by his partner, the young detective strolled down half a block until he found Hardy's Electronics, the dated place with the small window out front barely recognizable around the blocks of residential buildings that were lining the streets.

His gaze moved to the area above the door, not seeing a camera. The same held true for the corner that the building was located on. Trying not to let the lack of surveillance discourage him, he looked over at Javi, surprised when the older detective seemed distracted, his eyes aimlessly travelling up and down the street, his strong jaws clenched.

"Everything ok?"

The genial question seemed to rip him out of his daydreams and Esposito nodded sheepishly, then looked down at his silver wristwatch, before sighing quietly.

"Yeah. You?"

"Oh, I am fine. Yeah.", Ryan replied hesitantly, not liking his partner's strange behavior, "You got…you got any plans or something? We're almost done here."

"No.", Esposito said too fast, then sped up enough to open the door to the electronics' shop for him, avoiding all eye contact.

Making a mental note to investigate his concerns at a later date, Ryan entered the cluttered store, immediately taking in the scent of stale air, old carpeting and warm electronics.

A few minutes before closing time, he'd expected the owner to be near the cash register, eagerly awaiting the end to his workday. Instead, a small door behind the unmanned check-in table was open, leading to what he assumed to be the repair shop.

When the shrill bell above the entrance door didn't alert the owner of their presence, Ryan cleared his throat awkwardly.

The noise was enough to stop the clinking of tools in the other room, followed by the squeaking of an exhausted chair as its occupant got up and slowly meandered toward them.

It took all of Ryan's willpower to keep his expression guarded when the man finally came into sight, having to squeeze his massive body sideways through the door in order to reach the counter. Breathing heavily and with his white shirt stained from sweat on his chest and underarms, he eyed both detectives skeptically, less than excited about the visitors.

"You don't look like customers.", he grunted indifferently, then nodded in confirmation when he saw Esposito's badge beneath his half opened leather jacket, "That figures. What do you folks want now?"

Not waiting for his partner to reply, Ryan pointed his chin at the small video camera near the door, recording all the comings and goings inside the small store.

"We were wondering if you have cameras set up outside that watch the sidewalks and the road, Mister…"

"Callahan.", the large man replied, then frowned, "What is this all about?"

"An ongoing investigation.", Esposito cut in, narrowing his eyes to discourage any more question regarding their gruesome case.

"Well…I do, but I don't. I have one set up here by my window. The ones outside got stolen or damaged one too many times."

With a theatric sigh, the man scooted past them, narrowly pushing a small radio off the counter as he headed toward the front of the store that was chaotic mess of TV sets dating from the late 70's to the newest on the market.

Wrinkling his nose at the smell of body odor that followed the owner around, Kevin caught Esposito check his watch once again.

"What?" he whispered, only to receive a nervous headshake in return.

Before he could resume his interrogation, the owner returned with a small video tape, holding it up victoriously as he pushed past the detectives once more and walked behind the counter, where a 13" TV summed up his surveillance equipment.

"What…ehm…timeframe are we looking at, gentlemen?"

"Last night. Between…let's do 8:30pm to 9:30pm."

Despite the off-putting odor, Ryan stepped closer to the small TV screen, waiting for the owner to insert the tape, then rewind back to the previous evening. The age of the camera as well as the TV did little to aid their efforts and he strained his eyes to make out the grainy images of cars and pedestrians moving by.

The lens barely captured the opposite lane of traffic and none of the sidewalk, sometimes blanking out altogether when too much traffic obscured the scene.

With Esposito flanking him on the right, they peeked over the owner's shoulder as 9pm approached.

"We're looking for a dark sedan, possibly black…", he said more to himself than his audience as they watched on.

The light changing a block further down the road brought several cars across the lens, none of them matching what little description they had been given.

Ryan was about to check the time in the top right-hand corner of the screen when he saw the hood of a black sedan appear in the video feed. Much farther behind the initial group, this vehicle was traveling slow, intentionally falling back from the herd.

Next to him, he could hear Esposito draw in a deep breath; ready to say what they were both thinking when the screen went completely blank, obscuring all but the front of the vehicle before losing signal.

Ryan looked up at the timer intuitively, seeing that the camera was still running even though the image disappeared. Then, after ten agonizing seconds, the signal returned, showing a barely travelled road and no sign of their car.

With a weary sigh, he looked over at his partner, rolling his eyes at the technical difficulty that happened at the least convenient time.

"The store clerk said she thinks he embodies evil…and evil can accomplish all kinds of crazy things…", Esposito mumbled and shook his head in frustration, "Maybe we've met the devil himself."