Ignoring Rossi, Cooper turned his chair to face her and took her hands in his. “Listen to me, Kendall. We’re going to find her.”
“Promise?” She lifted her gaze to his, searching for the assurance she needed from him.
“You have my word.” Keeping her hands in his, he glanced up at the detective. “What do you know so far?”
“We’re looking for a fat man driving a white van with an unreadable license plate. That’s about it right now. The video’s too grainy to see his face clearly, but we’re running it throughour facial recognition program in the hopes we can get a match. I’m not too hopeful.”
“Did you see how fast he moved? He’s not fat. He’s wearing padding. Watch it again and see how thin his face is. Also, if he was that heavy, he should have a double chin. It’s unfortunate the video probably isn’t distinct enough for facial recognition to make a match. I think when you do find the van that he’s already ditched, you’ll probably find that it’s stolen.”
“How do you know all that?” she asked.
“It’s what I do, and I’m good.”
All she could think was thank God she’d called him.
“I want to watch it again, but I think maybe you’d rather not?”
She pushed away from the desk. “I can’t.”
“We have a break room if you want to wait in there,” Detective Rossi said. “There’s coffee if you want some. Not that I recommend it. There’s also a coffee shop next door.”
“I’ll wait in the break room.”
“Down the hall, second door on the left.”
Cooper touched her arm. “I’ll come get you as soon as we’re done here.”
“Take as long as you need. All that’s important is finding Livie.”
Nothing else mattered. Not a damn thing.
Chapter 6
“You shouldn’t have brought her here,” Rossi said. “She didn’t need to see that.”
“It was her choice, and she said she needed to see it. She’s stronger than you seem to think.”
“She cried. I don’t call that strong.”
“That’s our daughter on that video. I almost cried myself. Crying when your heart is being ripped out of your chest has no bearing on how strong a person is.” Cooper backed the video up to where Amanda and Livie were coming out of the store. “Have you had any reports of a stolen van?” he asked when he finished watching the video for a second time.
“We have a BOLO out. It’s unfortunate the camera didn’t pick up the license plate, but there was a dent above the rear tire and the left taillight was broken, so that’s helpful.”
“I noticed that.” He tapped the screen. “I’m betting this is the man who talked to Olivia in the grocery store, so you need to get that video from them. We might be able to get a better description of him.” Amanda had said he wore glasses, but he didn’t have any on when he took Livie.
“How do you know that?”
“Amanda Eckerd told me.”
“She didn’t tell me that.”
“You didn’t ask the right questions.” He wasn’t trying to antagonize the detective, but he was losing patience with the man. If Kendall hadn’t called him, she would be dealing with thisalone, and he didn’t even want to think how much harder this would have been for her.
“She should have told me about the man.”
Maybe so, but Amanda hadn’t realized the encounter might be important. “It would be too traumatizing for Ms. Eckerd to watch this video, but let’s make a photo of the man to show her. See if it triggers anything else she can remember about him.”
“We can do that. I’ll run by her house this afternoon.”