The Maid's Diary(70)
Benoit says, “Vanessa and Haruto North so far appear to have no direct involvement, since they are out of the country, but it is their house, and Darling is their maid. What we do have is a direct link between the Rittenbergs, the crime scene at the Glass House, and Kit Darling. What we need is motive. Opportunity. Means. We need that rug. We need that Subaru Crosstrek. We need DNA from both Rittenbergs to definitively place them inside the house. And we need to search Rose Cottage and impound and search that Audi. Our goal is to find additional evidence that will secure us those warrants.”
“What about the mystery pregnant woman that Beulah Brown thought was Vanessa North? And the woman who visits the Pi Bistro with Daisy Rittenberg who Binty believes is Vanessa North?” asks Jack. “And the woman Daisy Rittenberg says invited them for dinner at the Glass House?”
“We’ll show Ty Binty Vanessa North’s photo today,” Mal says. “And see what he says. We’ll also take her photo to the yoga studio, and we’ll bring both Daisy and Jon Rittenberg in for further questioning.”
“His Audi is full of mud,” says Arnav. “The mud could come from a dump site. It was raining heavily that night.”
“Right,” Mal says. “We’ll keep scouring cam footage to see if we can pick it up along Marine. And we’ll also need to secure warrants to access Darling’s phone and financial records. Her recent financial transactions, who she called or texted, who contacted her—it will all give a clearer picture of her movements leading up to the violent event. We also need to keep eyes on socials.”
Mal checks tasks and questions off on her fingers. “Do the Rittenbergs have social media profiles? We know Darling runs an Instagram account using the handle @foxandcrow. What has she posted there? Does she have any other accounts in her own name? We need history going back to her ski resort days. Her friend, Boon-mee Saelim, spoke of a traumatic event in her past that caused Darling to drop out of school and leave town. What was that event? We need to locate her diary. We also need to delve into the Rittenbergs’ backgrounds. Jon Rittenberg was on the national ski team. The ski team has a lodge and trained in the town where Darling grew up. There’s potential for crossover there.”
As Mal assigns tasks, there is a sharp knock on the door. They all look up as a uniformed officer enters. His eyes are bright.
“We’ve got ’em!” he says. “We found the two vehicles on CCTV footage. The Subaru and the Audi.”
Tension ripples through the room.
“Can you bring it up on this monitor?” asks Benoit.
Within minutes they are gathered around the table, leaning forward in silence as they study the grainy CCTV footage.
“See here.” The officer points. “A Subaru Crosstrek and an Audi S6 sedan are captured exiting Marine Drive. And on this cam, where they’re heading into the North Vancouver industrial area. And over here we pick them up again outside the ADMAC construction site on the water. The area is fenced off for the redevelopment of the abandoned grain silos and old dockyard. We approached ADMAC, and they have security cameras on site. They gave us access.” He hits a key.
They watch the Audi S6 sedan and Subaru Crosstrek traversing the area in front of the grain silos.
“Another ADMAC cam picks them up again there.” He points. “Crossing the railway tracks heading toward the water.” They watch as the two vehicles, one behind the other, cross the tracks and move away from the camera. The vehicles bump along what appears to be a potholed and muddy track parallel to the shore. They disappear from camera range. The weather is foggy. Wet. It’s dark.
“Unfortunately the cam trained on the dock is out of order. But seventeen minutes later, here the Audi is, returning. It crosses in front of the silos here”—the officer points—“then exits the ADMAC site there, and heads back up to Marine. We pick it up again crossing the Lions Gate Bridge.”
“Possibly going home to Point Grey,” Benoit says.
“What about the Subaru—any footage of the Subaru exiting the site?” Lula asks.
“Negative. The Subaru never came out. We sent officers to the site. We just got a call from them. There are three fairly fresh sets of tire tracks. Tracks matching standard-issue Subaru tires go straight to the dock. There are signs the vehicle went right over into the water. Two sets of footprints around the area. Also drag marks through mud. As though something heavy was pulled to the edge of the dock.”
“I think we found our dump site,” Mal says quietly.
The mood in the room shifts.
Benoit says, “The Audi is the same S6 model as the sedan parked outside Rose Cottage.”
Mal clicks the back of her pen, in out, in out. “We need samples of the mud on Rittenberg’s tires. Can you zoom in on the Subaru and Audi registrations as they enter the ADMAC site?”
“We managed to enhance the Subaru plates. It’s registered to Katarina Darling. But mud obscures the Audi plates.”
“You said three sets of tire tracks,” Mal says.
He smiles and pulls up different footage. “This is shot from the cam up on the bridge—the so-called jumpers cam. It captures some of the area below the bridge. Watch this—it occurs eleven minutes before we see the Audi and Subaru arrive at the ADMAC site.” He hits PLAY.
They watch in silence as a large luxury sedan drives along the water, approaching the bridge, then disappears under it.