Murder on the Bucket List by Elizabeth Perona

sandwich. Jonathan put the DVD into the player and returned to the love seat, mimicking her position. He aimed the remote at the television. A split screen with four panels, just as they’d seen at Friederich’s shop, filled the display. The top left showed what the camera at the front of the garage had recorded; the top right revealed the back lot; the bottom left held the front of the shop; and the bottom right the back end of the shop. A time stamp had also been embedded in the video display. The date was a week ago Saturday, the fourteenth of July, at eight a.m.
    â€œBased on what you deduced from Jud, I started the copy a week before we think Friederich disappeared,” Jonathan said. “It’s the weekend, and I’m pretty sure Friederich doesn’t work weekends at his regular job. It shouldn’t be long before he gets here.” He crunched on a couple of chips.
    â€œI didn’t know he had a regular job.”
    â€œHe works—worked—for Excalibur Racing as their chief mechanic.”
    There was no activity on three of the split screens. The one at the front of the building showed cars passing by. Jonathan fast-
forwarded.
    â€œWhoa, wait a minute. There’s Friederich,” Francine said.
    Friederich got out of his vintage Corvette in the upper right panel. Jonathan pressed a button and the recording returned to real time. The time stamp showed it was 9:47 a.m. Friederich vanished from the top right and moments later appeared in the lower left as he went into the shop. He transitioned to the lower right, picking up his coveralls from a hook outside the restroom. He went in and emerged shortly afterward in the coveralls. Because the camera had a wide view, Francine couldn’t make out Friederich’s face, but she could tell his full attention was on one of the racing cars on the stands. He worked on the area where the right front tire would be located.
    They watched him work for two or three minutes.
    â€œDo you know what he’s doing?” Francine asked.
    â€œSomething with the shock absorber. Let me speed this up.”
    Friederich worked until about noon, when he received a call on his cell phone. He seemed animated by the call. He went over to a workbench where his tools were stored and organized. Suddenly the entire screen went dark.
    Francine and Jonathan sat up.
    â€œA remote?” Francine asked.
    â€œLet’s watch it again.” He backed the video up to where the call came in and slowed down the action. As Friederich approached the workbench, he picked up something and aimed it at the corner where Larry had hidden the computer that recorded the video input. Almost immediately afterward the darkness hit. The time stamp showed it was three minutes after twelve. Jonathan backed it up one more time, and this time zoomed in on the workbench right as Friederich reached it.
    â€œLook at that,” he said, freezing the action.
    â€œIt is a remote.”
    â€œExactly. We suspected Friederich had one.”
    He stepped through the sequence until the darkness appeared. The time stamp remained. Jonathan sped through the period of no input until the shop appeared again. Friederich placed the remote back on the bench. It was two thirty. He resumed work on the shock.
    â€œIt’s like nothing happened,” Francine said.
    â€œBut something must have, something he didn’t want anyone to see. That’s a two-and-a-half-hour gap.”
    Jonathan sped through until shortly before five, when Friederich wiped his hands on a shop towel and then went to the restroom. He returned with his coveralls in hand. He hung them up, then exited the building. The camera feed remained on. The top right panel showed Friederich as he got in the Corvette and drove away.
    â€œI wonder how long he’s had a remote?” Francine asked.
    â€œWe might be able to answer that by going back further, but we should wait until Larry gets home. I need to get