“Might I suggest a change of vantage point to someplace more secure?” Tony suggested. “Not that I want to interfere with your creative process but I don’t think our insurance covers injuries that result from deliberately putting yourself in danger because you have a kinky crash test dummy fetish.”
“I need this shot.” She leaned forward and the curtain rod bowed and swayed. “It’ll help me solve the case.”
“Detectives solve cases,” Tony pointed out. “Lawyers litigate them. If we solved all our cases we would have no way to make money.”
“This one needs to be solved.” She snapped a quick picture seconds before the rod broke. Zara lost her balance and fell but managed a save and landed on her feet.
“Nine-point-one for the roundoff finish.” Tony clapped. “The Europeans voted as a bloc so your score is lower than expected.”
She sent them both a look of disapproval. “It would have been a ten if I’d had a little help.”
“I believe in people learning lessons the hard way,” Faroz said. “That’s how I learned not to stick my head in an oven.”
“Really?” Tony gave him a curious look. “I didn’t have to learn that lesson. It was one of those things I just knew. Like don’t run into traffic or drink turpentine.”
“Wish someone woulda told me about the turpentine,” Faroz muttered. “Kept thinking I had indigestion.”
Zara checked her shots and motioned for them to join her at her laptop. She clicked to the pictures of Bob and the zombie bride on the restroom floor.
“What do you see?”
“I see that you’re into porn.” Tony made a tsk tsk sound with his tongue. “To be honest, I would never have thought that about you. But to each her own. However, as managing partner, I feel it necessary to remind you that porn is not permitted in the office.”
Zara tipped her head back and groaned. “This is our client Bob Smith and a woman from the zombie party. The pictures are his proof that someone got a camera into the party past J-Tech’s security.” She held up her phone. “Now, what do you see?”
“I see your dummy is positioned wrong,” Faroz said. “He should be naked, on his front with his head on her—”
“Not that.” Zara shook her head impatiently. “The angle. Where would the person who took the picture have to be standing?” She pulled out a 3-D scale drawing of her office. “I was in the restroom at the party venue a few times. It’s slightly larger than my office. But to get a picture of the dummy from that angle, I would need to be at ceiling height.” She flipped to another screen with pictures of the dummy taken from different angles.
Faroz studied the picture intently. “Maybe he had the camera on a selfie stick. Or he could have blown the pictures up.”
“First of all, ‘he’ would have to be a ‘she’ because they didn’t have gender-neutral restrooms and anyway I’m pretty sure someone would have noticed a nine-foot man standing in the corner. Second”—she flipped back to her pictures—“you can see where I blew these up. The angle still isn’t right.”
“Is this why you haven’t filed a petition yet?” Tony asked. “You don’t think the pictures are real?”
“I do think they’re real, but something doesn’t make sense. I need to visit the venue. It’s all about perspective.”
* * *
• • •
Zara didn’t waste time. Her first order of business when she arrived at the club was to make Faroz pretend to stand in line.
“Jay was here.” She pointed to a spot beside the door. “And Elias was on the other side. They had the metal detector between them, and two guys inside at a table going through purses and bags. Every hour they would switch, and four different guys would take the door.”
Faroz appeared less than impressed. “And I’m standing here . . . why?”
“I want to do a full walk-through as if you were someone trying to sneak in a phone from the line right through the security check.”
Faroz sighed. “I’m no actor. I’ll do the walk, but I won’t talk the talk.”
They inspected every inch of the building, searching for mail slots or places where a person could sneak in a phone. When they’d exhausted every option, they went to the restroom where the picture had been taken.
“Don’t even think of asking me to lie on the floor and pretend to be Bob Smith,” Faroz growled. “It’s filthier than the swamp I had to hide in for three days in Vietnam.” He held out his hand. “I’ll take the pictures. You lie on the floor.”
Zara lay down in Bob’s approximate position while Faroz took pictures from various angles.
“Nope.” He studied the pictures on the phone. “Whoever took the pictures was taller than me.”
“How tall?” She glanced up, past Faroz’s head, and spotted a camera in the corner of the room and gestured for him to look up. “That tall?”
“Yeah.” He nodded. “Something like that.”
With the manager’s assistance, they got the unit down. She recognized the brand right away. “This is the same camera my aunties had.” She looked over at the manager. “Is this the only one?”
“I’ve got them all over the bar and outside, too. I can watch the whole venue through my phone. We’re a national chain with a hundred fifty clubs throughout the U.S. and I’m pretty sure they all use the same cameras. Never heard of any problems with them.”
“Well, you’ve got a problem now.” She handed the camera back to him. “A hacker took control of the camera and posted pictures of what was going on in this restroom online. You could be at risk of a lawsuit, and you may wish to pursue action against the manufacturers of the camera or the hackers when we find them.” She handed him her card. “If you’re interested in joining our class action, just give me a call. And please send my details to your head office if they want more information.”
Almost giddy with excitement, she threw her arms around Faroz as soon as they were outside and gave him a hug. “Do you think you can find the hacker and find out who posted those pictures online?”
“I’ve got a contact in the FBI. Pretty sure he’ll be able to help me out.”
“You know what this means, Faroz?”
“No, but I’m sure you’re gonna tell me.” He gently loosened her grip and stepped away, putting a few feet between them.
“It means J-Tech wasn’t negligent. It means I could have another client for my class action against the manufacturer of the cameras. It means justice for Bob.” She clapped her hands together. “It couldn’t be more perfect. Jay will never know there was a lawsuit pending against his company. Now I just have to figure out how to make things right when I see him at the wedding tomorrow.”