“Just testing the camera to see if it works like it did before. You saw me load it, now I’m going to run through all the frames.” She advanced the film and thrust the camera at him. “Here. You do the honors. Take pictures of whatever you want. We can go down to the park at the end of the block.”
Jim held the camera with his thumbs and first fingers. “It looks old. I don’t know much about cameras. What if I break it?”
“The thing looks like it’s made it through some rough times, I doubt a few pictures in the park will be the end of it.” Jessie slid her seat forward and started the car, pulling out when it was clear.
“Fine.” He turned the camera over. “Do I just push the button here?” Jim held his finger over one of the gadgets on top of the device.
“Yep.” She eased against the curb, stopping the car. “Here we are. Have at it.”
He sighed and exited the car; he had better things to do than take pictures. Hopefully there weren’t many exposures on the film. Might as well get started. The sooner he used it up, the sooner he could get do some more investigating. He had a few of Taylor’s friends he wanted to chat with before flying back to Charleston in the morning. Lifting the camera, he snapped a picture of Jessie as she came around to his side of the car.
He shot photos of trees, the slide, a swing, and even a butterfly that landed on a bench. Jim didn’t want to admit it, but it was kind of fun to try and find something to photograph. The goal was to simply take random pictures just to use up all the frames, but he couldn’t help trying to find interesting subjects. It seemed like such a waste to just point the lens anywhere and click the shutter button.
Jessie followed him, making suggestions, and when she mentioned taking a picture of a wildflower poking through the slats of a boardwalk surrounding the play area, he tried to suppress a grin. If the guys on his team could see him now, lying on his belly trying to get a good picture of a flower.
In fifteen minutes, he had used all the frames and handed the camera back to Jessie. “Well, that was fun,” he said, his voice dry.
She raised an eyebrow, the corner of her mouth quirking. “I think you need to get out more. It seems like you have a natural eye.”
Jim felt his face heat up. “I think you’ll discover differently when the pictures come back. They probably aren’t even in focus.” He sat on a bench, leaning forward with his hands loosely clasped, absently watching a couple of little boys have a sword fight with sticks.
Jessie sat beside him and rewound the film, taking it out when it was complete. She made a show of holding it up for him to see and putting it in the canister. Jim shook his head and hid a smile. Maybe he would buy a decent camera and learn how to use it. It had been fun.
He stood and twisted, getting a kink out of his back. “Now what?”
Jessie handed him the canister. “There. You keep it. I wouldn’t want you thinking I switched rolls somewhere. Maintain the chain of evidence and all.”
Jim rolled his eyes, but took the film. “Fine.”
“Now, we get it developed. I know a place that should be able to do it in a few hours.”
After dropping off the film, Jessie took him back to his hotel and agreed to pick him up after she got off work. They’d go together to get the prints. In his room, he dug out the numbers of Taylor’s friends and tried calling them. None were home, and he left a short message, saying he would get back to them later that day. Then, with nothing to do, he stretched out for a nap. It had been a long day already.
Jessie tapped on the glass counter. Jim felt a surge of apprehension and shook it off. Her nervousness was rubbing off on him. The same guy who had promised to develop the prints earlier came from the back room, a film envelope in his hand.
“Here you go.” He set the envelope down and looked from Jessie to Jim, his face twisted in disgust. “I know it’s police business, but there’s some seriously disturbing pictures in here.” He rang up the purchase. “Don’t you guys normally have your own lab people develop film for you?”
Jessie snatched up the envelope. “Yeah, but like before, this is a special case. We need to keep this quiet. Will that be a problem for you? I suppose we could go elsewhere if we need to…”
“Oh, no ma’am. I can handle it.”
Jim had to hand it to her, she had the young guy puffing up his chest, no doubt feeling important to be part of an ‘investigation’. Amused, he turned to Jessie, about to crack a joke about how awful his photography skills were if the photos scared the poor guy, but he bit the comment back when her face drained. “What?” He circled behind her to see the photo in her hand. “Damn it!”
Jessie swung around, her face twisted in fury. “Doing this to a person is how you keep our country safe?”
Jim snatched the print out of her hand to take a closer look. There was no mistaking what was going on. Taylor lay stretched on his back, cellophane pulled tight around his face except for his nose. A hand, just visible at the top of the picture, held a pitcher of water, the stream shone silvery as it poured onto the cellophane. The man’s eyes were wide with fear and the tendons on his neck stood out as he strained to get away. Sickened, Jim closed his eyes and swallowed.
Jessie glared at him and the guy behind the counter stood mouth agape at her comment. Jim sent him a hard look, then gripped Jessie’s elbow. “Can we take this conversation out to the car?”
She jerked her elbow free and marched ahead of him, slamming the door.
Jim took a deep breath and turned to the guy. “Look, I’m sorry you got involved in this.” Pulling his ID out, he flashed it in the young man’s face. “It’s imperative that you don’t tell anyone about what you’ve seen and heard. Understand?”
He nodded, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed. “Sure. Not a word.”
“Good.” Jim grabbed the envelope of photos, exited the shop, and climbed in the car beside Jessie. The implication of what the photo meant sank in. At first, he had thought it was an old photo of the time they had water-boarded Taylor, but then he recalled that they hadn’t used cellophane. He hated that method, feeling like it was going too far. Bill was a fan of it though. Insisted it was a more compelling technique, very effective on the more reticent prisoners and had produced some actionable intelligence when he had used it on another detainee.
Jessie sat arms crossed, her face a mask of loathing as she watched him. Jim tried to form an explanation but couldn’t come up with one. “I just want you to know that I didn’t order this. I gave explicit instructions that Taylor was to be left alone until I returned.” He wasn’t sure why he wanted the woman to believe him. Even if he had ordered it, he had the authority to do so and didn’t need to explain his decisions to a civilian.
“So, you’re saying that you believe the photos weren’t planted?” Her voice rose, and for the first time, she looked at him like he was human.
Jim shrugged. “I don’t know what the hell is going on with this picture.” He hesitated, not wanting to admit to any of this. “The one time we did that, we used another… method. Maybe it wasn’t us.”
She narrowed her eyes, her tone skeptical. “Not you? What does that mean?”
“Taylor has a couple of agencies questioning him.” He was fairly certain that FBI didn’t waterboard, but sometimes guidelines were…bent. Maybe this was one of those times.
“Do all the others use this method as well?”
He’d hoped she wouldn’t think to ask that question. It was time to end the discussion before it went any farther. “Listen, I can’t discuss this with you.” It was bad enough that he was even here talking to her. He was in line for an official reprimand if his superiors found out he was talking to a civilian about any of this.
She raked him with a scathing glare and then stared out her side window. They sat in tense silence for about five minutes, and he had his hand on the door handle ready to step out, when she turned to lean against the door, tucking one leg up under her. “I’m not exactly sure how it works, but I think the picture comes first, then Mark has the dreams. Maybe it fills in the details.”