SCORNED EX WIFE Queen Of Ashes (Camille and Stefan) novel Chapter 155

Special Agent Diana Chen's eyes hurt. They were red and dry from staring at screens all night. Cold coffee cups crowded her desk. She hadn't slept. She couldn't sleep. Not until she found what she needed in the videos from the bombed hotel.

"Play it again," she told the tech guy sitting next to her. Her voice was rough from too much coffee and not enough rest. "Slow it down when it hits 9:42."

The screen flickered as the video went backward. It showed a hallway near the hotel's electrical room. This camera had survived when most others got destroyed in the blast. The time at the bottom showed 9:41 PM. Chen leaned in close. Her whole body tense with hope.

A woman walked into view. She wore a hotel worker's uniform with a cap pulled down to hide her face. She moved like she knew exactly what she was doing. She checked her watch, then looked around to make sure no one saw her. At the electrical panel, she stopped. She took something from her pocket and stuck it to the wall.

"Stop it right there," Chen said, her heart pounding in her chest. "Zoom in on her face."

The tech hit some keys, and the image got bigger. The woman had turned a little toward the camera as she left, giving them a glimpse of her face.

"Make it brighter," Chen said, barely breathing. "And sharpen the contrast."

As the image cleared up, Chen felt a jolt run through her body. Even with the cap and uniform, she knew that face. She'd spent weeks burning it into her memory, studying every line and curve.

Rose Lewis.

"It's her," Chen whispered, then louder, "It's her! We've got her on camera planting the bomb."

The tech nodded. "We have her on other cameras too. Same woman, different bombs."

Chen grabbed her phone and called her partner with shaking hands. "Morgan, it's Chen. We've got her. Clear video of Rose Lewis planting at least four bombs. It's definitely her."

She listened for a moment, then hung up. "Print everything," she told the tech. "I need pictures from every angle. And send me all the video files right now."

Within an hour, Chen stood in the FBI office's meeting room. Pictures from the cameras covered the walls. Agents crowded around as she pointed to the clearest photo, Rose Lewis attaching a bomb to a column near the hotel kitchen.

"This is who did it," Chen said, her voice hard with anger and relief. "Rose Lewis, 28 years old. The adopted sister of Camille Kane. She has a history of twisting the truth and hating both Camille and Victoria Kane."

Agent Morgan stepped up beside her. "We also have Herod Preston's statement linking her to planning the bombing. And we found bomb-making stuff in a storage unit she rented under a fake name."

"So we have why she did it, how she did it, and now proof she did it," the field director summed up. "Where is she now?"