JEEZ, but getting this bit of connective working was a royal pain. But I can start stitching it together now. Huzzah!
Domaine didn’t initiate contact often, which was one reason why Tobias took the call during dinner. The other reason was… dinner. You could still grow potatoes, but the only seasoning left was salt. Tobias had read once that you could survive for good while on a diet of potatoes and skim milk. He just wasn’t sure why anybody would want to.
“What’s up, Domaine? It’s dinnertime.”
“Oh, I’m so terribly sorry, sir! But I’ve discovered something. I thought you should hear about it right away, sir.”
Tobias quirked an eyebrow at that: Domaine usually wasn’t so… solicitous? He must have been worried about the investigation not going anywhere. “All right, Domaine: let’s hear it.”
“I found video evidence of Catherine Miller near the room where Corporeal Oates’ remains were found. And she was pushing a cart at the time. One big enough for a body.”
That was enough to make Tobias completely forget his dinner. “Wait, what? Video evidence? The surveillance camera network is down.”
“They are, sir. But there are other networks.” Now Domaine was sounding smug. “I remembered that the pest control system used motion-activated cameras. The individual cameras stored any footage until their memory filled up, and then download it to a central database. Only…”
“Only we shut down pest control when it turned that all you needed to keep the rat population down was enough people desperate for animal protein,” Tobias finished for him.