Now that we know the missing surveillance tapes exist, it's time to produce them.

Police have 18 hours of parking garage surveillance videotape generated on the night Rep. Jim Gibbons was alleged to have briefly held a local cocktail waitress against her will, an attorney for the owner of Hughes Center confirmed Saturday.

The tapes are compelling for what they don't show, a reliable source speaking on the condition of anonymity said Saturday: Neither Gibbons nor his accuser, Chrissy Mazzeo, is captured on camera.

"The tapes in question are in the possession of Metro," said attorney Kirk Lenhard, who represents Crescent Properties, owners of the high-rise business complex.

The absence of available security video complicated the abbreviated police investigation, fueled a theory of a Metro cover-up and added mystery to the story of what, if anything, happened between Republican gubernatorial candidate Gibbons and Mazzeo near McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurant on a rainy Friday the 13th.

Lenhard, senior litigation counsel at the Jones Vargas law firm, said he had not viewed the tape and did not want to offer a secondhand account of its contents, but he added that he hoped "Metro would produce the tape."

That sentiment was echoed by Gibbons' attorney, Donald Campbell.

"On Monday morning, I intend to file an emergency motion to compel the Metropolitan Police Department to produce 18 hours of videotape in their possession," Campbell said.

"I have been in contact with Crescent Properties and have confirmed that Crescent has in fact recently, within the last couple of days, turned over multiple videotapes of the evening of October 13th regarding all areas of the garage where Miss Mazzeo says she and Congressman Gibbons were together. Specifically: at the landing of the steps in the interior of the parking garage, where the video camera is located, the front of the elevator where the video camera is located, and the interior where the video camera is located."

Contacted Saturday, Sheriff Bill Young declined to comment on the tape's existence or whether it was in possession of his department. In a Thursday news conference, Young said Metro would pick up its investigation only if Mazzeo signed a complaint against Gibbons. District Attorney David Roger said his office would have no case until a police investigation was completed.

The tapes came into Metro's possession sometime Thursday, a source with knowledge of their chain of custody said.

As of Saturday evening, Mazzeo had not made her complaint official. In her own news conference last week, her attorney, Richard Wright, said Mazzeo was willing to take a lie detector test.

Informed of the tapes' existence, Wright said, "I'm ecstatic -- if it's the correct tapes for the correct time, unaltered, on the correct date at the correct location. Because of the mystery that's surrounding them, first they didn't exist, now they do exist, I'm guardedly optimistic, let's put it that way."

Mazzeo has made police and public statements that the incident occurred a short distance from the security camera. Gibbons has made consistent denials that anything untoward happened after he waited out a rainstorm at a table in the McCormick & Schmick's bar in the presence of his political adviser, Sig Rogich, and four women, including Mazzeo.

Mazzeo just as consistently has insisted that Gibbons briefly restrained her by the arms and pushed her up against the wall of the garage in apparent view of the camera. She said Gibbons was so forceful that she believed she was going to be raped.

Mazzeo "alleged she was battered by Jim Gibbons in the parking structure next to McCormick and Schmick's Seafood Restaurant," according to a police report recounting the woman's version of events.

"They walked to the north parking structure, where Gibbons said that his vehicle was parked, and when they entered the parking structure, Mazzeo states that Gibbons grabbed her with both hands on top of her arms and said, 'You have two choices,'" the police report states.

But two credible sources said the videotape appears to refute Mazzeo's claim.

Complicating the issue is the fact that initial reports indicated a parking garage security employee told police investigators that the security cameras were working but no tape existed. Lenhard said that account wasn't accurate.

Crescent spokeswoman Jennifer Terrell said, "We cooperate fully with the local authorities. In this case, we turned over the tape as soon as it was requested by the authorities."

She directed all further questions to Metro.

Here's what I've learned: The tapes never left the possession of the Hughes Center security office and had remained locked in a safe on the premises since shortly after police began their abbreviated investigation of the alleged incident.

An unidentified employee removed the tape, placed it in the safe and remained silent about its existence until it became evident that failing to produce it could be considered concealing evidence and obstructing a police investigation.

In multiple interviews with police, Mazzeo's story remained consistent.

"And soon as we walked downstairs, it was right in front of the elevator, because I remember the staircase," she told one Metro interviewer.

"In the parking garage?" she was asked.

"Yep," she replied. "I remember the staircase. We walked down there, and then that's when he grabbed my, my arms, the top of my arms."

Gibbons has denied all that. Campbell said the tapes will prove it.

"I will further state that my client has contended all along that he was not even in this garage, let alone did he ever grab miss Mazzeo and throw her up against a wall, or in any way act inappropriately," Campbell said. "I have every confidence -- based on Congressman Gibbons' 62-year record as a veteran, political leader and family man -- that this tape will exonerate him just as he has said repeatedly."

Whether the story has sunk Gibbons' gubernatorial bid remains to be seen. The tapes undoubtedly will fuel growing conspiracy theories, but the videos should be made public before Election Day. Accuser and accused deserve nothing less.

Once they're made public, we'll find out whether this is the beginning of the end of the biggest story of Campaign '06.

John L. Smith's column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. E-mail him at Smith@reviewjournal.com or call 383-0295.