Matt's POV

"So what now?" Near questioned from his place on one of the dusty motel beds.

I paused in taping up the newspaper clippings and things we'd printed off the internet about the case onto the wall and turned to Near. He had one leg pulled up to his chest.

"Now we start thinking like Gia."

The hotel room we'd rented was at the end of the hall on the bottom floor of a rundown motel. It was a small two bed suite with a dirt old couch on the other side of the wall by the bathroom. It didn't matter that it was probably one of the worst looking motels I had ever been in, we wouldn't be here for every long. We just had to solve enough of the case to catch up to Gia.

"Okay, I got the map." Mello slammed the door behind himself.

I took the map of Viborg and taped it up next to a picture of Gia. "Pins?" I asked.

Mello handed me the pushpins we used on cases and I opened it up. I stuck them in to different spaces on the map based on a color code Mello and I had developed on our first case. When I finished, Mello looked it over and nodded.

"What is that?"

"It's a map, stupid." Mello snapped at Near.

Near frowned deeply. "I know it's a map. I meant what do the colors mean?"

I hopped up on the desk by the map and pointed. "Blue pins are abduction sights, white ones are where the bodies were found, and yellow is where all the motels and hotels are in the area."

"What about the red one?" Near questioned.

I sighed, "That's where Mom and Dad are."

Gia's POV

"Damn." I muttered under my breath as ACCESS DENIED flashed on the screen once again.

If I couldn't hack into the stupid police files this entire trip would be for nothing. I tried it once again. Once more the bright red letters flashed across the screen. I pulled at my hair and scrunched up my face. Matt always made hacking look so easy. I started up again when my keyboard was taken over by a shadow.

"Having trouble?"

I turned quickly to find a boy about my age looking down at me through thick framed glasses. His blond hair fell over his forehead in tuffs. It was messy and looked like it would annoyingly fall into his eyes. He looked like he had Near's build, but was about Matt's height. His shirt was a bit baggy on him and his jeans didn't fit quite right, but a belt had fixed that problem. An old, grey zip up jacket was the only real thing protecting him from the chill of the library. I clicked my tongue and turned from him. I typed at my computer once more.

"No."

The boy fell into the chair beside me and watched as the letters popped up once more. I could feel him judging me.

"I can help with that."

"I don't need help."

ACCESS DENIED

"You look like you need help."

"Well, I don't. You can leave now."

The boy stopped talking, instead he leaned back in the chair and watched me type in a few more codes, each of them yielding the same results. He sighed allowed. He sounded almost bored.

"Can I help you with something?" I questioned, annoyed that he was still here.

He rolled his eyes, "No, but I can help you. You're making rookie mistakes."

I turned from him and typed in more codes. "I can figure it out."

He made some noise of disbelief and fixed his glasses. "You think you're some kind of genius, don't you?"

"I don't think anything. I'm well aware I'm a genius." I didn't look at him as I typed.

The letters flashed once again and the boy sighed aloud once more. His rough looking hands took the keyboard from me and turned the monitor to face him. I didn't even have time to protest before the computer beeped three times.

"There you're in." He looked over the screen and frowned. "Hacking into the police database to look at a case like this." He looked to me. "What's a pretty girl like you want with this?"

I turned the screen to myself and sent the police files to the printer. "I've got a personal interest in the case."

The boy followed me and leaned on the printer. "I'm Emil Anderson, by the way."

He held his hand out to me. I took it, shook it once and then wiped my hand on my jeans. "Gia."

He raised his eyebrows. "Do you have a last name?"

"Of course I do."

"Do you want to tell me what it is?"

"Absolutely not."

A smirk met his lips. "Your mysterious. I like that."

I finally met his gaze. "Emil Anderson, I have a case to solve. If you could please take whatever you're trying to do somewhere else it would be greatly appreciated."

He looked a bit taken aback as he fixed his glasses. I grabbed the papers off the printer. I walked back to my computer, laid the papers face down beside it, and started logging out of everything. As soon as the computer was shut down, I pulled an empty folder out of my backpack and deposited the papers inside.

"You know you could say thank you for hacking that system for you." Emil's voice broke through the silence.

"Are you still here?" I asked putting the folder back into my bag and zipping it up.

I pulled my bag onto my shoulder and turned to him. His brow was furrowed and his cheeks puffed out. He looked like a small child about to throw a temper tantrum. He crossed his arms over his chest and looked at the computer and then to me.

"Fine. Thank you, Anderson for hacking into the database. I could certainly have done it without you. Now, if you'll excuse me I have a case to solve."

I started to walk away when I felt a hand grab my backpack. I turned to face him again. His glasses had fallen slightly askew. I raised my eyebrows slightly. He let me go and fixed his glasses. He tugged his jacket closer.

"I could help you. With the case I mean. It looks like you could use some help."

I bit the inside of my cheek. "No."

"Okay, well." He scribbled something down on a piece of paper meant to write down the letters from the library catalog to help find the book. "Give me a call if you need anything. I can tell you're not from around here."

I looked at the paper and pushed it into the pocket. "What gave it away?"

"The accent. I'll see you around, Gia." Emil smiled like he knew something I didn't and I rolled my eyes.

"I sure as hell hope not."