We ordered chicken soup as a late lunch and then I let Sophie lay on my bed and watch TV while calling Frost. He hadn't been able to locate the actual location of Mauas phone but he could tell me that it had last pinged at her home approximately half an hour after I had left her house.
My mind went to the redhaired and I wondered if I was happy to blame her because of the stupid grin and her being unsympathetic or if there was a real chance that she had something to do with Mauras disappearance.
Aside from the fact that it didn't look like as if she would leave Maura so easily, I found it somehow suspicious that she too was gone. Maybe she had been abducted with Maura? There were so many possibilities.
My eyes darted through the windows to make sure that Sophie couldn't hear me talking to Frost. I thought that my position on the balcony was safe enough and told him about Belinda. He immediately agreed on running a background check on Mauras ex.
With nothing else to do, I joined Sophie for a Disney movie, praying for the best. The most frustrating thing was that I had no means to reach the Messenger.
The lack of sleep from the previous nights' caught up on me and I almost fell asleep despite worrying about Mauras well-being. But Sophie snuggling deep into my arms didn't exactly help me to stay awake.
When I awoke half an hour later, I felt torn. I had the feeling that I should be out there, looking for Maura. Yet I knew that it made no sense. The city was huge, and she could be hidden anywhere. Besides, I knew that she would want me to make sure that Sophie was okay and safe, so I stayed with the girl.
The chief of the crime techs called when they were about to finish and we took another Uber to go back to Mauras place. I had tricked Sophie into believing that this was an adventure and as much as I wanted her to still believe it, I wanted to return to Mauras home in case she showed up. I still wanted to believe that she was okay and safe, but I knew deep in my gut that she was not. Some sick pervert had made her part of the game and I hoped to find any clue at her place.
Two hours later I was sitting on Sophies bed with Mauras laptop in my lap. The girl had fallen asleep again after making me read her a good night story. She had surprised me by reading part of the story herself and I couldn't remember when I had started to read, but it definitively hadn't been at that young age. It was hard to believe that Sophie had been adopted because she painfully reminded me of Maura.
I assumed that I wasn't that bad as babysitter as the girl hadn't wined or cried so far. There had been no foot stomping or fights.
Meanwhile, Frost had managed to find out Mauras passport and I felt yet again like an intruder as I silently clicked through Mauras private and work files.
I scanned her emails while sipping some juice. M body was desperately craving some beer, but I was responsible for the tiny human being next to me now and taking the task seriously was the least I could do I thought.
There was nothing that triggered my interest on first sight. No threatening messages, neither among the private nor the workrelated mails. Maura had only few private mails in general. Most of them were from Belinda and I reluctantly began to read through their conversations while feeling like a thief who stole Mauras privacy. There was Many emails from the early stages of their relationship which Maura might have kept for sentimental reasons. Reading through them I got a deeper feeling for both of them and their relationship. Maura had met Belinda on a dating platform. The first emails had been the typical romantic flirting mails. The tone changed over time and the further I came to the present time I could see how Belinda had pressured Maura into doing what she wanted her to do. The narcistic traits became obvious and the last mails alternated between accusations to make Maura feel guilty and playing the victim to make Maura feel sorry.
God, I hated that woman I thought. And I hated her even more when I checked the files containing pictures of them. Family pictures that displayed the same change in the relationship. Mauras unhappy face almost broke my heart. I could only imagine the fight she had undergone to free herself from the toxic and abusive relationship.
Sophie stirred slightly in her sleep, and I felt her move closer. I leant my back against the pillow and sighed. Frost was also checking the computer and I was curious if he would come up with a lead. I wanted to know stuff like when the computer had last been used before I had touched it. What searches had been conducted. Belinda might have had the password or not. It wouldn't be the first time that a perp had logged himself into th computer of their victim.
The perp wanted me to find her and was giving me no clues. He was smart, but I had to be smarter. I could do that right?
I also wanted to know if there was someone else to notify about Mauras disappearance. My phone rang and I untangled myself from Sophies tiny body to go to the hallway to talk. I kept my eyes on the girl while picking up. Gabriel greeted me in a cheerful voice. Of course, it had been only a matter of time until the feds would come in. And it was typical that it was after someone else had discovered a series of related crimes.
As you can tell, my opinion about them isn't the best. No wonder. They moved in when a case had been established. They mettled and brought chaos and when they left, they felt like heroes acting as if they had saved the world when the local authorities had been the true heroes.
After politely telling him to fuck off I walked back into the room, hoping for a detailed analysis from Frost. I decided to close the lid of the laptop when I found the icon of an app that I hadn't seen before.
Frost called before I could call him.
"Someone just remotely accessed her computer." He sounded breathless.
"Did he install an app?" I asked and he confirmed my assumption.
"I tried to track him or her down, but he or she is a pro. They know how to hide their IP address." Frost explained.
"What will happen if I open the app?" I asked, my fingers already hovering over the left mouse button.
"I don't know, but I made a copy of Mauras files. So, feel free to try." He replied and I silently prayed for a good outcome to this before clicking to open the app. The same person that had hacked into the screen during the first dinner at the conference appeared. I couldn't recognize it by the face but by the voice. He was still wearing a mask that showed a grin.
"Hello detective, It's nice to see you again. Shouldn't you be out, looking for your girlfriend?" his tone was mocking and for the second time of the day I wanted to punch a person.
"She's not my girlfriend." I replied in a calm voice.
"Oh shame, you would make a great couple. And didn't you share a hotel room? I assumed that you were lovers."
So, he had been there and spied on us I mused. Could have been a participant or someone who was working for the hotel. I typed Frost to check if anyone had recently left the staff and he texted me back that there were some who had been hired only for the duration of the conference.
It was frustrating. It really looked as if every lead led to nowhere. Frost added a keep talking gesture emoji and I did.
"Why are you doing this?" I asked and heard a gruesome chuckle that made me happy that I had chosen to use an earpiece for this conversation. Sophie was a good sleeper, but still… I only had one earpiece though to make sure to hear if someone was attempting a break in. I really wished that I had a gun now.
"It's a game Jane. And people play games because its fun." The man replied with a mocking undertone.
"Oh, and here I was thinking that you did this because you needed it to feel important and powerful." Jane dared to mock him back. Something told her that he wouldn't harm Maura because he was a controlfreak and he was able to control himself. At least so far. She was sure that he had a plan. Killing Maura wouldn't help his purposes no matter what they were.
She hoped that Frost would be able to work his magic and find the asshole.
And then she heard it, this faint honking horn in the background that was distinctive for some railway or ship. A signal that could tell them were the perp was calling from. And with a little bit of luck, Maura would be with him.
I was sure that I wouldn't have heard it if it hadn't been for the earplug.
"I want to see her and I want to see that she is still alive and hopefully for you also still well." I demanded in a firm voice after he wouldn't reply to my last comment.
He huffed but then pushed a button on his keyboard and my heart dropped when I saw how Maura was blindfolded and laying on a bed with dirty sheets. At least she was alive.
My phone pinged and I read Frosts message: he is calling from Mauras IP. I froze before thinking about the honking horn which I had only heard over my earplug, not in the surrounding.
I paused, fighting my reflex to flight while trying not to show that I had received some news that scared the shit out of me. What if he was really sitting in the same house? Stranger things had happened I thought. Why on earth didn't I have a weapon?
"Is this picture shocking you?" the mocking voice reached my ear. I hadn't been able to hide my shock, but he had misinterpreted.
"Find her!" he said before the app shut down. I hitched a breath and listened into the house which lay in complete silence. Maybe it was too silent I thought while checking my surrounding for any sort of weapon.
A loud thud from somewhere downstairs made my heart stop beating for a moment. I grabbed the lamp from the nightstand and my phone and texted Frost to call the police while I moved a chair under the doorknob to block the way into the room.