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“What’s Play4U?” Marc interrupts.
“An adult website where customers can pay U-tokens to have content creators act out their fantasies,” Sharpe says. “Like interactive porn.”
Marc and I both turn to stare at him, and Meredith raises her pencil-thin eyebrows.
“What?” Sharpe slumps lower in his seat. “I worked a case for one of the creators who had a stalker.”
“Uh huh,” I say.
“Riiiiiight,” Marc drawls.
“Anyway…” Meredith projects a profile of the adult website onto the wall. “This is Vicki’s page. I wasn’t sure it was relevant, since we already crossed Lust and Greed off the list, but I kept my bots working on it. It turns out Vicki had an online beef with another of the creators.”
“What kind of beef?” I sip the fresh coffee and warmth spreads through me.
“Vicki had a rival on the site named Truly Trixi, who was copying her content and style.” Meredith’s fingers fly over the keyboard as she opens another profile next to Vicki’s. “See how similar their videos are?”
As Meredith scrolls through the list of videos, it’s impossible not to see how the titles and thumbnails look the same, in the same order, with Trixi’s going up right after Vicki posted new content.
Truly Trixi was imitating Vicki, though she wasn’t getting nearly as many tokens.
Trixi had mirrored Vicki’s appearance with eerie success, too. If I had passed Trixi on the street, I might have mistaken her for the other woman.
Sharpe’s grip on my thigh tightens. “Are we thinking Envy?”
“It fits. I sent her a direct message through an account I set up with the site, but she hasn’t responded.” Meredith scrolls back up to the top. “And look when their last videos went up. Trixi hasn’t posted since Vicki’s death.”
“She lost the person she was copying.” I drum my fingers on the table. “It’s a good lead. Do you have an address?”
Meredith ducks back behind her monitors. “I’ve been trying to crack the user database of Play4U, but their security is tight. In the meantime, I have my bots crawling through Vicki’s text messages.”
“While you work that angle, send us the suspect pool for Pride.” I take a tablet from the stack in front of me. “We can split them up and make a priority list.”
“Info is on its way.” A moment later, notifications rise from all the tablets in the room.
Sharpe reaches out to grab one, but when Marc does, too, I elbow him back into his seat. “If you won’t go back to the Harbor, then take a nap here. If anything comes up, we’ll let you know.”
He grumbles but slouches down in his chair and props his feet up on the table. Within seconds of his eyes closing, his breathing evens out. I’ve always envied his ability to fall asleep anywhere and wake up with a clear mind.
I lean over to Sharpe, and we silently divide the potential victim list up between us before settling in for a long slog through the data.
I’m on my third carafe of coffee when Meredith pops back up from behind her monitors. “I have something!”
Marc’s quiet snore cuts off, and his feet drop back to the floor as he straightens in his chair.
I fill a fresh mug for him and bring it back to the table, setting it in front of him. “Did Trixi message back?”
“No, but I have something almost as good.” Meredith bounces in place. “My bots dug up a thread where Truly Trixi texted Vicki’s private cell phone, claiming to also be Reverend Shawe’s daughter and Vicki’s half-sister.”
“Are you serious?” Marc shakes his head. “How many kids did that man hide?”
Meredith nods eagerly. “She apparently took a DNA test and found the link. Not only that, but she mentioned living in Clearhelm and wanting to meet up with Vicki.”
“So she wasn’t completely pretending to look like Vicki.” I shake my head. “Finding out they were related must have been a huge shock.”
“I don’t suppose she gave Vicki her home address?” Marc raises an eyebrow. “Just to make our lives easier?”
“Not exactly.” Meredith grins. “But she sent Vicki her real name, which is Tammy Holden, and a copy of her DNA results as proof.”
