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“Yeah, we can take it down,” Quinn murmured. He didn’t sound thrilled about it, as if he wanted more data still. “I’m doing it now.”
In the background, he could hear the clatter of keys as Quinn worked. Sven turned and started to pace, but stopped after one step when the charging cable nearly tugged the phone from his hands. Tamping down his frustration, he turned back to the counter and leaned forward so he could put both his elbows on the granite. He wanted to poke his head into Geoffrey’s office and check on him, but he couldn’t unplug his phone yet. The battery had been nearly dead when Quinn called.
“What about the video itself?” he asked. “I know he fucked with it so you couldn’t see his hand clearly.” Sven stopped and swallowed hard against the knot that grew in his throat. Just remembering that fucking hand that reached out and touched Geoffrey, that anyone had touched Geoffrey against his will, made him want to rip this person apart. “He altered his voice,” he continued, ignoring the roughness in his own words. “Can you get anything from the video?”
There was another long pause and Sven’s patience shredded. “How? How can you have nothing?”
“It’s wiped,” Gidget said defensively.
“What do you mean wiped?”
“This…this…meanie stripped everything out.”
“Can you please just call him a bastard or an evil fuck?” Quinn groaned. Sven rolled his eyes. Gidget didn’t swear. She didn’t use strong language. She talked like a grade school teacher and at times, she even looked like one. She was easily the nicest person he had ever met, but in this instance, Sven had to agree with Quinn.
“No,” she snapped then continued. “Most people don’t know that the videos shot on your phone have all kinds of identifying data like when and where it was shot. It’s even got info that links it to your phone.”
“But?”
“It’s all gone.”
“What about the hand and the voice?” Sven pressed.
“I’m working on the audio, trying to fill in some blanks,” Quinn offered.
“I’ve got the visual, trying to piece back together the data he took from the frames,” Gidget explained. “I’m also walking through each frame to see if there’s any reflections that I can use to piece together this person’s image. It’ll take time, but we’re still trying.”
“Okay,” Sven murmured. It wasn’t the useful information that he’d been hoping for. Certainly not enough to go to Geoffrey with and lift his spirits.
“There’s one good thing that can come out of this, Sven,” Gidget said.
“What?”
“This is a very specialized skill set.”
Sven straightened, moving the phone from one ear to the other as a cramp set into his shoulder. “I don’t understand.”
“This is more than just a little video editing,” Quinn said and Sven’s heartbeat sped up to hear the excitement returning to Quinn’s voice. “The fucking with the audio and the video is impressive, but knowing to strip all the data out of the video plus knowing how to do it without leaving other indicators behind. That’s high-level shit.”
“He also hacked into three of Geoffrey’s largest social media accounts,” Gidget added.
“This is a very tech-savvy motherfucker,” Quinn said. “He knows software, computers, and code. I’d bet a year’s salary on it. This is an IT specialist or computer programmer or software developer at least.”
“I agree,” Gidget said, excitement threading her voice.
“And how many of those people are among Geoffrey’s friends?”
“It will narrow the field,” Gidget noted with an air of satisfaction.
“Good. Keep me posted. I need to do rounds.”
Sven hung up, still frustrated but clinging to the hope that Gidget and Quinn at least had something to work with. He didn’t want to think that Geoffrey had suffered for nothing. That somehow they could use this information to track down this bastard.
He flipped the phone’s ringer on and left it to charge in the kitchen before heading directly to Geoffrey’s office. He knocked lightly on the door and then opened it a crack to peer inside. Geoffrey sat back in his chair, the heels of his bare feet dug into the edge of the chair and his thin arms wrapped around his knees. His blue eyes slowly shifted up to Sven’s face and stared as if simply waiting for him to explain why he’d stopped in his office. But there were no tears. No angry rants. Just silence.
“Doing rounds,” Sven said.
Geoffrey gave a tiny nod but said nothing.
Sven watched him, debating whether to tell him what he’d learned from Gidget and Quinn, but the news wasn’t exactly uplifting. Some speculation on who might be behind this attack and a whole lot of nothing. Not reassuring in the least.
“I’ll make coffee before I finish my rounds outside,” Sven offered, wishing that Geoffrey would just say something…anything. He didn’t know what to do with this silence. But still he didn’t speak.
