Most of the messages, to Ella's disappointment, were junk.It was mostly spam mixed with pointless conversations from people Julia barely knew, given her minimal responses to them.There were a few talks of weekend plans, but Julia's replies suggested she a tendency to cancel plans at the last minute, so Ella guessed she wasn't much of a social butterfly.Not a single exchange felt important enough to pursue further.
The door opened, and Ripley came in.'Sheriff just called me.He said the cabin's clean.Other than droppings, no other evidence of rats at the scene.No fur, no suggestions of a cage being setup.He's at a loss.'
Ella didn't look up.'Great.'
'Finding anything?'
'Lots of nothing.'She scrolled past another useless thread.'Julia didn't talk about school online.Not once.No complaints about homework, no mentions of professors, nothing.It's weird.'
'Maybe she kept that stuff private.You checked her social media?'
‘She only has one profile and hasn’t used it in six months.’Each theory Ella had now seemed more tenuous than the last.The lack of evidence at the cabin, the dead ends in Julia's social life, the absence of a clear motive.Was it possible they were looking in the wrong places?
‘There you go.Noteveryonebroadcasts their life online.’
‘But her personal messages?That’s what messaging is for.Complaining about things to your friends.’
‘Well, you need to dissect that thing from top to bottom.Or give it to a tech guy here if you’re at a dead end.’
‘No.I’ll do it.’
‘Why?It’s not a personal failure, you know?’
Ella went back to the homescreen and swung her cursor over the next few icons in line.'Yes, it is.'
‘Whatever.Do you have access toeverythingof Julia’s on there?’
‘No.Just a few messaging apps and social media.I can’t see her standard text messages or call history or anything like that.’
‘Here,’ Ripley said as she tapped a knuckle on the screen.‘EduCase.Have you tried that?’
Ella squinted at the icon.It looked like a pile of books.‘What’s EduCase?That ain’t no messaging app I ever heard of.’
‘It’s what professors and students use.Where have you been recently?’
Ella stared her partner down.‘What?Since when do you know?’
'Since my son's wife was a lecturer at George Washington, I've had to listen to her complain about it.Go on, check it.'
Ella opened it up.The tagline appeared:EduCase -virtual space for students to connect with professors and classmates.Her pulse quickened at the revelation.A platform dedicated to academic discourse might be the missing link in the chain.A sea of folders appeared, most of them system files that Ella couldn’t deconstruct in a million years.She navigated through until she found the messages folder.
‘Got it,’ she said.Ella clicked in.Three names appeared.Three conversations.
‘Looks like Julia had a few friends, at least,’ said Ripley.
Ella wasted no time.She opened the first message, a conversation with someone named Jessica Harlow.It was brief, only a few back-and-forth exchanges.Ella dismissed it as irrelevant and moved to the next one.
‘Liam Hendrick,’ she said.She delved into the conversation and analyzed the words as they sprawled across the screen.Ella fast concluded that the exchange was distinctly academic; a dialogue between a curious student and her professor.Julia was simply probing into the intricacies of medieval history, but the tone was purely professional.Ella scanned for any subtext, any hint of something more, but Professor Hendrick's responses remained squarely within the bounds of a teacher-student relationship.
‘Professor,’ Ripley said over Ella’s shoulder.‘I’ll make a note to check him out.’
With a mental note of Hendrick's name for further background checks, Ella moved to the third and final conversation.This one was with Ken Myers.She scrolled down to the beginning of the exchange, the date marked as three weeks ago.
Ken M: Hey, it’s Ken from the lecture today.Thanks for helping me out!
Julia D: No problem.Great to meet you!
Ken M: If you want to pillage this Byzantine case study one night, just hit me up.I could use a hand.
