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Cami let out an impatient breath.
That meant Storyteller had connected via an encrypted connection, and it meant that the IP address would be untraceable.
Gritting her teeth, Cami dug deeper. Not all virtual private networks, or VPNs, were made equal. There were a few cast-iron ones that were unbreakable. And then, there were many cheap, shoddy ones that had faults and loopholes aplenty.
"Give me a break here, give me a break, please," Cami muttered, her fingers flying over the keyboard as she switched between programs. She was utterly absorbed in her task, not even noticing that police were coming and going in the back office, that there was a shout of laughter as a couple of cops shared a joke, and that the heating system gave a continual loud rattle.
She was focused only on looking for weak points. And after a few more intensive minutes, she found one. Cami slammed her fist down on the desk in triumph, causing one of the nearby cops to glance around curiously.
This VPN had errors and loopholes. It was not a top of the range one. It had a DNS leak. A DNS leak occurred when the network’s encryption failed. It meant that some of the web addresses that this person had visited would now be visible—at least, to a hacker who'd been able to penetrate far enough. Cami was that hacker, and she'd managed to get into where she needed to be.
"That means that if I go into the server, I should be able to see some of the sites where this person has been," Cami muttered. She still couldn't identify the IP address directly. But now, from the browsing history, she might just be able to get a breadcrumb trail that would lead her to who he, or she, was.
How much of a leak had there been? And where had this person been visiting? Could the sites form pieces of the puzzle that would give her a clue?
He'd been on the local neighborhood site again, Cami saw, with her heart quickening. And he'd been on social media, but she couldn't see where. He'd been on an air travel app, and she guessed that he'd purchased a ticket out of state. That was a tell, for sure. He was planning to flee the state. But who was he? She needed more.
Here was a hit from a careers website. He had been visiting an actual individual's profile.
Was this his?
No. It belonged to a kindergarten teacher. Maisie Abson was her name. Cami took a look at her smiling face. She felt cold inside because she was starting to put two and two together.
"Maisie, who are you? Are you on this local group?" Cami now asked herself, feeling worried.
Quickly, feeling her pulse accelerate, she went back into the group's site. This was the killer's hunting ground, and if Maisie Abson was here, it didn't bode well.
Cami bit her lip as she saw that Maisie Abson was on the group. There she was, wearing a bright blue shirt in her profile picture, smiling with her blonde hair in a cute bob. This was a young woman, in her late twenties, most likely. She was pretty and looked happy.
"Bingo," she muttered, staring at the screen. "She's in the area. She lives here. Has she traveled recently?"
Cami checked back over her posts. And sure enough, on one of the chat threads, she found the proof she needed.
"I'm away the whole of next week, but there's another teacher standing in for me at Little Lives. I'll be back Monday."
"Going on vacation?"
"Yes, we're away for a wedding and taking a few extra days."
Cami let out a tense breath. She was on the brink of finding something huge, but if she was wrong, it would be a disaster. If she was too late, then the killer would strike again, and it would be her fault.
She went back into the logs, now with her pulse accelerating hard. Sure enough, that anonymous IP address had been on that thread. Storyteller had been watching and observing, following Maisie’s travel plans.
Cami knew, for sure, that there was no time to waste.
This man had recently been on the site. He’d just booked a ticket out of here.
And he'd touched down on Maisie’s personal work page, as if to remind himself who he was hunting.
He was planning another kill, and soon. He might be waiting, even now, for her to get back from school.
Cami slammed her laptop shut and shoved it back into the bag. Then, shouldering it, she took off out of the back office, racing for the interview room.
"Connor!" she shouted. "Connor, come quick! I've found his next target, and we need to get there, now!"
CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN
A moment later, Cami saw Connor rush out of the interview room, banging the door closed behind him.
