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“How long was he gone?”
“I don’t know. We were drinking wine, talking, and… Wait. Wait.”
She shoved her hands through her hair. “Asparagus. I think… Yes, nearly ten minutes. Did he do this? Who is he? Why would he do this? For a MacBook and a used Prius? That’s crazy.”
“His name is Gavin Rozwell, and this is what he does. He’s apsychopath, a con artist, a serial killer. And you, Ms. Albright, are his type.”
“I’m his type? What type?”
“Slender blonde, single, between the ages of twenty-four and thirty. The androgynous name’s a plus.”
She heard the words as Beck spoke them, but they seemed to come out in some strange, foreign language. “What?”
“It makes it simple for him to steal your identity and become Morgan Albright. He would have selected you, researched you before he walked into that bar.”
“Still crazy,” she insisted. “Why would he want to steal my identity? I’m nobody. I don’t have anything.”
“You have this house,” Morrison pointed out. “You had a car. You work two jobs, so you’re bound to have a bank account.”
“And first and foremost,” Beck added, “he enjoys it. Do you have any credit cards?”
“I have one. I use it primarily for food and gas, pay it off monthly. It’s good to build my credit rating.”
“He’s likely run that up, opened at least one more, and run that to its limit. Do you bank online?”
“Yes. My work schedule…”
“Have you checked your bank account in the last week?”
“No. Why would I? We just buried Nina. Today. We buried Nina today.”
“Could you check it now?”
She nearly got up to go to her office and laptop before she remembered. And took out her phone.
What color she had left in her face leached away. “This can’t be right. It can’t be. It says I have less than two hundred dollars. I had over twelve thousand, just over. I’ve been saving for years. This is a mistake.”
“It’s cyber theft, Ms. Albright. I’m sorry,” Morrison went on. “It’s likely worse. You’re a homeowner, and that’s something he targets. It’s very likely he used your identity and the information he got off your computer to take out equity loans, maybe a business loan. He’d have used lending companies rather than banks, agreed to a higher interest rate for the quick turnaround. The malware he likely installed onyour computer in that ten minutes allowed him to channel access to your accounts.”
“He’s very skilled in this area,” Beck continued. “It’s probable he got into the house—he wouldn’t have broken the window initially. He would have uninstalled the malware and walked out again. But Ms. Ramos was here, she saw him. He staged the break-in, took your valuables, the cash on hand to cover the rest.”
“Ms. Albright.” Morrison waited until her glazed eyes shifted to his face. “We’ve very sorry for what’s happened to you. Very sorry for what happened to your friend. My partner and I have been after Rozwell for years. What happened here didn’t immediately get our attention, as Ms. Ramos isn’t his usual type, his target type. She was petite, dark hair, her name, no homeownership, and the clumsy burglary. Then an article came up in a search and mentioned you. Your house, your car.”
“And you are his type,” Beck continued. “When he was finished wiping you out financially, he would have killed you. He knows your schedule, your habits, had gained your trust. He’d have gotten you alone and done to you what he did to Ms. Ramos.”
“But you’re alive. You’re the first one of his victims we’ve been able to speak with.”
“I have to—” She shoved up, dashed to the half bath. When she was finished being sick, she splashed water on her face, scooped more out of the faucet to clear her mouth and throat.
In the mirror she saw a ghost of herself, sheet white, glassy eyes. Now that the sickness passed, all she had was numb.
She went back, lowered into the chair. “What am I supposed to do?”
“I know this is a shock,” Morrison began. “I know this is a very, very difficult time. Can we call someone for you?”
“No. What am I supposed to do?”
“You’re the first we’ve been able to interview,” Beck repeated. “The only survivor we know of. We need you to tell us everything you can remember. What he did, what he said. You said he texted you, so we’d like to copy those. Regarding the identity theft, your situation? I’d advise you to hire a lawyer as soon as possible to try to deal with that.”
