Page 22 of Girl, Deceived

‘Age?’

‘Forty-nine.’

Ripley scrunched her face. ‘Too old. Boundaries might be blurring, but I can’t imagine a student dating someone pushing fifty.’

Ella couldn’t disagree. The other Mark Brewers on the system were too far out to be viable, so she recalibrated. There was another option available, one that was often even more useful than official databases.

‘I’ll try social media,’ Ella said. ‘Everyone has a digital footprint.’

Ripley asked, ‘But how will we know if it’s the right Mark Brewer? We don’t know what he looks like.’

‘An obsessive personality like this? We don’t need to know what he looks like. His horror fascination will be on full display.’

Ella opened up a window and lined up a few choice social media sites. She clicked into the first one and searched Mark’s name, then narrowed her results down to the Los Angeles area.

Forty-two names.

Ella scrolled through, willing her man to make himself known.

The first ten profiles yielded no notable connections. Most were generic - typical profile photos of vacations, family outings, the occasional political slogan. The eleventh, though, made her pause.

She couldn’t fully see the man’s face because it was obscured with dark face paint.

The white contoured lines of the paint clearly defined a twisted clown smile and sharp, angular eyes. The bright red bulbous nose stood out, contrasting starkly with the long, brittle dreadlocks, like snakes slithering out of his skull. It was a haunting visage, unsettling even through a computer screen.

‘Ripley,’ Ella called, beckoning her partner over. ‘Look at this.’

‘What is it?’ Ripley hurried round to the other side.

‘This guy. Mark Brewer.’

Ripley's eyes narrowed, her lips pressed into a thin line as she studied the profile photo. ‘He’s a clown.’

Ella dug into Mark’s profile and began devouring his posts and photos. Right away, the theme was obvious. Mark Brewer had a penchant for the sinister.

Pictures of him at horror conventions, posing with actors and directors. Professional studio shots of him in his clown regalia; sharp makeup, tattered clothes, an array of weapons in his hands.

‘I’ve never seen a clown with a baseball bat. What kind of clown is this?’

Ella moved faster through the posts, more of the same coming at her fast. She stopped at one photo – a picture of Mark Brewer holding a young women by the throat.

But it was the caption that caught her attention.

Another night at the haunt! Love scaring the life out of people. #HauntActor, #KillingFields.

‘Killing Fields?’ Ripley said.

One more search later, Ella had the answer. A website popped up, showing a horror-themed amusement park on the outskirts of the city.

‘Killing Fields. It’s a haunted house attraction… And Mark Brewer works there.’

Ripley tilted her head. ‘So, we've got a guy obsessed with horror who works in a place where scaring people is his job.’

‘Yup.’ Ella was back into Mark’s profile. There was only one more box to tick. ‘We need to check this guy out, but we need as much evidence before we meet him.’

She arranged Mark’s friends list alphabetically, rushed down to the J section.

Jane Stubbs.

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