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The rookie held her coffee to her chest. Steam drifted up to her chin. ‘That’s how I’d have done it. The vent leads right outside. It’s a tight tunnel, but that just means it’s easier to climb.’
‘That means he’s pretty nimble, probably has good upper body strength too.’
‘I’d say so. All we can really say for certain is that he’s in decent shape. Anything else would be a guess.’
Ripley said, ‘Masked attacker hiding in the vents. This guy is a creepy bastard, isn’t he.’
‘You got that right. Reminds me of Pennywise in the sewers. Maybe he was referencing that, too.’
It was happening again. More terms Ripley wasn’t familiar with. ‘Who?’ she asked. ‘Actually, don’t bother. You’re heading up this case now. Keep your horror movie references to yourself.’
Ella bit the end of her marker pen and asked, ‘You’ve honestly never seen any of these films?’
‘Not to my knowledge. I’ve seen a few classics. My ex-husband took me to see Misery on our first date. I’ve seen Aliens as well. What’s the one where Jack Nicholson goes mad?’
‘The Shining.’
‘Yeah, that one. I’ve seen those. Didn’t care for them much, except Aliens.’
Just as the conversation was veering into movie territory, there was a sharp knock at the door. Chief Daniels stepped in, a world-weary look spread across his face, the sort of weariness that came from working long hours on a case that seemed to go in circles. Ripley knew the feeling well.
‘Good morning, chief,’ Ella said.
‘It might just be,’ Daniels said. He placed a USB stick down on the table. ‘I’ve got something for you.’
Ella returned to the table and picked it up. ‘What’s on here?’
The tech department finally cracked Ginny's cloud. We might not have her phone, but we have the contents of it. Everything is on that stick. Messages, calls, photos, you name it.'
Ella sped towards her laptop and thrust the USB stick in. ‘Found anything yet?’
‘Tech don’t have clearance to view the contents. Privacy violation. Only we can.’
‘On it,’ Ella said, her fingers hammering the keyboard like she was trying to murder it. Ripley ran around to Ella’s side of the desk, both her and Daniels peering closer.
‘Check her recent messages, Dark,’ Ripley said.
The rookie clicked around, not blinking, familiarizing herself with the layout of the contents. She took to it at an enviable speed, a hundred times quicker than Ripley would. Just another reason it was time for her to hand the reins over to someone younger and better looking.
‘Finding them,’ Ella said. She clicked between folders, none of them appropriately-named. ‘Got them. It’s messy, but I think I can figure it out.’
The jumbles of text on the screen were enough to turn Ripley’s eyes square. Nothing but names, blocks of text, dates and times. It took Ripley a minute to get her bearings.
Ella said, ‘Recent text messages to… three people. Cassie, Layla, Melanie.’
Ripley dug her fingers into the table. ‘All women. Not our unsub. Go back a few days.’
Ella dug through the files, so fast Ripley would barely keep up. Within a few seconds, she’d pulled up another load of messy data.
'Nothing. The last male she spoke to was…. four days ago. Cliff Martin. But they're just arranging a night for Ginny to come and babysit.'
‘Calls?’ asked Ripley. ‘Photos, videos?’
Ella smashed away at the keys, then her palms hovered over the keyboard as she turned statuesque. ‘Oh crap… two anonymous calls, both last night.’
This time, Ripley saw it too. Every log was labeled with the date, time and call length. ‘Coroner said Ginny was killed around ten PM.’
‘And these calls came in nine fifty-five.’
