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“We need to look into that, and into him, urgently,” Connor confirmed, as they headed for the car. “When they got inside, he continued. “It’s raising a big red flag for me that Harriet never mentioned him. She might have just been distracted and traumatized by what had happened to her mother – but it makes me wonder how much friction there was between Victor and Lisa, and even between Victor and Harriet. Things don’t sound like they’re going well on either front.”
“You’re right,” Cami said, surprised. “A boyfriend – she should have mentioned his name, at least. Referred to him in some way. Or else, he should have been there with her, instead of a policeman.”
"All sorts of reasons to look at him more closely," Connor agreed. "So yes. That's where we need to go now."
As soon as he was in the car, he got on the phone to his office. This time, the conversation was for Cami's ears, and it was all about where Victor Tyrone would be. Whoever was working that side, Cami had to admit, was as sharp and focused as Ethan had been. Within five minutes, they had the information they needed. They had a home address, and also a work place.
Cami was even more surprised that Victor hadn't rallied around to help his girlfriend when she saw that he worked at a bar. The City Vibe bar and grill. Surely that meant he worked nights?
His home address told them that he lived in a cottage on a farm that was further out of town. But Cami noted that the farm was along the same road as the diner where Debbie had worked. Just a few miles further away. So, if he’d stopped off for a meal on the way home or the way out, then he could easily have met the other victim at that friendly diner. Geographically, there was the likelihood of a connection.
To save time, so that they knew where to start looking for Victor, Connor called the City Vibe first, while they were sitting in the car.
“Victor Tyrone. Is he on shift now?” he asked, without introducing himself or saying he was the police. He waited, listened, thanked the person on the other side, and hung up.
“Well,” he said, turning to Cami, “he’s not on shift now. So that means he must be at home.”
Again, Cami wondered why he hadn’t been with Harriet, consoling her. Something seemed very wrong with this scenario. Harriet chose a policeman to be with her over a boyfriend.
Cami’s mind flicked back to Kieran again. They hadn’t known each other that long, but they’d gotten close. They’d had some very serious conversations about life, and about death, about their relationships with their parents – hers distant and conflicted, his close. She’d even met his parents the other night for a restaurant dinner and she felt really pleased that she liked them, and that they had liked her, too.
Cami knew that as new as their relationship was, Kieran was the person she would have called first if tragedy had struck.
And Harriet hadn’t called Victor?
Engrossed in her thoughts, she’d barely noticed that Connor’s car had been eating up the miles, heading out of town, and that now they were in a bleak, empty looking area, with bare trees and small farmhouses. If snow blanketed everything it would be pretty, Cami thought. When summer came and brought its greenery, it would probably look delightful. But now the area looked muddy and desolate, caught between two seasons.
Connor checked the house numbers as they drove down the narrow lane, stopping outside number thirty.
They climbed out.
Cami guessed Victor must be home. He had a large, new-looking Ford pickup parked under the rickety carport next to the house. Looking at the car, parked there, and thinking of Harriet, crying in her apartment with the police officer sitting next to her, she couldn't help another flash of dislike for the man.
As they got out and approached the house, she noticed something interesting. On the roof was a satellite dish and a signal booster. So, Victor loved his TV and most likely he loved his internet too.
Given that he sounded like a shady character, Cami wondered whether it would be an idea to see if she could log into his wifi.
As Connor approached the house, Cami started her program, knowing that it would be a race against time whether Victor answered the door first, or whether Cami’s hacking software managed to crack the wifi code. She'd recently fine-tuned it and was impressed with its speed. It was able to simultaneously run a trio of brute-force attempts, which condensed the time significantly. Especially seeing most people had pathetic passwords on their home internet. People were forgetful, and they didn't like to have to look up a complicated password every time they logged into their own setup. It was definitely one of the easiest targets for a hacker.
Connor knocked, and Cami glanced down at the screen. This time, she thought, it was probable that Connor would get his answers before she did.
Although, maybe not.
Because there didn’t seem to be any response to his knocking. Nobody was coming to the door. Even though the presence of the car showed them that there surely must be somebody inside, that somebody was staying put.
“Maybe he’s gone out with a friend? Taken a walk?” Connor muttered to himself, checking his watch, and then knocking again.
Cami knew that was possible, but there was something about this house that made her think he was inside. Maybe it was the lack of footprints in the mud heading toward the car. Maybe it was the fact the curtains and blinds were all wide open, even though she wasn't at the right angle to peer inside.
And, at that moment, her software did its job.
It cracked the code, and with a faint ping, Cami found herself with access to the home’s wifi.
“I’m in,” she said to Connor quietly. “Do you want to give me a minute and see what I can find?”
“Go for it,” Connor said. “Seeing he’s not answering the door, we need to figure out if he is in there, and if so, what he’s doing.”
While Cami accessed her phone again, Connor began walking around the house slowly, looking in those open windows.
