Page 29 of The Wolves Come at Night
“Well, her phone isn’t pinging. The new phones will ping even if they’re turned off, safety features have been upgraded. But if hers is old, it’s possible that it doesn’t have that feature. And if she has a VPN on, it would confuse it even more.”
“VPN?”
“Virtual private network. Gives her an IP address from another area. Not insurmountable, but it might throw off the pings.”
“Yeah, she’d said something about wanting to see a show from the UK that wasn’t available here. You put on your VPN, say you’re in England, it hooks into that network, and you can stream the program.” Izz said apologetically, “It’s a shortcut. We all do it.”
“Okay. This is good information. What about the malware program? Any idea why she’d need that?”
“Nope. But I bet Simeon knows.”
Simeon Chase was as lanky and handsome as his posh name foretold. Add in obvious brains and a British accent, and Taylor understood why Izz swooned every time the boy’s name came up. They met him at the Student Center, and he was clearly agitated by Carson’s absence.
“Tell me she’s okay, and that I didn’t get her killed. I can’t sleep, I can’t eat. Just the idea that I might have led a murderer to her…”
“Why do you think you got her killed?” Taylor asked in surprise. “I thought you two were on a lunch date.”
“I don’t mean that, exactly. I didn’t do anything directly to hurt her. But she played with my app, and they walked into a murder, and now she’s missing.”
“That doesn’t exactly make you culpable, Mr. Chase. Unless there’s more that you know?”
“No!”
“Okay, okay. Calm down. I had to ask.”
He ran a hand through the springing curls of his blond hair. “Yeah. I know. I can’t help but think that if she just hadn’t played, she’d be okay.” He paused, took a breath. “Do you think she’s okay?”
“We’re doing all we can to find her.”
He moaned softly.
“Listen to me.” Taylor touched his shoulder briefly. “The girls went on a hike and walked into a bad situation. It was a fluke.”
“But what if it wasn’t? Her phone was screwed up.”
“What do you mean?”
“Carson’s phone was acting up. She told me, at lunch. It wouldn’t stay on the network while we ate, and she complained that it had been happening for a few weeks. She knew she needed a new one but didn’t want to call her mom and ask. She even had apps opening that she hadn’t touched in months, which felt like she’d probably downloaded something hinky. I thought she should scan it. I don’t know that she did, I just recommended it so that she could use the GPS properly if she ever wanted to do something with the Lat and Long Club again. I tried to fix it, but I couldn’t without downloading a bunch of software to see what was amiss, and she didn’t have time, had a class. I told her I’d send her a program to download that could sweep the phone and her laptop and see if she’d been infected or not.”
“Is there any way to tell if she downloaded and ran the programs?”
“You’d have to get the phone itself to see.”
“Marcus, do you have anything else?”
Marcus had been quiet during the whole interview. He shook his head shortly.
Taylor stood, brushing her hands down the front of her uniform. “Thank you, Simeon. If you think of anything else, please don’t hesitate to reach out, all right?”
“Yes, ma’am.” The kid looked both terrified and relieved, and she felt for him. She’d keep him on the suspect list for now, but only because the list was short, not because she thought he was really involved. Her gut had been wrong before, though. Not often, but it had.
They crossed campus toward Taylor’s car, but neither of them was ready to leave. They took a seat on a bench in the quad and talked it out.
“I don’t know,” Marcus said. “Something doesn’t feel right, does it?”
“Nope. I’ll be damned if I think that kid is responsible for anything but creating a cool app and maybe starting a crush on Carson. But I’ve been tricked before.”
A small knot of girls in white tennis shoes and slouchy cable knits streamed by, looking over shoulders with apprehension. Taylor forgot, sometimes, about the uniform. Not that she blended in on the local campus before, but in jeans and boots and a messy bun, at least she could be mistaken for a guest lecturer. Not in the blues. Especially not with a girl missing.
