Page 37 of Tracing Her Stolen Identity
“Trust me,” Cal said, leaning back in his chair, “that’s the working theory now. Someone is behind this, so all we can do is wait for another message or finally crack through the Facebook page to see who’s behind it.”
“I’m just afraid by the time we wait for another message to arrive, another gallery will be damaged, or someone else will be hurt,” Skylar whispered, her gaze taking in all the comments on the board.
Reece was sure everyone else felt the same way, so when no one said anything, she snapped off the brakes on her chair and wheeled out of the room.
* * *
THE SUN WASsetting over the manufactured pond at the back of the property. Skylar couldn’t get over how gorgeous the land was, and she truly appreciated the little bit of peace and quiet she got sitting there watching the sun sink below the horizon. Besides an arduous trek back to the cabin across the grass, she was safe. Since the meeting this morning, she’d tried to stay away from the case, but as night neared, she would have to face Reece again. He’d given her an update when she woke up from a nap earlier but hadn’t pressured her to take part in the investigation or to try to focus her thoughts on the videos. Even if the person behind the mask was Miles, he was dead now. Dead because they were connected. They were missing something, but she couldn’t figure it out. Then again, it was more like missing someone—a key player in the campaign to destroy Skylar Sullivan. The only person left whom she dealt with regularly with any hostility toward her wasn’t capable of killing a grown man. Was she capable of hiring someone to do it? Well, Skylar couldn’t deny the answer to that question was yes. Camille was gregarious and gorgeous. She could easily convince someone to do her bidding, and she sold high-priced art pieces, so she could afford to pay for it.
“I’ve been looking for you,” Land said as he approached her from the direction of the cottage.
“Sorry, I wanted to sketch the sun as it set over the pond,” she explained, motioning at her sketch pad.
“I don’t blame you,” he said, his hand to his head as he stared at the sinking orb. “I always make it a point to watch the sun rise or set at least once when I’m here. It’s different than in the city.”
“When this is all over, I want to make this into a stained-glass piece for the cafeteria,” she explained. “It’s not much, but it will come from my heart for what they’ve done for me.”
Land squeezed her shoulder with a smile as he gazed down at her. “They’d be lucky to have an original Skylar Sullivan piece.”
“Not if we don’t find the person behind this,” she sighed as she closed the book. “I’m sorry I checked out earlier. My brain couldn’t take any more.”
“Everyone understood,” he promised, smoothing a hand down her cheek. “You hadn’t even had time to deal with Silas’s death when we dropped Miles on you. Did you get any rest?”
“Some,” she answered, glancing up at him. “I haven’t slept well the last few nights, so I needed it. I also wanted to let the catheter drain freely for a few hours. I always feel like we’re a minute away from having to take off again.”
“I’m sure you do, but we’re safe here until we or the police sort out who’s behind these threats against you.”
“You mean against the galleries.”
After kneeling next to her chair, he tipped his head to the side. “No, I mean against you. They have a vendetta against you. They’re just using the galleries to escalate it.”
“To what end, though?” she asked in frustration.
“I wish I could say,” he whispered, gazing over the water. “I do feel like they’ll reveal it soon enough. Killing Miles was a pretty strong escalation.”
“What aren’t you telling me, Land?” She turned in her chair and tipped his chin to face her. “Did something else happen today?”
“No,” he promised while holding her gaze. She could tell by how his pupils didn’t react that he was telling thetruth. “I’m frustrated with all the dead ends we keep hitting when it comes to Camille Castillo. She’s nearly as hard to investigate as Silas was. Sure, we have her name and know where she last lived, but it’s like she’s fallen off the face of the earth, too.”
“Do you think Camille was an alias?”
“We’re starting to think so, and now she’s using a different one, or she’s gone back to using her real name, neither of which we have.”
“After dinner, I’ll watch the Facebook videos again from the angle of Camille behind the mask. I’ll think about my interactions with her while watching them, and maybe I’ll pick up on something?”
Despite his skeptical expression, he nodded. “It can’t hurt. We’ve hit a stalemate with this until we get another video or they post something on the petition page.”
“Am I wrong, or does it feel like the person behind this has been bolder about posting on the petition page?”
“It’s not just you. Mina and Iris also agree. We’re hoping that works to our benefit. Since it’s a public page, if they want to send you a message, they could use that page to do it.”
“Do you still believe they don’t know we can see the page where they post the videos?”
“That’s a bit murkier, and even Mina agrees with that. Facebook tells a person how many times their video has been watched. Technically, since we’re using a dupe page, every time we watch the video, the count shouldn’t change, but we can’t be sure. Secretly, I hope they know we can see the page. If they know someone else is watching the videos, it might embolden them.”
“I hope so, because my nerves can’t take too many more days of this.”
Land stood and put his hands on his hips. “Sadie sent dinner to the cabin. How about we share it and a movie? Take a little time to relax and think about something else?”
