Page 50 of Just Right

“How can he be doing it then? Does he know her habits? Could he have done surveillance on her before now?”

“He hasn’t physically tracked any of his other victims, that I know of. He seemed to know where they would be via their location and pin drops. And he’s not the greatest at IT. He’s not a hacker. Just an ordinary user.”

As she was doing this, a thought occurred to her.

If Becker had used information that was available online, Cami needed to use his logic and trust in it. She had to assume that he had been following clues that Jayne had left online. And that just meant she needed to look for them. They couldn't be that hard to find, surely? This killer hadn't used expert tech skills to track any of his prey so far. But what he had used was eluding them. Why?

“It must be obvious, then,” Ethan said, confirming what Cami was thinking. His voice was so calm and reassuring. She felt bolstered by his support. And, as Cami thought about it, she realized what the answer might be.

Of course, she thought. It was obvious. In fact, it was so plain and simple that they hadn't gone looking for it—yet.

"Ethan, while we were speaking, I’ve had an idea. I think I know where to look, and how he found where she would be. So, I’d better go now, and see if I’m right.”

“Good luck,” Ethan said, sounding excited.

Cami cut the call. Quickly, she began checking where she needed to, to see if her hunch was correct.

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

Connor paced through the forest, checking left and right, referring frequently to his map. He kept his gaze constantly roaming. Black leggings, gray top. Blonde hair. That was what he was looking for. And, of course, for an anonymous blond male attacker, hiding somewhere in these woods.

"She has to be on one of the two trails, surely?" the cop partnering him said. He spoke the words in an urgent voice as if he was hoping that by saying them, they would be true.

"Logically, yes," Connor replied. But just as he knew Cami had done, he was feeling an uneasy sensation that there was something they were missing. Some clue the killer knew about that they didn't.

Perhaps that was inevitable on a case like this, where this man was literally on a killing rampage. Hunting a psychopath could be a mental game, Connor knew, and it was important not to feel in your own mind that you'd lost. Second-guessing yourself could sometimes lead to failure.

Just as important was not to let the killer get inside your head. He needed to have faith in his own ability to track him down, and he also needed to have faith that Cami was doing as much as she could online. They were using every available avenue to lead them to this man.

"We'll find her," he said to the cop beside him. But he didn't feel as confident as he sounded. He didn't know why, but there was something he couldn't put his finger on that was making him feel uneasy.

The cop nodded, but Connor still felt as though he was reassuring himself.

The other cops, out on the eastern trail, were calling in every so often. But the updates so far had been brief and disappointing.

"Nothing yet," another came through.

"Nothing here," Connor replied. The forest felt warm, the trees were not letting in enough of the breeze. Insects were swarming around his head, and he batted them away. He kept his eyes open and his ears too. A sound might be the only clue they would get that the killer was nearby.

They moved on. A few minutes later, they came to a junction. To their right, the trail wound up a hill and disappeared into the trees. To the left, it ran straight.

"We might need to split up here," Connor said, consulting his map again. The uphill trail was nothing more than a faint pathway, and it looked longer. It did a winding loop around the hill before rejoining the track again.

"Yes. We should each take one route. Hopefully we connect further along."

"Hopefully."

Connor took the uphill route as the other cop moved along the straight trail. His legs were burning as he climbed, but there was no time to waste. If Jayne would only answer her damned phone, he thought, if she'd only check it and see that there were now probably ten missed calls from the police. If she'd only listen to the messages that could save her life.

If she was still alive. That thought gave him a chill.

If this went badly, he knew the responsibility would be on his shoulders.There was already a huge amount of anger and blame being generated. It made it worse that a couple of the victims were high profile. Leanne's death, in particular, had caused consternation in political circles, because she'd done so much for tourism in the area. And the murder at the aquarium had been a PR disaster for sure.

He kept his gaze moving, his senses alert, and his mouth dry. But as he moved through the trees and bushes, he had no sense that he was getting any closer to her. These trails were empty.

He told himself that it was a big forest. She might be just a few hundred yards away, among the dense trees.

But the voice of worry had begun to resound in his head.She could be dead,the voice said.If the killer got to her first, she could be dead.

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