Page 11 of Just Hide

"Any exes, any problems in that regard?"

Again, after sniffing hard, Petra made a wry face. "Another long list. She wasn't dating, but she was on a few of the dating apps and sites. She was looking for someone special, but with her looks, it wasn't easy. Guys became hooked on her. They, like, fell in love with her instantly, and she used to be harassed and pursued."

Cami listened intently as Connor wrote notes.

There was no shortage of suspects here. Antoinette had lived in a very different world that sounded glamorous but had in fact been harsh, brutal, and competitive. She’d interacted with a lot of people but had found it difficult to find anyone genuine, whether in work or in love.

"Any cameras in your apartment?" Connor asked.

Petra shook her head. "We have door buzzers downstairs. This was a safe area, or so I thought. There’s never been serious problems like murder, although there has been petty crime, bag snatching, a couple of recent burglaries. We had a burglar alarm. Antoinette didn't like security cameras; she was very aware of herself being on any footage. She didn't want that. She told me more than once she valued her privacy."

No cameras then. "What about her phone or phones?" Cami asked.

Petra looked at her through those swollen, but pretty blue, eyes. "How do you mean?"

"Did she spend a lot of time on her phone? Did she have more than one number?"

Petra shook her head. "Only one phone as far as I know, so she used to get really mad when people found the number out. She hated being approached by strangers, but she spent a lot of time messaging friends, and she was active on social media."

"Thanks," Cami said. Only one phone was a good thing, and she felt glad she'd asked that as it meant there wasn’t a second one that they might have missed.

Antoinette had enjoyed her online life, and this meant there were online interactions, and now they had a better idea of the world she'd lived in and could start to explore those interactions.

Now, Cami knew, it was time to get into the victims' devices. With the background she had, and the list of Antoinette’s enemies, she now had a better idea of where she could begin her hunt.

CHAPTER SIX

"The phones have both been processed, fingerprinted, and taken into evidence," Connor told Cami, who felt her heart jump, because now, she could contribute her expertise to this case.

She followed Connor to the car, waiting patiently as he said goodbye to one of the officers and packed his briefcase in the back.

"Are you ready to get to work?" he asked, his voice level. She realized that there was still a chance for her to say no. She’d offered to help with this case, but Connor was still keeping it open for her to leave if she wasn’t ready.

Cami nodded. She was surprised to feel a rush of excitement. "I'm ready. I can't wait to get into the phones and see what I can find out," she said.

Connor nodded approvingly, and they set off to the nearest police station, which was the meeting point for examining the two phones. Each phone had been taken into evidence by the local police when the crimes had occurred. Now, Connor had ordered them to be transferred to this central point for examination by the FBI—and Cami.

The police station was only a couple of streets away, closer to the center of town. It was a busy, bustling, two-story building. Connor drove around it, showed his ID to a guard at the gate behind the station, and parked off the street in a small lot behind the building. Then, they walked around it again and went in the front. The grim, late fall weather was closing in, and the afternoon was colder than the morning had been. Cami shivered as they walked around, feeling glad to get into the warmth of the police station and out of the biting wind.

"FBI here," Connor said, showing his badge. "We're here to look at the evidence from the Antoinette Carr case, in particular, the phones. Another one from a related case should have arrived here.”

"Oh, yes," the busy looking officer frowned. "I think another one of those phones came here just now, from another case. If you go to the back office, they should have them set up and charging."

Feeling intent, Cami followed Connor down the long corridor and into the back office. This room was also a hive of activity, with a couple of smaller compartments with frosted glass for privacy, and a main section with six desks crowding the space.

At one of them, Cami saw, a police officer was busy plugging in a phone. Connor headed over to him.

"FBI Agent Connor and Cami Lark," he introduced them. "These are the phones from the serial case?"

The officer nodded. "They are. It took us a while to get the right charger for the second one. And they're both locked. The phone from this morning is still on, but the other one is off."

"Thanks," Cami said.

One of the two, the one still on, was the latest model iPhone, Cami saw, already scouring her memory. They'd discussed this phone in class just a couple of days ago. Well, not while officially in class, of course. More like an unofficial discussion between Cami and a few of her friends who were equally fascinated by hacking and accessing devices.

And there was a way in. She thought back to what she'd been told.

The other one was a different type of phone, also a later model, but one which Cami felt confident she could access.

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