CHAPTER TWENTY SIX
Now that Cami had the idea of going into Bordercross in her head, she couldn’t shift it. Surely there would be a chance that she could create a character that would lure this killer in—assuming he was not the man sitting in the interview room.
Leeming might not be the killer, but he was clearly resisting questioning every step of the way for different reasons, and it would take time to get past all the levels of resistance he was putting up. Maybe he was telling the honest truth and really had just messaged Adriana wanting to meet up. And he could have driven past Liz’s house accidentally. It was in a busy area. There was a restaurant at the end of her street, and a few office parks in the neighborhood.
It would be a good idea to try another tactic at the same time. There was no way of knowing whether it would work in this situation, but she at least wanted to try.
Gaining enthusiasm for her idea, Cami knew she needed to create a character that a killer would want to meet up with, someone who would get his attention, and who would make him want to take the next step. It made sense.
“Right,” Connor told her, as they trudged into the office. “We’re going to take an hour’s break. Leave him to cool off. See if we get a different story when we go back in.”
“Connor, I’ve had an idea,” Cami said.
Connor stared at her, with a look in his eyes that said at this point in time, and after this day, he was not ready for any idea that was a wild theory. Which hers was, of course. Cami knew she’d have to sell it to him, hard.
“What if Leeming is not the killer?” she asked.
He sighed. “That’s the worst-case scenario for sure. If we can’t prove anything, we’ll have to start again. I’m working on his whereabouts. The Hyatt will have cameras and we can potentially try to trace his comings and goings, from the hotel at least, through the cameras. But the footage from that might only be available tomorrow unless we drive there and look through it all now.”
Cami nodded. That was going to be a long process. Just as long and tortuous as finding the number plate similarities.
She checked her program again. It had finished running now but had not picked up another match in the vehicles.
But that might just mean this killer was very local, Cami decided. He might have driven to Adriana but walked to Liz. He might have taken a cab to one and a different cab to the other. If he was local, he knew the terrain, he knew his stamping ground.
Or rather his hunting ground.
“I was wondering if I should go into the game and see if I can lure him,” Cami said.
“How would you do that?”
“Log in to the game. Use an IP address that doesn’t connect back to a police station, maybe just link to the cell network near here, and see if I could somehow get see him and get him to follow me?”
“Would that even be possible?”
Cami shrugged. “I don’t know, but he’s clearly got a set of parameters in place that he’s using, and one of them must be to find local people. If he has got a way of hunting for me that bypasses the network and brings up my personal information, then all he’ll see is that I’m a student. He won’t see that I’m law enforcement. So, he might go for it, and decide to follow me.”
Connor frowned. “It’s worth a try, then, but we need to go back in after an hour. So, whatever you do, make it quick, and don’t get too caught up in it.”
“I won’t, I will make sure to be ready in an hour,” Cami promised.
She felt like she was taking part in the investigation in a whole new way now.
This was where she made her mark. This was where she could have a role in catching the killer.
She felt surprisingly nervous, knowing that her theory would only work if he was online and hunting at the time.
But he might be. If he wasn’t sitting in the police interview room, of course, he would be online. Surely it would take tons of research to narrow down the right victim. That research would be time consuming. Perhaps it was all part of the fun for him.
Cami logged into the game on her phone and set about creating a character that she thought would appeal to him. She remembered how the avatars had looked that he’d chosen: bright, eye-catching, and feminine.
It had to be something that would get attention. She needed to stand out, for him to stop and look at her and think, “That one’s different.” She had to sell herself to him.
Cami decided she had to be feminine too. She’d be a brunette. She’d be petite. She’d have a low neckline showing off her shapely form, with a flirty, colorful dress and high heels.
She’d have a glossy smile and big eyes.
She would create a character that was confident. The other avatars had all seemed confident. Perhaps there was something about that which this killer was drawn to. She’d be confident in her looks, but not conceited. She’d be confident in her attire and expression, but not showy.