Page 115 of Asher's Assignment

“How’s Esther?” Edie asked as they stepped into the lift. “Still sleeping?”

“No. She woke up not long before he arrived.” Asher hooked a thumb toward Stroud. “She’s groggy, but coherent. The nurse was going to hook her up to a pain pump now that she’s awake to keep her comfortable. I imagine they’ll try to get her up and at least into a chair later today.”

“Did you get some rest? I poked my head in an hour or so ago and saw you passed out.”

“I slept a little. I’m fine.”

She hummed.

Stroud snorted. “Can you make him stay here tonight? Maybe take away his car keys so he doesn’t show up at my house before the sun comes up?”

“He had info, and I’d have done the same thing.” Edie gave the detective a pointed look.

“You all are nuts,” he muttered.

“We prefer efficient,” she said.

The elevator doors slid open, and they stepped into the lobby. Stroud led them out of the building to his cruiser. “You guys have a way to get back up here? I’m not sure I’ll be able to bring you back.”

“My rental is with Audra in Heron Ridge. She can bring us,” Edie said.

“Sounds good.” Stroud unlocked the vehicle. “Get in.”

Asher let Edie sit in front, while he crammed his long legs into the back seat.

“Are you sure you don’t want to sit up here?” Edie twisted in her seat as Stroud started the engine. “It’s not a short trip.”

“Positive. I’m going to check on my search.” As of the time he went to sleep, he didn’t have any hits on Vanessa’s social media.

“How do you have an internet connection?” Stroud glanced in the rearview mirror.

“Hotspot.”

“Oh. Right. Sorry. It’s been a long day.”

Asher knew the feeling.

Opening the laptop, he pulled up the search screen. It was done, and there were results. “Bingo.”

“You got something?” Edie turned.

“Yep. Now we just have to hope the pages aren’t set to private.” That would take time, and he doubted Stroud would appreciate him breaching the platforms’ firewalls to get to Vanessa’s accounts.

The first account he clicked through had very little on it that was public. He scrolled through a few tags, looking at pictures of her with friends, but didn’t see anyone who jumped out at him. The second account was much the same way. But the third one was a treasure trove. It looked like she’d tried to be an influencer, so much of her content was public.

A series of photographs from last year caught his attention. “Hello.” He zoomed in. “Got you.”

“What?” Stroud glanced back.

“Lennox is in some of her pictures. I don’t think he knows it. She was taking selfies with some other women. He’s behind them.”

“He talking to anyone?”

Asher tipped his head, zooming in. “Yeah. There’s someone there, but I can’t tell who.”

“You did all this legally, right? So I can use it?”

“Yes. Nothing I accessed was behind a firewall. And the search program I used is one I wrote. It’s just basic facial recognition.”

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