Page 65 of Asher's Assignment

They bid each other farewell and hung up.

Esther set the phone down and leaned on her elbows, covering her face. She liked Edie’s confidence, but she also knew that the guys worked as a well-oiled team. Audra and Brooke might have great resources, but the issue was lining up those resources in a timely fashion, so the investigation didn’t stall.

She huffed and dropped her hands. There was no use worrying about it. She couldn’t control any of it or magically make the guys feel better. The circumstances were what they were, and they needed to use them the best they could.

Pushing to her feet, she went into the kitchen to make some coffee. Sleep wasn’t an option, and she couldn’t sit around and do nothing. But she wasn’t sure what to do, exactly.

What Asher said about how Rob Tyler couldn’t be Leah’s father rumbled around in her brain. Maybe she could dig into Connie’s past. And Leah’s. There were probably news articles about the girl. She remembered hearing about fundraisers for her—had contributed to some. She’d start there. It might end up being a dead end, but she couldn’t just sit idle.

While the coffeepot gurgled, she ran upstairs to grab her laptop. Computer and steaming mug of coffee in hand, she parked herself on the couch again and opened her web browser.

And stared.

She didn’t know what to type. Information gathering wasn’t her thing. Not like this. She surfed the web for art projects and gourmet coffee. Not dirt on a past someone didn’t want found.

Esther sucked in a breath and held it for a moment. What would Asher do? Where would he start?

She let the air out of her lungs and tapped the keyboard with her nails. Social media?

It could work. If Connie had a presence there.

Only one way to find out.

Esther logged into one of her social media accounts and typed Connie’s name into the search bar. A list populated, but none of the profile pictures looked like Connie Tyler. She tried Leah’s name, hoping there was a page dedicated to supporting her transplant journey.

An icon with a ribbon around a heart caught her eye. “Bingo.”

She clicked on it. Leah’s smiling face stared back at her. Esther cruised through the list of people following the page; most were teachers or other people in their community. There were some she didn’t recognize.

She set the laptop down and got up to retrieve paper and a pen. She’d go through them and write down the ones that might warrant further investigation.

Once she finished with that platform, she logged into another and did the same thing. On the third and fourth ones, she didn’t find any info on Connie or Leah. But she’d gathered a small list from the others. It probably wouldn’t pan out to anything, but she felt productive.

With the social media platforms scoured, Esther paused, tapping at the keyboard again. She wasn’t sure what to do next.

The AI button in the corner of the page caught her eye, and an idea struck her. Couldn’t those things search by picture?

She clamped her teeth down on her bottom lip. Maybe she could find a family photo.

Pulling up a search engine, she typed Leah’s name and their town into the search bar. A local news article popped up, and she clicked on it.

“Yes!” she hissed, seeing the image that appeared. Saving it to her computer, she cropped it so only Connie’s face appeared, then went back to the search engine and used the AI image search tool. It was a long shot, but she could get lucky.

Her phone chimed.

“Oh!” She jumped, startled by the sudden noise, jostling the computer. At least she hadn’t been taking a drink.

Esther leaned forward and picked up the phone, her heart hammering in her chest. An international number appeared. “Whoa. Who did you call, Audra?” She slid her thumb over the screen and answered it. “Hello?”

“Hi. Is this Esther Campbell?” The lilting, female British voice sounded pleasant and kind.

“Yes.”

“Brilliant. My name is Jo Richardson. Audra asked me to call you. Fill me in. I got the basics from her, but she said you have all the particulars.”

“I guess so. What do you want to know?”

“Start from the beginning. It’ll help me build a picture of what’s going on and where I need to focus my search.”

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