Page 21 of Girl, Empty
‘Yeah.So we can see the whole screen in one.’
'Maybe.Let me see,' Riggs stuttered.He found a magnifying glass with plus and minus signs in the corner and clicked on it with a shaking hand.The pixels became smaller, tighter, and the random scatter began to coalesce into form.
Into shape.
Ella’s heart nearly beat out of her chest,
Because spread across the screen, rendered in millions of tiny pixels, was a pentagram.
And it had somehow replaced Michael Rankin's financial data in the hours since his death.
CHAPTER EIGHT
The precinct office they'd been assigned wasn't the worst Ella had worked in, which qualified as a minor miracle.Two desks that only wobbled slightly, windows that actually opened, and a whiteboard that someone had tried to clean but had only succeeded in creating smears.She was happy to live here for the foreseeable future.
Ripley dropped her bag on the desk closest to the window and immediately began her ritual of territorial marking.Then she went over and tested the coffee machine.‘So.Pentagram,’ she said.
‘Pentagram indeed.’
‘What do you make of that?And how did it get on there?’
Ella had thought of nothing else on the journey to the precinct.‘I’m no tech expert, but is it possible someone accessed Rankin’s computer remotely?’
‘Can that happen?’
‘Why couldn’t it?Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, intranet, shared networks.There’s probably a hundred ways to do it.Riggs thinks so too.’
The coffee machine spat out something that Ripley seemed content with.‘Or someone accessed it after Rankin died.’
‘You’re thinking Riggs.Or one of the other cops.’
‘Detective Cheekbones?I’m not thinking him at all.’
Ella lowered her voice.‘Why not?He was alone with that computer.He has a PhD in computer science.He’s also pretty enough to make people stupid.’
‘He’d also be the dumbest criminal in history.If he wanted to get away with murder, he wouldn’t invite the FBI into his investigation.He could have just wrapped it up as a suicide or burglary gone wrong.’
‘Maybe that’s exactly the point.You know how many killers have sought us out because they want to prove they can beat us.’
‘You sound insane, you know that?Did you see the look on Riggs’s face when that pentagram popped up?He looked like he was going to throw up.’
‘Alright, so he’s a good actor.’
‘He’s a terrible actor.If anyone’s in on it, it’s that security guard.We need to speak to him as soon as he’s ready.’
Ella plugged in her laptop, considering.The truth was that everyone was a suspect in an impossible murder.When physics said no one could have done it, you had to assume everyone might have done it.But as always, Ripley had a point.Guilty parties didn't typically invite federal scrutiny unless they were either incredibly stupid or incredibly confident.Riggs struck her as neither.
‘What about the pentagram itself?What’s it mean?’
‘Wiccan?Occult?Vampire?Satanic cult?Take your pick.’
‘Those types of killers are mostly myths,’ Ella said.‘There’ve only been a handful of them in history, and absolutely zero satanic cult murders ever.You know this.’
‘Locked door mysteries are mostly myths too, but we’re dealing with one of those.’
As if summoned by his name, Detective Riggs popped his head around the door.‘I’ve got the CCTV footage lined up for you, and a chain smoking security guard who’s ready to talk.’
‘Let’s do both at once,’ Ripley said.‘He can talk us through the footage.’
