Page 52 of Girl, Undone
Ella pushed back her hair, holding it in a ponytail with her fist.‘God damn it.’
‘But…’
A flame of hope ignited in Ella’s core.‘But what?Please say you’ve got a magic trick up your sleeve.’
‘Youcanfind those details, providing the app has a community section.You know, like forums, discussion pages, that kind of thing.Those kinds of places require sign-ups, verifications, cell phone numbers, email addresses, and a lot of users can choose what information to broadcast publicly.'
Ella slammed her palms on the table.‘Yes!That could be exactly what we need.What do you need to know?’
Amelia navigated through the digital maze to a new location and said, ‘Your victims’ names.’
‘Julia Dawson, Thomas Barker.’
‘Julia Dawson… Thomas Barker,’ Amelia repeated.Ella held her breath, fearing that any comfort might disqualify her from a breakthrough.‘Ugh, nothing.No user profiles by those names.’
Ella’s face fell flat.‘Nothing?Are you sure?’
‘Pretty sure, but let me try something else.Do you have their email addresses?’
Ella's eyes lit up.‘Yes, their emails.Hold on.’She rummaged through the files on her desk and landed on the victim profiles.
‘Here,’ Ella said, pointing to the details in Julia’s profile even though Amelia couldn’t see it.‘Julia’s is [email protected].’
Amelia typed it in.New digital pathways emerged.Ella watched closely, still unsure what she was looking at.
But then it appeared.
‘Got you!’Amelia said down the phone.‘Julia Dawson is registered on here.Username is Mockingbird84.
Ella fought the urge to punch the air.Premature celebrations always led to disappointment. ‘Yes!And try the next [email protected].’
The screen flickered.Data streaming past.‘Tom… the great one,’ Amelia said.‘Bingo!Present and accounted for.Username is BuriedInThePast.’
Ella breathed deeply and stared at the data in front of her, reaching beyond the physical confines to the uncharted territories of her mind.All of her victims were on the Scarecrow app, and that wasn’t a coincidence.
‘Posts?Activity?’Ella pleaded.
‘Sorry.No public activity on either account.Zero posts.That doesn’t mean they weren’t chatting in private, though.But again, you’d have to go to the encryption company or the devs for that.’
Ella dropped her head down again, lost in the swirling grain on her desk.The revelation that all of her victims were on the Scarecrow app was a breakthrough.But like an elusive shadow, the deeper secrets of their interactions remained hidden, guarded by the fortress of encryption.
Then something struck her.
‘Devs?’she asked.
‘Developers.The architects.Are we finished here?’
A sudden plan began to crystallize in Ella's mind.‘Yes, you’ve helped me crack this wide open.Please get back to bed.I’ll tell Vernon you helped me tomorrow.’
‘Glad to be of assistance.Hope you get back to base soon.’
Ella was running on fumes, but there was no timeout in games of death.She was on the trail of something, and she’d just found her next move.
CHAPTER TWENTY NINE
Ella was researching everything she could about the Scarecrow app, and in the past hour had discovered that it was invented two years ago by a New York native named Dylan Hartley.For the time being, it only utilized therapists in Wisconsin and Illinois, which was good news for Ella.
Additionally, the app had been the subject of controversy upon its release.Initially, the platform offered what it calledvirtual reality exposure therapy, which reportedly helped users confront their worst fears in a controlled virtual environment.The gimmick had not been well-received by a range of mental health professionals, and had thus lobbied for the virtual reality feature to be removed.It was counterintuitive to successful healing, they’d said, and the developers behind Scarecrow had obliged.
