Page 27 of Already Lost

“Alright,” Laura said. “Well, I haveanother idea. This is so rare that it really seems like it would only be ofinterest to collectors – people who like to own rare things for the sake ofsaying that they do.”

“That makes sense,” Nate nodded. “Did youfind any?”

“I found some listings online, but only afew, and years old,” she said. “I’m thinking we make some calls and try to findout who the big record collectors are around here.”

“Where do we even start?” Nate asked witha frown. “Is there… I don’t know, some kind of forum for this?”

“Only one way to find out,” Laura said,nodding towards his computer screen.

Nate turned and typed into his searchengine, looking for results connected to the song title and singer name alongwith various keywords that might lead them to a buyer. Finally, he got a hit –an online trading forum where serious record collectors could discuss theirfinds.

“Right,” he said, reading out loud fromthe screen. “This guy, MDColl59, posted that he wants a copy of the record andasked if anyone had seen it around. He gets a whole load of nothing in thereplies. There’s even one other poster who says, ‘I’m not helping you out afterthe way you’ve treated people around here.’”

“That sounds juicy,” Laura said. “Let’s doa search for MDColl59 and see what comes up.”

Nate did as he was told, studying theresults carefully. “Here, hang on. It looks like another thread on the sameforum telling people to stay away from this collector.”

Laura scooted her chair forward to get alook at the screen herself, wanting to read it. “What are they saying?”

“Uh, let’s see – this one says he wasswiped at the last minute when the collector followed him and bid higher on therecord collection that he wanted,” he said. “Another one said it doesn’tsurprise him, MD pushed him to the floor when they were at an estate sale so hecould get the chance to bid. And this one says he’s too much of a shark tocompete with, he just leaves whenever he sees him enter an auction. And – aha!”Nate laughed, making Laura scan the screen urgently, trying to figure out whathe’d seen.

“What is it?”

“Well, then MDColl59 himself found thethread and said they were all a bunch of – well, I’ll not repeat the language,”Nate chuckled. “Looks like the thread was locked by a moderator after that.”

Laura smirked, but it wasn’t really thatfunny – after all, this man was potentially a killer. He’d clearly demonstratedviolent tendencies and wasn’t afraid to trample over others to get his way.Maybe they had a good shot here.

“Now, we just need to find out who he is,”Laura said.

“No need to try too hard,” Nate said.“Here’s another post. He’s asking for a forum member to send him something inthe mail, and he’s given his name and address. He’s a local.”

Laura hit the desk in excitement – perhapstoo hard, given how many people around them turned to stare at her. “This hasto be it,” she said. “Let’s go and get him.”

“Hold on a minute,” Nate said, shaking hishead in amusement. “Don’t forget we have to actually do due diligence. And wemight want to think about a search warrant, if we’re serious about this guy.”

“Look him up on the system,” Laura urged.

Nate turned to type, paused, and thenshook his head. “No results. He’s never been arrested.”

“Well, then, there you go!” Lauraexclaimed. “We know our suspect must not be in the system, because we don’thave his fingerprints. Come on, let’s just go and talk to him. I don’t want towait.”

“Why not?” Nate asked. “We might as welldo it right.”

“No, but this killer strikes during theday as well as the night,” Laura argued. “If we delay going over there, hemight take someone else. We can’t let that happen.”

Nate sighed and rubbed his face. “Fine.Just let me tell the captain we’re on the way so he can send backup if we needthem to, and we’ll go. But remember what I said before, Laura. No heroics.”

“We’re just going to talk to him,” Laurasmiled innocently. “And if he’s got nothing to hide, I’m sure he’ll be finewith coming over to the precinct for a little more in-depth of a chat.”

Nate shook his head and strode off.

“See you at the car!” Laura called afterhim, grabbing the keys from his desk.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Laura almost leapt out of the car as Naterolled to a stop – until his heavy “No!” stopped her in her tracks.

“What is it?” she asked, glancing around,looking for the hazard that had made him call out to her.

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