Page 43 of Just Hide

“And Mikey Becker is?”

“He’s the brother of Nadia Becker. And Nadia is a night security guard, right here at Wave Management!” Cami felt triumphant. “Nadia was mad about all of this. She’s posted reams of threatening and defamatory comments about Paula.”

To complete her theory, she turned to the staff login details. “Yup. She was on site when that camera was turned.”

“Well, then!” Connor said thoughtfully.

Nadia worked nights. She would have been able to spend a lot of uninterrupted time in the computer room, searching for replicas to Paula. And, of course, as a night worker, she had all day to track down similar looking victims.

Cami felt sure they were looking at the killer’s profile.

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

"She was mad as hell about her brother being dumped," Cami said to Connor, following the backstory as she scrolled through Nadia’s social media. "He took it very hard, and I think he might have been unstable already. He's still receiving treatment. I see from her comments that he even attempted suicide. He was not in a good place, and this caught him at a very bad time."

"That's a strong motive," Connor said. "And I like your logic behind the search."

"It's also a very personal motive,” Cami said.

She knew how deep sibling love could run. After all, Jenna never left her mind. She could see why this might have triggered a breaking point for a psychopathic killer to begin their spree.

Nadia had been on the night shift during the time when the cameras were switched. She had the access to the computers. She had the motive.

“Where does she live?” Connor asked. “You got an address there, or do you want me to look it up?”

"She lives at number eight Central Drive," Cami said. Anxiety was now surging within her. Where would Nadia be? Would she be at home, asleep, just like Cami hoped? Or would she be out, tracking another victim? That was a terrifying thought.

"Before we go, I'm going to ask the police to warn the other two possible victims," Connor said. "Let's get that done now. If they are safe and preferably guarded, then it means that at the very least, we'll slow this killer down. Are you sure you can’t get an ID on the fourth one?”

“I can’t find anything,” she said. Cami gave him the names of the other two, and Connor got hold of his office and called in the names, one by one.

As he spoke to someone she didn’t know, it made her feel a deep pain to know that two weeks ago, Ethan would have been his right-hand man and the person he called. Now, he was dealing with someone else, and Cami hadn't even registered what this man's name was. Whoever he was, he wasn't Ethan. How could he ever fill that space? Maybe he was not even permanent, she guessed. He might just be helping out temporarily when Connor was out on cases.

Connor cut the call and pocketed his phone. "Right," he said. "The local police are going to locate those women and stay with them for as long as possible. Resources permitting. It can't be forever. We need to make progress today." His voice was intense.

"Let's go," Cami said, feeling the adrenaline flooding her veins. Quickly, she packed up her laptop and phone. They went outside, and Connor drove quickly down the street, peeling off from the commercial area of town where Wave Management's offices were located and heading into the suburbs, toward Central Drive.

Cami was shocked to realize it was already late afternoon and getting dark. Where had the time gone? All that analysis in the offices had taken far longer than she'd thought. The thought of solving this case today was suddenly less of a certainty and more of a slim possibility.

"The security guards' shift starts soon," Cami remembered. "The night shift is seven p.m. to seven a.m. That's a couple of hours away."

But where would Nadia be? Shopping? At the gym? What was she likely to be doing now, with the upside-down schedule of working nights? She wasn't due at work for a while.

“I need to check her schedule. Perhaps she’s got a routine.”

Cami went searching, this time focusing on Nadia’s activities and destinations, looking for where she spent her non-work hours just in case they needed it.

The streets were dark, and the neighborhood was quiet. They drove in silence, both of them tense and alert, until they reached Central Drive. Connor drove slowly, looking for the address.

"There it is," Cami said, pointing at the house. It was a small, two-story house, with a porch light on.

Connor parked the car a few houses down, and they both got out, walking quickly but silently up the driveway.

Beyond the porch, the house was silent and dark. They could see no movement inside. There was a carport next to the house, but no car was under the covered shelter.

Connor rang the doorbell, and they waited and listened, but Cami didn't feel surprised when nobody came to the door. This house was dark, and the missing car told them that she was elsewhere.

"What now?" Cami asked, feeling a chill of fear run through her.

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