Page 32 of Just Hide

"Okay. In that case, we're looking for anyone who's had erratic work performance the past few days or who's taken leave from work. The person we're looking for would have needed to be in Boston at the murder sites at about eight a.m. this morning and about ten a.m. yesterday morning, and then again on Monday, probably at around eight a.m."

As Connor spoke, Maria's fingers were tapping her keyboard as she input the days and times. "Our team here mostly works flexible hours. Some people start early, some finish late. Some will work twelve hours one day and take a half day the next," she said. "But I'm going to look for absences that run across all those days first."

Cami waited, feeling expectant. So much rested on what would happen now. Would there be someone who had taken the week off unexpectedly to commit these terrible crimes?

"There are a few people who have not been into work this week." Narrowing her eyes, Maria stared at the list, muttering to herself. "There's a reason for him being away. He's just had an operation. And there's a reason for these three people. He's out of state on his honeymoon, he's working in our LA office this week, and she's in New York this week. The others ..." She tapped her pen on the desk. "The others, you can look into."

"What are the names?" Connor asked.

"Sonja Derrick is the vice head of our IT security team. She hasn't been in. Then the other two are Adam Anderson, our marketing manager, and Sarah Thompson, who's Adam's PA."

Cami felt a surge of excitement. They had their first suspects. Now, she could get to work. Here were three names they could focus on.

"We'll need to look into each of them," Connor said. "Any others?"

"No others who have been off work since Monday. I can pass on the contact details for those three," Maria said, sounding more reluctant this time.

Meanwhile, Cami was already logging into social media. She had three people to investigate, and she couldn't wait to make a start. She got three different browser tabs open to speed things up and then went on a search of the three possibilities.

At a quick glance, she knew immediately who her strongest suspect was.

Without a doubt, it was Adam Anderson. Already, Cami could see that his interaction was highly suspicious.

Incriminating, even,she thought, with a flare of excitement.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

"Look here," Cami said to Connor, feeling keen to explore this new lead. "Adam Anderson seems to have a grudge against pretty females. He's one of those types. He's posted negative, angry comments about 'women with looks and no brains.’ He seems to be very resentful of them. I'm sure it's all a bit of fantasy, but it's still pretty incriminating."

"What else do you have on these people?" Connor asked. "Three employees will take a lot of checking. We need to prioritize. Get the most likely one first and then the others. Who’s the next one, do you think?"

Cami nodded. "We should look into Sonja Derrick, who works in IT security," she said. "She may have had access to sensitive data that could be linked to the murders. We should track her activities and see if there's anything suspicious."

Could she narrow down any of these employees by checking their online interactions? Adam was definitely ringing alarm bells the loudest with those comments, so she looked at him first.

She sighed in disappointment as she looked further into Adam's social media.

"He checked into the local doctor's rooms at exactly the time yesterday's murder was committed," she said, sounding disappointed. "And then he checked into the local drugstore. I see here that he canceled a music practice last night saying he was sick."

Those could all be a carefully created alibi, but Cami didn't think so. His check-ins were live, and the days of absence from work and the cancelation of the social engagements pointed to genuine illness.

"It seems like he has the flu," Cami said, nosing around further. She'd managed to get into a chat board that he was on—Musos in Passion.

"Sorry, dudes,"he'd written."I'm out for the count. My throat's killing me."

"Can I come around and drop off some meds?"someone else had responded.

"Yeah, please. I'm home all day. Just call first because I'm in bed and I need to get downstairs to unlock the door."

That had been yesterday.

"I think he's genuinely sick," Cami said. "Yes, he's commented in an insulting way on 'beautiful women' but I don't think he did this. I don't think he could have, looking at his interactions and check-ins."

"Okay. We're going to put him on the 'non-urgent' list," Connor said. "I'll ask the local police department to go around there and confirm his whereabouts, but it doesn't sound like he's our guy. How about the others?"

Cami glanced at his own screen. Connor had the police database open and was cross-checking these three suspects with the police records to see if any of them had any arrests or any backgrounds of run-ins with the law.

"I'm looking up Sonja Derrick now," Cami said.

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