Page 9 of 36 Hours

EIGHT

7.30A.M.

‘Who knew Frost had dated a certified nerd?’ Bryant asked as he programmed the satnav for the Seekers Inc headquarters.

‘Pretty big news she dated at all,’ Kim said, turning to look out of the window. And it was a relationship that had left a mark on the reporter. Although they weren’t friends, Kim knew the woman well enough to tell when she was bristling. She hadn’t even wanted to say the man’s name, but she’d been sure that Ryan Douglas was capable of setting up this and maybe more.

She pushed the thought aside and settled in for the journey while sifting through the doubts in her head.

Was she overreacting to what could be a hoax at Frost’s expense by an ex-boyfriend?

Whenever she brought that thought to the front of her mind, her gut reacted instantly that it wasn’t the case. This wasn’t something she’d ever encountered before. She and her team were now on a mission to try and prevent people getting hurt. Their involvement normally came on the other side and the person was already hurt – or worse, dead.

Was she wasting her time travelling to Seekers Inc? What exactly were they going to be able to tell her? A small voice assured her they could tell her more than she knew now. They specialised in this kind of game, and now they had a direct link between the site and Frost.

They had already been told this was going to last for thirty-six hours, so she knew they only had the first clue.

She had no idea what happened if they didn’t solve it in time, and she just hoped the team would have some answers for her soon.

NINE

8A.M.

Stacey couldn’t help but find it a bit unnerving having Frost stationed at the spare desk.

It was an area that had accommodated many experts and consultants over the years, but having Frost taking up space hadn’t been on her bingo card.

‘You’re watching me again,’ Frost said, raising her head and meeting Stacey’s gaze.

‘You make me nervous,’ Stacey said honestly.

‘Of what?’

‘Having a conversation,’ she said, nodding towards Penn, who was now listening and who had also been silent since the boss had left. ‘Normally we’d be throwing around ideas, spinning theories, bouncing off each other.’

Frost looked from her to Penn. ‘What’s stopping you?’

‘Not knowing how much of what we say is gonna end up in one of your articles either now or sometime in the future.’

‘Absolutely nothing. Firstly, I brought this to you, so I’m just as invested. Secondly, I don’t even care about your conversations. Thirdly, it has been made very clear to me what I’ll lose if one word of what you discuss leaves this room.’

‘What will you lose?’ Penn asked.

‘According to your boss, my life.’

In spite of herself, Stacey chuckled. Not one of them understood the dynamic between the boss and the reporter, but if Kim trusted her, then she had to as well.

She just couldn’t help feeling that Frost was judging their every move. While attempting to track the phone number being used by the Jester, she’d found herself wondering if Frost was thinking she was wasting her time or thinking she should have been working on something else. It would be no surprise to anyone that the phone he was using was a burner, but they’d had to check it out.

Stacey resolved that she would do her job normally and pretend Frost wasn’t even in the room.

‘Okay, Penn,’ she said, turning her attention back to her colleague and the case. ‘What are you working on?’

‘I tried googling the name “the Jester”, but without a team of five to work through the millions of search results, I’m a bit stuck on that.’

Stacey could imagine. She had been searching for anything similar in other forces’ records and had so far come up blank. She’d had the same result checking for the Jester on the main boards of the Seekers’ and other geocaching sites.

Of the other tasks set by the boss, Frost herself was working on why he’d chosen her, so that left only one thing they could do.