Page 113 of You Found Me

“Maybe.” Annie looked doubtful. “Yan Vitali seems more the type to me. He’s a rabid-dog kind of fan, and he tried to bust into a concert before.”

“I can’t find a trace of him online since just before the bedroom break-in,” Spencer said. “According to his publicist, he’s on a deep-woods fishing trip with a couple of buddies, but there hasn’t been any chatter about it.”

“Fishing,” Ward mused. “Sounds like code for something to me. Rehab?”

“Maybe,” Annie said. “From what Diggs found, Vitali is brilliant but unstable. Could be drugs, or maybe he’s getting ready for a new role. He’s the method-actor type. He throws himself into a character and stays there until shooting is done, according to the tabloids.”

“Yeah, he played an escape artist for theLegendsreboot, and he actually studied with Anthony Martin.” Spencer’s enthusiasm lit his face. “He’s the guy who does those escape-or-die stunts.According to IMDB, that big scene at the end wasn’t a stunt double. Vitali did the whole thing himself, including the jump from the fifteenth floor.”

Now that was interesting information.

Ward leaned forward. “Could Vitali hack websites, or pick the lock on a window, or mess with the electronics on the gate?”

Spencer flicked a few keys. “Martin is a bonded locksmith, so Vitali certainly could have learned how. And Vitali once played that creepy cable guy, which would have given him technical skills with surveillance cameras and wiring if he followed through on the whole method approach. One more thing that’s interesting is that his linguistics are a close match to the headlines posted in the last two weeks.”

Spencer’s face vanished, replaced by a website. “This thread is all about possible Della sightings. I’m pretty sure that Vitali is BellBelle42.”

If we don’t see her sweet sunny face soon, we need to demand proof of life from her sisters and her manager. Why are they hiding her?

The post had generated over five thousand responses so far, and resulted in the suggestion that they storm Belhurst Castle.

“Keep Renic informed,” Ward said. “He should think about additional security in case they follow through on that idea.”

“Already done,” Spencer said.

Ward leaned back in the chair and studied his notes. “Primaries now are Vitali, then Mandel. Hume’s not off the list yet unless you can pinpoint where he was during the break-in.”

“I’ll have more information after brunch today. Maybe it’ll eliminate Mandel,” Annie said as she smoothed the jacket of her suit. “Speaking of…I need to leave in thirty.”

“Almost done here.” Ward mulled over all the information they had so far. Nothing quite fit. There were pieces of the puzzle missing, and without them, they’d never get the big picture. Theshort list seemed weak. “None of these guys are making my gut happy. We need to kick things up. Let’s switch sides. Spencer, how hard would it be to plant a false trail on those forums?”

Ward wroteTrap?and circled it.

“Super easy. I just need to create a new account.” Spencer started tapping on his keyboard.

“Good.” Ward glanced at Annie. “What would make our stalker take the bait?”

Annie leaned back. “Fake a picture of her out and about somewhere believable. Nothing too obvious, like anywhere near her sisters. Our psycho’s probably watching them. He’d know it was fake.”

“Agreed,” Ward said.

“What about New York?” Annie said. “She used to live here. It’s easy to believe she’d come back. I could get some shots while I’m out today that Spence could doctor.”

“I can deepfake Della into whatever you send.” Spencer turned to another monitor and typed something. “Maybe you should get shots around her former apartment. One of the letters mentioned how unsuitable it was for her several times in his letters and emails. It might make him comment on her being back there.”

“Good point.” Ward doodled arrows around the wordtrap. “Let’s take it one step further. See if you can find anything for sale or rent that’s similar to what Della used to own and post that along with the doctored photo. Make it look like she’s moving back to the Big Apple. He didn’t like her living there. Maybe that’ll trigger him into something stupid.”

“On it.” Spencer sounded distracted. He’d probably already drafted the fake post and had moved on to writing a follow-up news story. “I’ll text you when it all goes live.”

“Good work. Both of you.” Ward reached for the button to end the session.

“Hang on. I need to run something by you,” Annie said. “I’ll text you updates, Spence.”

“See ya.” He waved and signed off, leaving Ward and Annie alone on the call.

“So,” Annie’s face was a mask of calm concern, “is there anything going on in that sleepy little town that we should know about?”

Ward leaned back in his chair and kept his face neutral. “No.”