“That’s a long way for him to go for something like this,” Bronwyn said, shooting that down.
“He takes his time, and he sets it up though. He’s local enough to go to any of these places and watch.”
“Do you think the watching is the main part?” Bronwyn asked.
“No, I think concluding this is. He may not know if his victims have all done what he asked them to do, but I think, in this case, he can check the obituaries, check with the police, or something.”
“And we won’t really get a handle on that until we do more investigation. And, of course, time is at a premium.”
“Okay,” Colby said, “but you’ve got this girl safe, right?”
Kate frowned. “Initially she wouldn’t let us come in, and she didn’t want anybody with her,” she said, “but she was definitely in a different mind-set once we talked.”
“Of course, but she’s vulnerable though”—Colby arched one eyebrow—“and, if this guy got to her somehow…”
Kate added, “I thought for sure she’d be okay because now she seemed to be quite aware that this online stalker’s targeting multiple people, and we were on to him.”
“Maybe,” Bronwyn said, doubt evidently in her tone.
Kate pulled out her phone and sent Simon a text. When there was no answer, she frowned and said, “Crap, now Simon isn’t answering.”
“Simon?” Bronwyn asked.
Kate didn’t even bother with a reply but looked over at Rodney and saw he was busy screening video too. “Rodney, have you seen a little red truck anywhere around the bridge?”
“Yeah,” he said, “it’s often in the pull out.”
“Interesting,” she muttered. “What we need to know is if this guy’s a camera buff or something.”
“I’m pulling everything I can on him,” Bronwyn said. “He’s got a couple parking tickets and a speeding ticket out in Richmond.”
“When was that?” Kate asked.
Bronwyn looked at her and said, “Is there a date you’re interested in?”
Kate brought up her spreadsheets and said, “Well, there was a jumper in that area on the seventeenth.”
“Okay, let me check.” Bronwyn whistled. “And that’s when he got the ticket.”
“Wow, seriously?”
“Yeah, so we can place him in the same area on that date too.”
“Yeah,” Kate said. “You know what? We might have someone here as a viable suspect. I sure hope so. This has been driving me nuts.”
“Well, not just you, although you’re the only one who thought it was a problem.”
“No, Simon did,” she said. “He’s the one who pushed me in that direction.”
“Oh,” Bronwyn said, “thatSimon.”
Kate glared at her. “What does that mean?”
Bronwyn raised her hands. “Nothing,” she said, “but it sounds like this guy will be a huge help in closing cases.”
“Trouble is, he doesn’t get to pick the cases,” Kate said, “so just because he says it’s a case, that doesn’t mean that we’re all that concerned.”
“I guess that’s the problem with this one, isn’t it? They were all jumpers, and suicide isn’t considered a crime.”