At that, Andy’s phone dinged. He pulled it up casually, took a look, then frowned and said, “I just got a message from somebody on the loop.” He left their meeting and headed back to the bullpen.
“How do you know that?” everybody asked, crowding around him at his computer.
“Because I deliberately left a different email address, so, if they wanted to contact me directly, they could. This guy is making a comment about me needing help. But saying that, in some cases,” he read it off, “in some cases, suicide often comes to mind as being my best option.”
“So,” Rodney said, “he’s making it personal, as if you both are in the same boat.”
“And, for all we know, heisin the same boat,” Colby said. “We can’t assume that just because somebody messaged him privately that it’s the killer.”
“No, if there even is one,” Kate said quietly, “and I’m not so far gone that I haven’t kept that in mind.”
“Good,” he said. “That’s important too.”
She nodded. “I get it. I really do. But, in this instance, it’s also interesting that somebody reached out beyond the chat.”
Andy looked up, nodded, and said, “I’ll respond, and we’ll see if we can get this chat to keep going.”
“I wish we could check the history, but nothing was there.”
“You mean, on David’s computer?”
“Yes, unless he deleted his.” She frowned at that, picked up the phone to contact the computer forensics geeks, “Stoop, Kate here. I’ll give you an email name and address.” Then she read off the information from Andy’s screen.
“Hang on.”
She heard Stoop typing in the background, she presumed going through David’s emails.
“Well, several are from that email address,” he said. “Interesting.”
“What it is?”
“Well, it starts off friendly enough but then isn’t so friendly.”
“That’s not the same email address that sent the image of David’s wife, right?”
“No,” he said, “not at all. But it’s another sender who appears to be both sympathetic, yet angry.”
“Seems like a lot of these people are in that boat,” she wondered.
“Or they’re just manipulative,” he said sarcastically.
When she looked up, she saw Colby had already left the bullpen. She looked over to Andy, who was busy answering the direct message he had. “Keep an eye on it, will you?” she told Stoop. “On those particular emails, keep track of whatever might be posted and whatever might be coming from those emails and sent to others. He’s just contacted Andy here, who set up the suicidal chat persona.”
“Now that would be interesting. Does Andy have any family or anybody who could be used to pressure him?”
“He’s recently divorced, with kids,” she said quietly, turning to look at him. “I don’t think any of us really thought of that.”
“Well, it might be a good time to,” Stoop said. “I don’t know what happens if this guy’s threats aren’t carried out.”
“Meaning?”
“Well, the photo of David’s wife had a bullet hole in her head,” he said. “If David hadn’t committed suicide, you’ve got to wonder if this guy would have followed through with the threat.”
“It doesn’t bear thinking about,” she said, pinching the bridge of her nose, hard.
“No, but we have to. Once you head down this pathway, and people put that thread out there, the question now becomes whether or not they will make it real or if they will just stay hidden and make it a joke. Or, over time, will they become more emboldened by this behavior, until they feel like they can make good on the threat?”
“Exactly,” she said.