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“Pretty shitty that we can’t protect her. We don’t even know who or what it is. I can’t settle on what the goal is here?”
I move across from them with my coffee in hand, nodding slowly. “You’re right. Okay so, let’s work out what we do know.”
“Are you serious?” Asher shoots me a withering glare. “All we’ve been doing is hashing this out.”
“We’re clearly missing something,” I snap back, fighting against the urge to get heated. It’s no one’s fault, and fighting amongst ourselves won’t help anyone. “Let’s go back to the beginning.”
Asher puffs out his cheeks and rubs at his beard, then he throws one arm out in defeat. “Fine. Her car got broken into.”
“Random act?” I ask. “Or targeted?”
“Feels random,” Caspian says. “It’s a common crime, especially around campus and beyond. Plus she admitted to having her laptop in the back seat. Crime of opportunity?”
“Although if we say it’s targeted then, why?” Asher resumes picking at the crack on my counter.
“To scare her?” I offer. “Steal from her. Force her to do something.”
“It forced her to ask her parents for help, but that can’t be it. She wasn’t exactly estranged from them and has been living a life for them.” Bitter coffee washes over my tongue as I drink deeply.
“Then there was the club, right?” Asher straightens up. “She got drugged in the club and a mystery person brought her home.”
“She started sleepwalking,” Caspian adds. “Misplacing things.”
“Then we had the cabin, the shadowy figure Caspian saw,” I add.
“Do you think someone followed us up there?” Asher glances between the two of us. “Or followed Emma?”
“Maybe.” My brow pulls low. “But even then, that’s so risky because her parents and everything were supposed to be there that weekend, right? There’s no way anyone but us could know that they canceled.”
“Then those pictures were stolen, and my art studio was wrecked,” Caspian says. “I still can’t decide if that’s related or not.”
“Everything could be at this point.” I drain my mug and set it down with a light clatter. “Then we were attacked in her home. Someone broke in and came right to her bedroom. Nothing was stolen, so I don’t believe the cops’ theory that it was someone trying to steal shit after breaking into her car.”
“I don’t know about the other stuff,” Asher says slowly, and it’s like a light has come on behind his eyes. “But whoever drugged her and took her home that night, assuming it’s the same person, would have had the perfect opportunity to clone her phone and her keys.”
“What are you saying?” I ask as my stomach twists uncomfortably.
“Think about it. She mentioned in passing that stuff was going missing, right? Like her phone and the window opening and losing underwear. She put it down to her sleepwalking, but if she was so out of it that night, then whoever was with her easily could have cloned both. A set of keys to let themselves in.”
“Oh fuck,” Caspian breathes, getting onto the same wavelength. “A cloned phone would explain how they’d know she was alone at the cabin since we turned up unannounced. And they’d have access to her emails. They’d know she’d reached out to that course since she never told a soul.”
Out of all the theories and ideas we’ve had, this is the only one that makes any kind of sense.
“Okay, okay.” I begin to pace, repeating their theory in my mind. “So this asshole breaks into her car looking for anything, ends up taking her laptop but that would only be good to track her until she reported it stolen, and changed all her passwords and things. So they follow her and drug her in order to clone her phone and her keys.”
“She’d never know,” Asher adds. “So she wouldn’t be changing any passwords after that.”
“But if they want her so badly, and they have her keys, why not break in sooner and do whatever it is they wanted to do?” I meet Asher’s gaze. “Why wait?”
“Maybe they’ve liked toying with her?” he offers.
“But who?” Caspian snaps suddenly. “Even if we’re right, we have no idea who it could be since her ex is apparently a reformed asshole.
“That doesn’t rule him out,” I remind him. “That just makes him less likely.”
“Or more likely,” Asher grumbles. “Since we have no other suspects. She’s the sweetest person in the entire world. Who would have issues with her other than her ex?”
“Her friend?” Caspian prompts.
