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Being off the grid, and at the same time all over the online world, presented them with an unusual challenge, but May hoped that because of his digital presence and high profile, Jacob Hargreaves would not be invisible, and it would be possible for her and Owen to locate him.
They drove straight to the Fairshore police department, where May rushed through to the back office. Sitting down at her desk, she began the important business of research.
Firstly, she wanted to learn more about Jacob Hargreaves. Who was he, and what had he done? Was there, in fact, any history of violence?
"I'm going to see if he has a record," she told Owen, opening her laptop. "First things first, I want to know if he's had any charges laid in the past."
"I'm going to start tracking him down as well," Owen said.
May looked up the name, working on one side of the desk with Owen on the other. She looked up the name Jacob Hargreaves, cross-referencing it with all the local databases.
While she waited for them to give her results, Owen was getting them faster.
"I'm watching a video here," he said, turning his screen so that May could see. "Take a look at this. He's describing how to forage for berries.
Immediately, May saw that Jacob was a charismatic figure. With his short beard, his mane of tawny hair, and his big shoulders, he was a leonine personality. Add a flashing smile, and she could see why his followers numbered in the hundreds of thousands.
"Now, berries are powerhouses of nutrition," he was saying, his piercing blue eyes fixed on the camera lens. It looked as ifhe was in the middle of the woods. Trees framed the backdrop, thick and dark.
Most definitely, this man had a lot of charm, and May had the sense he was speaking to her and her alone.
"They truly are a superfood. Juicy, tasty, and with a lot of bang for the forager's buck, so to speak. So, I'm going to show you some of my favorites, the most gorgeous little gifts that are nestling in nature's hideaways. And at the same time, I'm also going to show you a few types that you definitely want to avoid, because there are a few berries that are toxic to humans. Here's how to tell the difference."
Taking the focus off Jacob himself, May took a look at the background. But it was impossible to tell where Jacob was from his surroundings. It could have been anywhere. However, what she did notice was that he seemed to be based in the thick, remote woodland. And there was a yurt to the right of him. He was a tent dweller, somewhere in the far wilderness.
May remembered the place where Chloe had been spotted, fleeing. Was his yurt located near there? That would provide them with a strong link that he’d been involved in the crime.
At that moment, her databases pinged, and she turned back to them.
"Well!" she said.
"What?" Owen asked.
"We do have a record for Jacob Hargreaves," May said. "He has had criminal charges of assault laid in the past. He's now twenty-five years old and there were two charges in his early twenties, and another when he was a minor."
"Who did he assault?"
"The juvenile records are sealed. But recently, it seemed like he assaulted people at his college. A colleague and also a teacher from the looks of things," May said. "He didn't spend time in jail. Seems like he had access to a very good lawyer. But it looks likehe dropped out of college, and maybe that's when he decided to go off the grid."
He was a violent man. That was immediately clear to May.
"Who gave him access to a very good lawyer?" Owen asked.
May thought that was an excellent question. Whoever had paid for the lawyer to keep Jacob out of jail might have enabled him in other ways too.
Luckily, Owen was answering his own question, now leaning over May's shoulder and peering at the screen while running some searches on his own laptop.
"Okay, this is interesting. Research is a wonderful thing when you start finding links. It looks as if the lawyer he used also does a lot of work for his stepfather's firm. And the stepfather, you'll be interested to know, owns a huge piece of land not far away from where Chloe stayed."
Owen called up the map and showed May the land. It was a vast area, covering hundreds of acres, that included a river and forested area, as well as some hilly meadows.
Narrowing her eyes, May also noted that it was no more than a few miles from the place where Chloe had been captured on camera.
"I wonder if he's living there," she said.
"His stepfather is definitely protecting him. Enabling him, even. And he has a lot of land. So that would make sense. He'd probably get to stay there for free. Living off the grid with all the bounty that nature provides, and also with his stepfather's fridge a short walk away?" Owen's voice rang with cynicism.
"Sounds about right," May said. "I am sure that if he's not living on the stepfather's land, then he'll know where he is. But we need to get there fast, because if he is the killer, his stepdad could even be helping him to hide away or escape."
