11 Liam
When I finally wake up again after the little amount of sleep I managed to get, the boys are locked in their own rooms, probably sleeping.
The house is silent. I leave my bed with hesitation because I would truly prefer staying there until morning.
I silently signal to Dog, who has been peacefully napping on the other side of the bed, to follow me.
He jumps out of the comfort of the blanket he was under and follows me with a look on his face that shows me he isn’t happy either.
We walk downstairs without making much noise, and I open the door to the backyard for him when we reach the kitchen.
He runs outside, ready to do his business, while I grab his kibble and fill his bowl.
I set it down and take the water bowl in my hand.
I bring it to the sink and empty it before filling it again with fresh water.
I set it down and stand at the door, watching over the backyard until he is ready to come inside.
I don’t bother to go outside or pick up after him; this is a job for tomorrow.
Dog does a few circles around himself and lifts his leg to ‘water’ one of the trees at the edge of the property before running back inside. He dives into his food the moment his little paws step into the kitchen, and I close the door to make sure he won’t flee after he is done eating.
I go to the fridge and grab a can of energy drink before leaving Dog with his food to head to the living room.
I always leave my laptop and a few other items I use for my research there because it’s the room with the better lighting in this house.
I find a comfortable spot on the floor in front of the living room table and get a pillow from the couch to set behind my back for support.
I grab my notebook and laptop, opening it to the site where Mike first found her photos.
The process is easy. I go through photos and write down every piece of information that can help me.
I gather everything I can from the posts, then move on to researching her social media.
The fact that humans tend to link every piece of information about themselves to their personal profiles, as if they are someone important, makes my job easier in times like this.
I make notes about her place of work, friends tagged in her pictures, and previous relationships still remaining in the memories of her accounts.
Then I check her photo albums. I find several people tagged in her photos, including someone I assume is an ex-partner based on the way he hugs her waist in every picture.
I fact-check this with the list of names from the information on her profile and find his name in both places.
I check the dates on the pictures with that man; they are all dated four years ago.
I switch tabs and check the man’s profile.
He is married to a woman and lives in Ohio.
According to his profile status, he has been married for two years.
It is entirely possible he is a past relationship, but it’s worth looking into further just in case they are still in touch.
It’s important for a victim to not have any ties that could cause her disappearance to become news before we leave town—especially in this case.
We need to be far away before they even figure out she is missing.
If they don’t figure it out at all, that will be even better, but with our luck, I wouldn’t bet on it.
I run a program I designed myself between the two profiles to identify any interactions. The last public messages appear to be from five months before his wedding. It is safe to assume he won’t be an issue; he is clearly out of the picture for good. That’s good news.
Next, I check her workplace listed on her social media.
She works from home, listed as a remote worker in their directory of employees.
That means it will take at least a week before someone notices her missing from her work environment.
Also good news. Maybe I can fabricate some evidence that she decided to quit or move.
I don’t usually go to that length, but this is a special case that needs special care.
The next step after checking her work is to go back to her closest friends list. I have already written down a list of names from her pictures, and now I am going through them one by one.
I run the same program I used for the married guy.
Anyone whose communication was at least a year ago gets crossed off the list. I make a second list of names: those she has been communicating with recently. The ones we need to watch out for.
I go to their pages and note those who live in different areas, which likely means they only communicate with her online.
I am able to trim the list down to three people she contacts regularly who might notice her missing.
As I finish with the list of friends, colleagues, and potential partners, my focus turns to her everyday activities.
I need to learn every detail of her routine before I start stalking her.
Even minor things can make a difference.
This is the easy part, because this woman mostly stays home. She works from home, has a cat, and doesn’t like to go out, from what I have gathered so far. She keeps to herself, which is a great advantage for us.
It’s not a surprise, though. Given that she is older than our usual targets, it makes sense that her lifestyle would be different.
But there is also a key factor—and the main reason we usually avoid women in her age group: the older a woman is, the more people she might have in her life who will miss her.
Younger people tend to be more carefree, living more complicated lifestyles and communicating with close friends and family more sporadically.
The way this woman lives her life falls almost right in the middle of a young woman and an older one.
She spends her nights reading, as evidenced by multiple Instagram posts featuring a mug of tea next to a book—all with timestamps around six to nine in the evening.
I check her work hours again, and it makes sense: she finishes work by four.
It is safe to say she lives a quiet life; not many people will miss her. It will take more than a week for anyone to report her missing, if they ever do. And since we are already at our limit for this town with her included, we will be long gone before anyone does.