Chapter 155: The Dark Web (2/2)
”When did you think something was wrong?” I asked.
”She is supposed to get home around one in the afternoon. She studies in a morning school, so she comes back home early,” he said.
”So, she didn't come home at one. What did you do?”
”We called the school and they said she left for home…” he trailed off, his brows scrunching.
”And how far is the home?”
”It's around 500 meters from our home. We just allowed her to come home alone from this school year.” The mother started to cry.
”We shouldn't have let her!” she sobbed. The father pressed his hand over hers in an attempt to console her.
We let her cry.
”Do you know any friends with whom she could have gone?” I asked. I didn't want to sound skeptical but these were procedure questions.
”No, we called everyone to see if they had seen her. Everyone said she went home straight after school and she didn't talk to anyone.”
”Thank you. Any friends or relatives whom she might have come across?”
”No. She has her diary and secret magic stuff in her bag, so she wouldn't leave it behind even if someone she knew asked her to go.”
Magic. Okay, it might not have been something to look at but I kept it at the back of my head.
”How often does she need to take her medication? Can you give us detailed information on what the prescription is, the dosage, and timings?”
Their eyes dimmed.
”Do you think you won't find her in time?” the mother shuddered.
”We need to have all bases covered. We want to return your daughter to you healthy,” I assured.
The mother pulled out her phone and showed me the prescription. ”I keep her prescription on hand for emergencies. I can share it with you if you want,” she said hopefully.
I nodded. I helped her transfer the picture to my phone. ”Would you mind bringing her prescribed insulin so that we can administer it if need be?”
The mother nodded. ”Okay. Please go home, take a shower and have some warm food. We'll search for her and when you come back next, we will try to give you an answer.”
I smiled. The parents looked a little reassured. They held hands as they left.
I stood up and turned to Nash. ”Is there any chance she fell sick and walked away?” I asked.
”It's possible. We will look at the footage.”
About half an hour later, the bag was brought in for inspection. It was sent to the forensics lab and we followed.
The whole thing was dumped out.
”Mind if we look through as well?” Nash asked as we entered.
”Please do. It's not much, but maybe we can get something.”
Apart from the school books and stationery, we also had her journal. I picked it up and sighed.
”I don't want to pry into her journal but we might get a clue, right?” I whispered.
”That's the job. Read,” Nash ordered.
I flipped through the journal, reading every line carefully until the very end.
”Wow, you're a really fast reader!” the analyst gasped, looking at me when I put down the journal. I shrugged.
”Occupational hazard,” I commented. ”Did you find any prints?” I asked.
”Plenty of fingerprints. The dirt on this is a lot too. We'll need to run this through our catalog and maybe something will happen,” he commented.
”We shouldn't rule out she walked away because she was disoriented,” I said blandly.
Nash's phone was blowing up. He looked down in confusion. ”It's the cyber-crime department,” he groaned. He picked it up and I heard hurried talking on the other side. ”Email it. Email the footage, email the link… everything. And don't take the video down. Keep it rolling.”
My throat constricted. ”What is it?” I asked before he could hang up.
”They found a livestream on a website. It's one of those violent fantasy websites where people pay to watch videos. The missing girl was in one of them. Someone from the cybercrime team recognized her when the camera flashes towards her.”
Horror struck me. ”They need to watch those things every day?” I whispered.
He nodded. ”It's about a particular streamer who has been showing extremely violent content. They are trying to ascertain if these men and women are willing participants… Now we know.” His eyes darkened.
”God, I don't know if I am happy or horrified. Let's get down to this. We need to find her,” I breathed.
I pressed my eyes together and sighed. ”I sometimes regret working here,” I admitted.
”Don't. Don't think about it. It's only the end result that matters. We need someone like you on our team. No matter what we see… we have a job to do.” He patted me on the shoulder and we walked out.
It was going to be a long day.