Part 25 (1/2)
Kiku nodded. ”I'll start in the bathroom.”
”I'll start here.”
Jack looked over at Replacement and smiled. She sat slightly forward with her ankles crossed under the chair. All of her focus was on the computer monitor.
An hour later, Kiku and Jack came back into the art room. Kiku walked over to a sketchpad and tipped it up. It was a charcoal sketch of Jack in a doorway. His hands were above his head, holding onto the frame and leaning forward slightly. He wore a crooked smile on his face and nothing else.
”When we find her, I'm ordering a copy of this one.” Kiku's eyes traveled up his body before she put the pad back down. Jack blushed as he crossed the room to lean over Replacement's chair again.
”I uploaded all her email to another account so I can sift through it later. I can't change her pa.s.sword without the original one, so I'm going to leave it as it is.”
”What did you get?” Jack cracked his wrist.
”She broke it off with Arber and didn't really have anything to do with him except when it came to festivals and a couple paintings she sold. He sent a few groveling emails asking her out, but she blew him off. He did want to buy her work, and she did sell some stuff to him.”
”A lot of art? Big money?” Jack asked.
Replacement shook her head. ”It looks like he keeps offering, but she turns down a lot of them. A few thousand, but nothing crazy expensive. He did offer a lot for the piece she has in the festival. It's called Girl. Ten grand.”
”It's worth more,” Jack said.
”Well, her response was 'I'm not selling. Don't ask me again.'”
”Did he?” Kiku wondered.
”Yeah.” Replacement smiled as she pointed to Marisa's response and blushed.
”I like her style.” Kiku grinned.
”One more thing.” Replacement opened another email. ”It's from Shawn about three months ago. He offered to buy the tattoo parlor if she ever wanted to sell.”
”Was she thinking about selling?” Jack asked.
Replacement shrugged. ”It's only one email. Marisa wrote back to say if she ever did, he'd be the first in line.”
”It's worth a conversation.” Jack looked at Kiku.
Kiku stiffened. She exhaled slowly as she listened. Jack held his breath while Replacement looked nervously around.
Kiku shook her head. ”Nothing. Can't be too careful.”
”Snap.” Replacement s.h.i.+fted in her chair as she let go of the mouse. ”Her bank account is asking for a pin.”
”Why? I thought it was cached,” Jack asked.
”Nope. Some sites don't let you.” Replacement pointed to a notebook. ”Her pa.s.sword was saved but not her pin.”
”We didn't check the desk.” Jack reached forward but stopped when Replacement shook her head.
”I searched the desk while I was surfing. She wrote down all of her pa.s.swords in here.” She tapped the notebook. ”But not the pin. People don't usually write the pin. I can try to guess the top three, but the chances are next to zip.”
”If you guess wrong, you'll lock the account,” Kiku frowned, ”and the bank would have to reset it.”
Jack leaned forward to type 2614. The page changed, and Marisa's bank account appeared on the screen.
Replacement's mouth fell open. ”How did you do that?”
Jack looked over to a sketch on the wall. It was pencil and just an outline, but he knew where it was. It was a view of the mountains from when Marisa and he had taken a vacation together. It was the view from the bed. He shook his head.
”It's my badge number.”
Failed to Follow Kiku lay down to sleep on Jack's couch while Replacement worked on the computer. Jack watched the traffic below. The apartment had become completely quiet except for the sound of Replacement's clicking and typing. After a while, she shook her head. ”Nothing. Marisa hasn't accessed any of her accounts since the day she disappeared.”
”Do you need some sleep?” Jack looked back at her as he angled his head.
”No. I got a few hours.”
”When?” He glanced at the clock: 10:14 a.m.
”When you were sleeping.” She rolled her shoulders. ”I need help with something I found out about Arber.”
Jack put his hands on her shoulders and started to ma.s.sage them as he looked at the screen. Replacement clicked, and then pressed some keys and the police database appeared. A few more clicks and a report appeared on the monitor.
He kept rubbing as he leaned forward. His mouth was close to her ear as he spoke in a low whisper. ”That's a preliminary report. That means a detective had to file it. Joe Davenport. Joe said he received a phone complaint regarding a Skylar Boyce.”
”Why is it in F2F?”
”Failed to Follow. It means he contacted the person, but she didn't want him to follow up. It happens. People call the police in the heat of the moment but then decide against it later on. Still, he's got an address.”
”There's a note sheet attached as the next doc.” Replacement clicked to the next page and then pointed to the screen. The image was of a handwritten notepad page that Joe had torn off and scanned. He had circled four words: Alcohol. Drugged. Incapacitated. Rape.
”How the h.e.l.l was that not followed?” Both of Replacement's hands gestured toward the screen.
”It doesn't mean Joe didn't follow up. It might have been the victim was unwilling to cooperate.”
Jack closed his eyes and kept kneading her back. Replacement let her head fall forward.
”That feels so good.” Her voice was a low tiger-like purr.
Jack whispered in her ear. ”We should swing by and talk to Joe. It would be better in person. Skylar lives at 18 Winston, so we can go there next.”
He started to rub the back of her neck, pulling up with one hand while he pulled down with the other. Replacement moaned.
”Then I want to go over to the tattoo parlor. I want to talk to Shawn about his offer and see his reaction.”
”Sure. That's awesome.”
Jack put his mouth even closer to her ear. ”I don't understand.” His hands messaged her temples.
”I love that.” Replacement let her head hang forward.