They sat down in a modest living room. Anthony looked around and saw pictures of two young children. He knew he wasn’t directly responsible, but it still affected him. These children would grow up without a mother because of that sick bastard. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
“Thank you. I’ve got to say it’s kind of creepy sitting here looking at you knowing that someone is out there who killed Christina and looks just like you.”
“It’s strange for me, too. Is there anything you can tell us? Anything at all that might help us find him?”
“I’m sorry there really isn’t much to tell. After the divorce, we weren’t that close. I had primary custody of the kids. Christina liked to have a good time. This arrangement suited her. She’d been making some comments about meeting someone online that had a lot of money and was going to take care of her. But she never mentioned anything else.”
“Did she happen to mention a screen name? Or at least which site she was on?” Evie asked. She had dug a notebook and pen out of her purse.
Tom sat there for a moment before he said, “No, no screen name. I think she was on Finding Love or something like that. Her typical screen name was hottest momma. I don’t know if that will help.”
“Thank you, it’s something for us to look into. We won’t take up any more of your time.” Evie stood and started to walk to the door. She turned back around when Anthony called her name.
“Could you give us a few minutes alone?”
“Sure, I’ll meet you in the car.”
After she closed the door Anthony turned to Tom. “I cannot tell you how sorry I am. How are your children handling everything?”
Tom shrugged. “As good as can be expected. While she wasn’t the best mom, hell, she wasn’t around half of the time, she was still their mother. It’s not easy with them hearing everything that happened. Besides there have been some added expenses we weren’t planning on. But we’ll get by, we always do.”
“Thank you for taking the time to talk with us. Hopefully, we’ll be able to catch this guy soon.”
“I’m sorry to say this, but I’ve read what he’s done, and I hope he doesn’t make it out alive.”
After the door closed, Anthony pulled out his phone and made a call to his lawyer. He set up a small trust fund for the children to help with their schooling and college. Feeling it was the least he could do to help, he walked back to the car with a little lighter step.
*
“Wow, are you reading any of this?” Evie asked Anthony as they sat at the kitchen table with a plate of fruit and cheese between them while working on laptops.
“Not really, just trying to see if we can find Christina.”
“Seriously, you should read some of this. It’s classic.”
“Well, I figure we’re kind of in a time crunch, so maybe it’s more important to not get sidetracked.”
“Party-pooper.”
“Whatever it takes. Have you found anything useful that doesn’t have to do with liking long walks on the beach?”
“Actually yes, it seems that on this site if you are in contact with someone it shows up on the sidebar. I’m hoping if we find Christina we can find Jeremy. She must have lied about her age or something because she’s not coming up in this age bracket.”
“Now, there’s a surprise. Let’s try going down to twenty-nine. Seems women love to say they’re that age.”
“I’ll ignore that comment. I’ve also found that unless you delete your profile it stays up there. I found this woman who hasn’t been active in three years. That’s good news.”
“Unless he deleted her profile after he killed her.”
“Well, aren’t you little Mr. Sunshine?”
“Can we please just continue?”
“Fine.”
They worked in silence for another hour before Evie let out a whoop and stood up shaking her ass around the room.
“I take it you found something?”
“Yep, Sherlock, I sure did. Look here.” She turned her laptop around and moved so that she stood next to him to point out the profile. “There she is. I was nervous, I couldn’t click on it. This could be the break we’re looking for.”
Anthony slowly reached over and clicked it. They both leaned in closer. She was torn between burying her face in his neck and inhaling his intoxicating scent and or moving her head and scanning the screen for something that could help them. Responsibility won out.
“There.” He tapped the screen. “There he is. Let’s see what he has to say.”
They scanned the profile of Jay Ellison. There wasn’t any new information. Except the name.
Anthony turned towards her. “We never thought to do a search on a Jay Ellison. Maybe we can get more information.”
Their faces were inches apart. She slowly blinked, trying to focus on his words and not his mesmerizing blue eyes. When she saw his pupils dilate, she knew he was feeling the same thing. Disappointment flowed through her when he blinked a few times then turned back to the screen.