to share that with the team yet. Not even Hannah, who’d been his right hand since coming on board with A-Tac.
“So have you found anything?” she asked, eyesnarrowing as she studied him. “You look like you’re holding something back.”
“I’m not. I swear,” he said, shaken by the fact that she’d nearly read his mind. “This kind of thing is tricky. I’ve tried to trace the email and all I’ve been able to do is verify that it wasn’t sent from Princeton. Avery’s got Simon tracking down the dude who supposedly sent it to your TA, but I’m pretty sure he’ll just corroborate what we already know.”
“What about authenticity? Have you been able to verify that the mpeg wasn’t just a prank?” she asked.
“I haven’t been able to prove it technically, but I sent it to a friend of mine who used to be a profiler with the FBI, and she thinks it may be real. The quality of the video, the lighting, even the staging or lack thereof—all of it suggests that whoever filmed this wasn’t worrying overmuch about presentation. It’s more like he was intent on making a record of the act.”
“Well, if it is real, and if this is our student…” Hannah trailed off, her gaze moving from the photograph to the two of them.
“Then we have a very real problem. And a ticking clock,” Avery said.
“So what do we do now? Bring in the police?” Hannah asked.
“No. They have the same forty-eight-hour rule we do. And besides, Langley doesn’t want to risk exposure by bringing in the locals. So for now we’re on our own, which considering our resources isn’t such a bad thing. And worst case, we’ll call for help from the FBI.”
“My old stomping grounds,” Harrison said, his mind still on the missing girl.
“When’s the last time anyone saw Sara?” Hannah asked with a frown.
“Last night. She was in the library studying and left sometime just after midnight. No one’s seen her since.”
“What about her roommate?” Harrison queried as he continued to type on his keyboard. “Wasn’t she concerned?”
“Haven’t been able to run her to ground either,” Avery said. “Which made it seem as if they’d possibly gone off somewhere together. Although Tony swears they weren’t really friends.”
“Tony?” Hannah asked, her attention drawn back to the screen as Harrison switched back to the video, the grainy film work just as horrifying the second time.
“Marcuso,” Avery said, his gaze also on the screen above them. “The boyfriend. Another junior. Econ major.”
“Any reason to believe he might have something to do with the disappearance?” Harrison frowned as he magnified the picture on the monitor, the enlarged scene seeming even more ominous.
“Not so far. But we need to talk to him again. And the roommate, along with your TA, Hannah.”
“Tina? She’s definitely not a part of this, if that’s what you’re thinking. I saw her reaction to the video. She was as horrified as I was. There’s no faking that kind of thing. Besides, if she were involved, she wouldn’t have brought the video to me.”
“She’s not a suspect,” Avery said. “Hell, we don’t even know that we have a crime. But someone sent the video to her for a reason. And if we can figure that out, maybe it’ll lead us to a source. Maybe there’s a connection between Tina and Sara.”
“Or the boyfriend,” Hannah agreed. “I can talk to Tina.”
“I was actually thinking you and Harrison could handle all the interviews since you’re already running point on this. And to be honest, the two of you are more likely to get them to be honest with you. Being called before the dean of students tends to be off-putting.”
“Especially when said dean is you.” Harrison laughed, and then sobered as he adjusted the settings on his computer.
“I assume you’re running some kind of diagnostics program,” Avery said. “Any way to use it to ID the girl in the footage?”
“Not definitively, no.”