Page 10

3:57 AM

25

8.15 A.M.

Kim was surprised at both the building and the man waiting for them as they pulled up at the premises of Seekers Inc.

The area itself was semi-rural and the property lay at the end of a short lane from the main road that linked Telford to Ironbridge.

The old stone building looked to have once been some kind of gatehouse, set next to an open field with a stream that ran behind it and snaked off to the right.

Other than a couple of oil stains, the driveway was clean and weed free, offering a positive first impression.

Similarly, the man that awaited them was probably early forties, slim but athletic looking, dressed in jeans and a blue tee shirt and also giving a positive first impression. For some reason, she could picture him and Frost as a couple. She’d decided in the car to leave Frost’s name out of it until the very last moment. She wanted to observe his natural reactions to questions before throwing her name into the mix.

They walked past a parked BMW towards Ryan Douglas, who was smiling pleasantly as though he hadn’t been woken early on a Sunday morning.

‘Sorry for disturbing your weekend, Mr Douglas,’ Kim said.

‘Ryan, please,’ he said, offering his hand.

Bryant took it and introduced them both.

Ryan turned to open the door. ‘As a lover of mysteries, it’s far more important to me that CID want to speak to me than getting another hour in bed. Please come in,’ he said, moving past the staircase that was a few feet away from the door.

Ryan caught her glance upwards.

‘More of the same, including the server room, but this floor has the kitchen. I don’t mind the early morning, but I do need the coffee.’

They followed him through a spacious room filled with desks and computers, all with a view out of the large windows. Kim guessed this open space was the result of a few rooms knocked into one.

‘Not a bad place to come to work,’ Bryant said, although he seemed to be more focussed on the baskets of wrapped pastries on the countertop.

‘No one ever said work had to be a drudge all the time. A contented workforce is a productive workforce,’ Ryan said, taking three mugs from the cupboard. At this time in the morning, she didn’t mind his assumption.

‘It’s instant but it’s good stuff,’ he said, spooning in the coffee. ‘Milk and sugar?’ he asked.

‘Both,’ Bryant said.

‘Neither,’ Kim said as the kettle boiled.

‘Please, take a seat. I can barely contain my interest as to what this is about.’

Kim shot a glance at Bryant, who raised one eyebrow. For a man of his age, there seemed to be a childlike excitement about him.

‘So, Seekers is your company, Mr… sorry, Ryan?’

‘It is indeed,’ he said proudly, placing the mugs on the table.

‘Tell us about it,’ Kim said as he took a seat. She was hoping this would send the message that they would be asking the questions not answering them.

‘My dad used to take me letterboxing when I was a kid.’

Their blank stares prompted him to explain.

‘Letterboxing started in Dartmoor, Devon in 1854. It’s an outdoor hobby that combines orienteering, art, puzzle solving. Thousands of walkers gather for the box hunts and the twice-yearly meetup. There are letterboxes set around the site so it’s a bit like a treasure hunt, but other than that, attendees just compare which letterboxes they’ve found and talk about new ones that have been placed since the last meetup.’

‘Placed by who?’ Kim asked, trying to understand the fascination.

‘Anyone who wants to. There are newsletters that announce new letterboxes, an annual catalogue, websites and some are spread by word of mouth. All depends on the person leaving the box how they want to publicise it. This all started way before Randonautica, Munzee or even geocaching.’

He paused.

‘Ryan, it’s safe to assume we have very little experience of what you’re talking about. We’re gonna need you to give us a crash course.’

‘Okay, Munzee is a scavenger hunt game where QR codes have to be found in the real world. There are over twelve million codes to find in 240 countries and they have over half a million registered users. Randonautica is based on randomly generated?—’

‘Yeah, we know a bit more about that one,’ Kim interrupted. That wasn’t what they were dealing with. ‘What was the other one?’

‘Geocaching is where participants use a GPS receiver or mobile device and other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers called caches. As of last year, there were over three million active caches worldwide.’

‘What exactly is a cache?’ Bryant asked.

‘A typical one is a small waterproof container with a logbook and a pen or pencil. When they find one, the geocacher signs the log and dates it to prove they found it. After signing the logbook, they put it back and record the co-ordinates.

‘The first documented cache was in Oregon in 2000 and contained software, videos, books, money, a can of beans and a catapult.’

‘Okay. So, where does your company come into it?’ Kim asked.

‘Okay, let me take you step by step. We’re a listing site. The biggest in the country to be exact. Let’s say you want to set a puzzle. You register with our site and list your puzzle on whichever board suits your trail.’

‘There are different boards?’ Kim asked.

‘Of course. Not everyone likes the same type of puzzle. Some people like single-box puzzles, others like multi-box trails, some like co-ordinates, some like clues.’

‘How would I start if I wanted to set a multi-box puzzle?’ Kim asked.

‘You would give your trail a title – the catchier the better – and either give the co-ordinates or a clue to finding the first box.’

‘So, who can upload a new trail?’ Kim asked.

‘Any member,’ Ryan answered.

‘It’s totally membership based?’ Kim asked, feeling a seed of hope. If their guy liked setting puzzles, there was every chance he’d be on the biggest site in the country.

‘Oh, yeah, totally. We have an annual subscription fee for all members and then optional extra costs for other content.’

‘Other content?’

‘Access to chat rooms, discounts on merchandise, that kind of thing.’

‘And you make good money from that?’ Kim asked.

‘Not so much in the early days, when our members were in the hundreds. Back then it was just me and my fellow director existing on handouts from family and friends. We struggled to get things going, and then the world changed overnight.’

‘Covid?’ Bryant asked.

Ryan nodded. Kim looked for any hint of regret that his business had grown off the back of a worldwide pandemic. She found none.

‘Suddenly everyone wanted to do something outside with a purpose. Pretty much the only thing left open was the countryside. The whole concept grew and expanded rapidly.’

‘Expanded how?’ Kim asked, taking a sip of her coffee. He was right. It was the good shit.

‘Now we’ve got all kinds of caches in addition to the traditional ones, which contain a logbook and exact co-ordinates to the next box.’

‘What are the others?’ Kim asked, savouring the coffee.

‘We’ve got multiple caches which involve a puzzle, and moving caches where each finder moves the cache to another location. There are chirp caches where you use wireless beacon technology, night caches which are intended to be found at night, obviously, following a series of reflectors.’

‘Tell us more about these multiple caches,’ Kim said.

‘The trail involves one or more stages, and each box contains clues to the location of the next box. You have to solve the puzzle to move on to the next stage.’

‘Or what?’ Kim asked, realising this was the closest thing to what they could be dealing with.

Ryan frowned. ‘I’m not quite sure what you mean.’

‘What are the consequences of not finding the next box?’

‘Inspector, I think you’re getting the wrong end of the stick. There are no consequences. It’s fun. You play for as long as you want to. There are very few rules.’

‘But what are the rules?’ Bryant asked.

‘If you take an item from the box, you should replace it with something of equal or higher value. Often it’s small toys, ornamental buttons, unusual coins, CDs, books, even disposable cameras. Sometimes you get hitchhikers.’

The blank stare seemed to be resting on her face a lot during this meeting.

‘Those are objects moved from box to box. The objects are logged and followed. Sometimes higher-value items are included as a reward for the first person to find the box. Assuming the box doesn’t get muggled.’

‘Muggled?’ Bryant asked.

‘Sorry, muggles are people not familiar with geocaching. At one end, there are what we call drive-bys, which are simple caches left by the road – people stumble over them occasionally. At the other end of the spectrum, you have ones that involve lengthy searches or significant travel.’

‘And you have different areas of the website for all of these variations?’ Kim asked.

‘Of course,’ he said, smiling. ‘That’s how we remain market leaders and the fastest-growing site in the country.’

She tipped her head. ‘You know, Ryan, you’ve presented us with a completely innocent, fun, healthy hobby that combines exercise and mental stimulation. Are you telling me there’s no dark side to this activity? It’s human nature to exploit even the most innocent pastime.’

‘Well, I mean, there are always some who?—’

‘Yes, I thought that might be your answer. I think it would be a good idea for you to tell us about those people.’

He hesitated before gathering their cups and heading back to the kettle.