Page 49 of The Cattleman's Unforgettable Love

Rootless2: Do you know who Natalie is?

She stared at the question for a long time. She didn't remember Danny ever dating someone called Natalie. Eventually, she tapped out:

Subroutine: No.

Then she waited, not really expecting an answer since she'd been distracted for so long that Rootless2 had probably given up waiting for her. But no... She watched the new message come in.

Rootless2: Did you know Crystal?

Subroutine: I did.

As soon as she'd typed those two words, Amelia's breath caught in her chest. Why were they talking about Crystal in the past tense? Perhaps she'd simply answered that way because the question had been framed that way, but then why was that?

She couldn't resist. She had to ask.

Subroutine: What do you mean – did?

She watched the screen, waiting for the reply to come in, but as the moments started to drag on, her fingers started to move. It felt as though her brain was finally coming back online. She might have been knocked off course temporarily by Rootless2's supposed connection to Danny, and then by Ty's visit, but she was more than capable of getting herself back on track.

The TangentOps forum was supposed to be secure, and perhaps for the majority, it was. It was hosted by some of the most brilliant minds in the business, but then it was also frequented by a few notorious names in the cybersecurity world – Amelia being one of them.

She pulled up her toolkit and got to work. IP traces, metadata analysis, username cross-referencing across platforms – she ran them all simultaneously. The TangentOps forum might be secure for most users, but she wasn't most users. If Hunter wanted to play games with questions about Danny and Crystal, she'd find out exactly who he was and where he was connecting from.

By the time her screen was dotted with half a dozen small windows, she started to feel a little more relaxed – back in familiar territory. She narrowed her eyes at the window she'd moved to the top left corner of the screen and the open chat. There was no reply yet. Perhaps he was good and had already realized she was running a trace and was busy closing back doors behind himself. Her eyes scanned the other screens. She was surprised that as of yet, nothing was blocked.

Her fingers froze midair when the reply appeared in the chat window. Just two words, but they hit her like a physical blow.

Rootless2: Crystal died.

She stared at the words, her feelings an echo of what they'd been the day she got the call about Danny. Her mind could do the logic – it wasn't difficult. They were addicts. Addicts had a tendency to die young. But knowing the logic didn't do anything to ease the pain. Just because the head knew didn't mean the heart wouldn't break. Her eyes pricked with tears and her hand came up to cover her mouth.

Subroutine: When?

Her hands stayed still as she waited for the reply.

Rootless2: May 26 last year.

A heavy ball of sadness settled in her chest, but there was something about the message that didn't sit right. Something was off. Eventually, she tapped out:

Subroutine: And who was Crystal to you?

She scanned the other windows while she waited for a reply. Either this dude was good – good enough that he could block all her attempts to trace him – or this Hunter person was a noob who'd somehow found his way into TangentOps. Everything pointed to him connecting through a standard commercial internet service from a residential address in central Florida.

Rootless2: I have to go now. Can I talk to you again next week? Like this? On Sunday?

Amelia stared at the message, wondering what the hell was going on. Why didn't he want to answer the question? And why had his reply been all rapid fire like that? It sounded off. It sounded like...

She stared at the words and nodded slowly to herself. He sounded like a kid. The next message that appeared only confirmed that assessment.

Rootless2: Can I?

Subroutine: Sure. What time?

Rootless2: I can probably get on here about 1:30 again, but will you wait for me if I don't show up straight away?

Amelia frowned as she read the message.

Subroutine: What time is it now?