The Drifter

C H A P T E R 1 4

C H A P T E R  F O U R T E E N
Another Star

"That's Delia's house," I breathed, utterly aghast.

"And it was confirmed that it was Delia's laptop where the comment was posted from," Mr Jackman replied, reclining back in his chair and rubbing his face roughly. "Fuck," he muttered. "The police are straight there now. When they sent the email with the address, they stated they would get there as quickly as possible; I've asked for regular updates. When the laptop was returned," he glanced at me as he spoke, "as we found no evidence on it, it was placed back in Delia's room on her desk. We watched her mom as she put everything back, insisting that we stay just in case something was missing. I was there," he added.

"Have you asked for updates with Isla?"

Mr Havens remained silent as I had uttered my question, though his eyes roamed the entirety of the contents displayed on Mr Jackman's computer monitor. His lips were moving almost imperceptibly, almost as though he was miming something without any sound emitting from his lips. It was odd, but I had a feeling he was reading the other details that had been pulled up during the search for the location of 97 EVERMOORE TERRACE.

"Yeah. Updates all round."

"And now all we do is wait?"

"And now all we do is wait."

Mr Havens returned to his desk and though he did not type or do much, I returned to mine and continued to leisurely input more files into the database. The file I had been working on before I decided to take my break and stumbled upon the threatening comment, was of a young male – having only just turned twenty-one at the time of his crime, had attacked a young girl, almost half his age in broad daylight. He'd fled afterwards but was apprehended by the police only half an hour later during a chase.

I'd just finished inputting that file, having stacked it underneath the pile littered on my desk so a new file was facing me when a bing emanated from Mr Jackman's computer. Concurrently, Mr Havens and I jumped in our seats and almost glowered at Mr Jackman as we waited for the announcement that he had just received.

"They've arrived at Delia's house and the house is empty. No observation of forced entry. Nothing seems out of place. Laptop is still on the desk and it was turned off, but it was still warm from the use, so we can confirm that someone has been in the house recently to access her laptop and upload the comment on that video." He paused. "No word from the Isla situation, though."

"The main theory we can explore is that the abductor broke in with a spare key, perhaps – get them to check around the front door, such as under flower pots," Mr Havens instructed as Mr Jackman conveyed the message through the email he was abruptly composing. Then he turned his attention back to me and continued his clarification. "Having procured password from Delia, they would have used that to log into her laptop and I suspect she was already logged onto her YouTube account, and all the abductor had to do was post the comment on Isla's video. Has anyone else seen the comment, Addison?"

With a quick check, I could confirm that that there were a few replies to the comment but the users behind the replies didn't seem to realise that it was Delia's real account and assumed it was fake, complaining that it was an insensitive joke to make. Others praised Isla for speaking out about Stephenson's death and appealing against the police, and then complimenting her makeup skills throughout the tutorial to the video where the comment had been posted.

"This makes it more complicated. It means that the police may have to release an official statement to the public if it reaches enough people considering there's this is going to spread with word of mouth, and we have to take into account with this."