Hello again, everyone.
Thank you for the strong support and suggestions. I’m reading every one and hoping that some of your predictions are true, and some are false. I'll jump right in and keep updating the sequence of events from last night to this morning.
I was going to call Hernandez right after posting my last update, but I had another idea.
I went to Katie's house instead. I would have called, but I didn't have her number. Her calm demeanor from before made me think she would be the best person to approach about this. Hernandez might have set up a crime scene and taken away all the evidence I had found.
I didn’t touch anything in Zander’s hideout before I left. I figured it was better to have Katie see it as it was when I’d arrived.
Katie's home is about an hour from Zander's hideout, which is pretty lucky considering all the other options for hideouts that are much further away.
I knocked on her door at 9 PM and her startled mother opened up with the chain strung across the door. It took a moment of convincing for me to be allowed inside to speak with Katie. Katie acted even more blank than before around her mother. But her eyes sharpened once her mother left us alone in the living room. We sat on the couch, angled towards each other.
"I found where Zander was hiding," I said quietly. Katie's house was as silent as a crypt, and every door I could see was shut tight. It made me want to speak in a whisper.
"Was hiding?" She picked up on that.
"He's not there. I don't know how long he's been gone. But his cell phone was left on the ground."
"His cell phone?"
"Yeah," I said, fishing it out of my pocket. I handed it to her. She unlocked it and clicked around a little. It's a Samsung Galaxy S4 for those who care. Oh, another worrying fact, his phone didn't have a password set. It used to before.
"What are you looking for?" I asked.
"New pictures, new texts, new emails, voicemails, voice recordings, anything useful," she said. "What was the battery percentage at when you got it?"
"...What?"
"Was the battery charged? At a mid-level? Dying?" She clarified.
"It was at... I dunno, like 45 percent?" I guessed. I remembered seeing that the battery was about halfway in the status bar.
"Okay," she replied. "Did you change any settings? WiFi? Data? Running apps? Have you restarted or charged it since you got it?"
"No," I said. "I found it, looked around a little on his Reddit account, posted on it, then drove to your house."
"Okay," she said. "Take me to the hideout.”
I drove her there and we were there in an hour. On the way, we charged the phone in my car. It reached 100% before we arrived. She asked me to keep it unplugged and not use it until it got to 45%.
We clambered through the second story window and down to the basement. Katie held out her arm as we approached the door.
"Stay here," she said, slowly stepping into the room. She pulled out her phone and started taking pictures. As if it were... a crime scene.
"Katie, what aren't you telling me?" I said, my voice catching in my throat. Her attitude introduced a fear that was now leeching away my strength.
"At the moment, nothing important," she said in a distracted voice. She snapped several pictures. "But I'm making sure we can figure out where he is."
After a long time of pictures and slowly moving things around to take more, Katie let me come in.
She was flipping through a stack of papers on top of a computer tower.
"What are you looking for?" I asked.
"Patterns. Names, places, or dates that appear more than once. Obviously Zander was searching for something. What was he working on down here? Do you know?"
"Hold on," I said. "Are you completely up to speed on everything that happened after you were... after you... you know?" I finished weakly.
"I've read the Reddit posts," she said.
I was surprised. "You did?"
"Finished them a few days after the last one was published. I'm aware of what happened, so far as those posts contained the truth," she said, turning to face me.
"They're not entirely accurate," I said. "David King was reading them, so we wrote cautiously."
"David Fucking King, as I understand it," she said with a slight smile. "You had better fill me in."
We sat down and I told her about what had happened after she'd been kidnapped. You guys know most of the story through Zander's posts. I won't take the time to elaborate right now. Too much has happened, and if I write what happened to me during that year, this update will be way too long. But in the next post, I'll be sure to include it if I can.
While we were talking, Zander's phone had reached 45%, so Katie informed me why she had me charge the phone and let it run down. The phone had taken 3 hours to reach that battery percentage, which meant Zander had a 3 hour head start since I'd found the phone. I have to admit, I'm impressed with her methodology.
I'd finished updating her, and a lot of it wasn't news to her.
The fact that it only took 3 hours for the battery to drop that far was strange. We looked at the running apps and found a bunch of custom-built programs running on it. You could tell they were custom because they had blank icons and were titled weird.
I'd plugged Zander's phone back in and begun writing this post while Katie clicked through the computers and looked at the papers on the desk.
It's long and slow to type when one arm is in a sling. After a while of writing, Zander's phone pinged with a message. It was an anonymous messenger app, not a text.
M4N513THO: Where's Zander?
I looked up at Katie, who was still looking at the computer.
"Katie. Zander got a message," I said. "Or rather, we got a message."
She looked at me. Her eyes narrowed as she set aside the mouse and stood up. She walked over, pulled the phone from my hands, and stared at the display. Her thumbs twitched as if she wanted to respond.
"What should we say?"
"Until we know who it is, nothing," she said.
"But we won't know who they are unless we ask," I said. "Have they ever spoken before?"
"There's no conversation history," Katie said.
"Could have been deleted. They could have been talking about important stuff, so he deleted the conversation."
She shrugged and handed the phone back to me. "Don't respond. If any other messages come through, tell me. In the meantime, it's time to pack."
"Pack? We're moving this stuff? Katie, seriously, tell me what you know about this!" I stood in anger. "You're not telling me everything! You treated this place like a crime scene! You're tossing a clue aside as if you'd found an old candy wrapper! You know something!"
She stopped, facing the opposite direction.
"I've been searching around through everything and all you've done is poke around and write Reddit posts to let some people know what's going on," she accused.
"They were helpful last time, maybe they'll be helpful now," I argued. She shook her head.
"Zander left all these papers around as well as several computers and you've barely touched them. Meanwhile, I've been reading."
"And?" I asked impatiently.
"And Zander was onto something."
"What was he onto?" I said, starting to get frustrated.
"I'm not completely certain yet. But he has a few police reports that worry me."
"Police reports?"
Katie handed me a stack of folders. I set them on the chair and started looking through them one at a time.
"The crimes listed here are petty and small. Tickets here and there, citations, one warning for a fight, but no arrests. They left the smallest of a trail, but big enough to find," she said.
I read through the names in each report. Three people. Sophie Atrikson. Jack Hemsey. Kraig Munson.
"I found reference to other people in Zander's notes," Katie said. "They don't have police records, though."
"Who... are they?" I asked stupidly.
"Not sure. There's no pictures included either. But if Zander was looking into them, they’re probably important."
"So what do we do?" I asked.
"Try to get up to speed. Catch up to Zander. Find out what he's already learned. Figure out who these people are and why Zander was researching them. We still have entire hard drives to comb through. Hopefully they'll have some answers."
"And what about the person who just messaged?"
"They could be an ally or an enemy. We don't respond until we know which one. But the message worries me too."
"Why does it worry you?"
"Start packing everything up. If they messaged asking where Zander is, that means they know we have his phone."
I froze. She was right. They could know where we were.
We both packed quickly, forming a stack in the room. It consisted of three computer towers, three monitors, keyboards and mice, and a three-inch stack of folders and papers. We carried each tower upstairs quickly and set them by the second story window. I removed my sling to help carry stuff. Time was more important right then than a properly healed gunshot wound.
"This is going to suck," I commented, peering out the window and debating whether or not to put my arm back in the sling. My shoulder was aching a little. Carrying three computers down two stories? Awful.
"I'm going to go down first. We need to be sure there's no one around. I wish we would have parked a few blocks away," Katie said, climbing out the window. "If anyone's here, they'll know we are too."
"Well, hurry," I said. "The longer we're here, the more we risk them finding the place if they haven't already."
Katie descended and darted around the house. I sat and listened to the night. There were no cars out, just the ambient sounds of the suburbs.
She popped her head in the window a few minutes later.
"We're clear," she said, beginning to whisper. That's when I started to get paranoid. Whispering sets me on edge in tense situations.
I lowered a computer tower onto the AC unit. Katie picked it up and set it on the grass beside her. We repeated the process for everything we were taking.
Once everything was on the ground, I clambered out and dropped onto the grass. We each grabbed a computer tower and crept along the house to the front yard.
Listening for sounds, we paused and clung to the wall. My car was parked right in front, a stupid move from a security standpoint. My anxiety had made me careless.
We shot across the lawn silently. I grabbed my keys and opened the back passenger door. We stuffed the computers inside, silently shutting the door before darting back for the other pieces.
Once the car was loaded up, we started to get inside.
"Shit, the phone," I said, feeling my pockets. My own phone had confused me, making me think I had Zander's phone in my pocket.
"Where is it?" Katie hissed.
"I left it on the chair!" I whispered back. "Move the car a few blocks down. I'll go back and get it." I tossed her the keys as I jogged back to the house. She started the car and drove away as I approached the window.
In the basement, the phone was exactly where I left it. I grabbed it, stuffed it in my pocket, and started for the stairs. That's when I heard footsteps above me.
Somehow I doubted Katie had come back looking for me.
I scrambled out of the bedroom and scanned the basement, looking for a hiding place. The basement was unfinished even the bedroom we'd been in. That didn't help me. There were a few boards here and there, but that was it. No furniture or anything in sight.
I dashed back into the bedroom, the only room with any furniture. There was an old bed I could hide under, the desk which was falling apart, a chair I’d been sitting in, and a stool next to the desk.
Steps started coming down the stairs.
I panicked. All they had to do was turn the corner of the stairs and they'd see me. My decision was made. I picked up the stool and tossed it at the window.
It bounced and made a racket falling to the floor.
How in the hell?!
The footsteps raced down the rest of the stairs.
I whirled to face my attacker. A giant of a man came barreling into the room.
I dove to the left as he reached for me. I tumbled towards the door and ran for the stairs. The man's finger barely slipped inside my shirt collar. A gagging sound escaped my throat as I was yanked backwards. I flew back into the bedroom and hit the floor. My shoulder shouted in pain, and I grimaced. This damn sling was just going to get in the way. I slipped my arm out as I stood, but left it dangling from my shoulder.
The attacker was watching me silently, his body in a ready stance, but not attacking. He blocked the door with his arms spread. I picked the stool up again slowly, keeping it between the two of us. What was he waiting for?
He feigned a lunge, but I saw it for what it was. I took my opportunity while he was stepping back and spun around.
My shoulder stung as I threw the stool at the window again, this time putting my whole strength behind it. The window shattered.
I raced forward, hauling myself through the window sill. The giant's hand grabbed my leg, making me smash my face against glass and rocks in the window well. I looked back and aimed a sharp kick to the man's nose. I heard a crack and was released.
I was out immediately after, hands bleeding as I pulled myself out of the window well. The window I had exited through opened up into the backyard. My feet slushed through the unkempt grass as I made a mad dash towards the front of the house.
I got to the front and hesitated for a tenth of a second. My car was gone, obviously, but another car was in front of the house. It was a dark green Honda Accord. It was discreet, but definitely not a junker. I stared at the license plate as I ran towards where Katie had driven. I tried as hard as I could to memorize the number.
After I was a few houses away, the man's massive figure dashed out of the yard and jumped into the car. I dove into a garden before their headlights kicked in. They drove right past me, and I rolled up immediately. If they started circling the neighborhood looking for me, I was fucked. I had to move now.
Katie had parked the car a whole three blocks away. I was completely winded by the time I got there. I threw open the passenger door and dove inside.
"Drive!" I shouted. Katie took off. I pulled out my phone.
"What happened? What are you doing?" She demanded over and over.
"Shut up, shut up!" I yelled, typing the license plate number I'd been singing in my head. I sent it as a text to myself. Safe.
"Someone else was there," I gasped, putting my head back against the headrest. I put my arm back in the sling too. It was really hurting now.
"What?" Katie said, concerned.
"They walked in as I was grabbing the phone."
"They just... walked in? I thought you said the door was barricaded?"
"I don't know! I didn't go upstairs! They came down to the bedroom and confronted me. I had to smash a window to get out! They ran out after me, jumped in a car, and drove away!"
I took deep breaths before holding up my phone and grinning. "I got the license plate, though."
Katie drove us in circles and zigzags for a good two hours. I was exhausted and fell asleep on and off. We passed through a couple of cities too as part of the evasion. She wanted to be damn sure we weren't being followed.
The night was silent and dark as we drove. I shot a text to my mom letting her know I was safe and just out with a friend. Katie didn't bother to text her mom or dad.
"Aren't your parents going to freak out that you're out so late?" I asked.
"No," she replied tersely.
"You were... gone... for a whole year, and they aren't panicking every time you leave the house?" I asked rudely. "That doesn't sound right."
Katie slammed on the brakes and pulled over. I clenched my teeth, bracing for the firestorm.
"I. Was. Kidnapped." She enunciated in my face. "Get it right! Don't dance around the issue like it's an expensive vase. I'm not fragile, you can say the word. Jesus Christ. Everyone has been like that, especially my parents. I had to tell them to let me deal with it in my own way. They let me do what I need to do now, so I don't need to explain myself to them. They trust me to take care of myself, and you should too!"
She was breathing heavily. My eyes were stuck wide open, my jaw tight.
"I'm sorry," I said quietly.
She shut her eyes. "I am too. I've had that building up for a while now," she admitted, sitting back. She put the car back into drive and got back on the two lane road between cities.
"I trust that you can take care of yourself," I offered after a few minutes. "You've handled yourself fine so far."
"Thanks. You held handled it well back there too," she offered back. "Now if only Zander could hold himself together too."
"I'm sure he's fine," I said. I sounded hopeful, not confident.
We arrived at my house after another half hour of playing "don't fucking follow me." We chose to go to my house because I had gone through all the extra security measures to hide my home.
Introducing Katie to my mom was... interesting.
"Hey, sorry I was out so late," I said as we came into the living room and found her awake with the TV on. It was almost four in the morning.
We both set down the computer towers we were carrying.
"I don't ever remember coming home at 4 AM carrying computers when I went out with my friends," my mom said with a joking smile.
"This is... Katie," I said, gesturing to her. "Katie Simonds."
My mom's eyes went wide. "THAT Katie?" She whispered to me, coming over to us from the couch. I visibly cringed and shrugged with apology to Katie.
"Yes, Mom," I emphasized.
"It's... well, it's good to meet you," Mom said, coming over to shake Katie's hand. Katie smiled normally.
"Good to meet you too," she said.
"We have a... problem," I said.
"I believe you," Mom said. "What kind of problem?"
"A Zander problem."
Mom sighed.
We brought in the rest of the computers, and my mom tried to convince us to rest. Katie and I refused. The longer we rested, the further ahead Zander got. We didn't know if he was in trouble, or just being a heroic asshat.
We spent a couple of hours each clicking through the files on two of the computers. The third computer contained David's encrypted hard drive. We booted it up, but the password greeted us. We hoped that Zander had written down the password somewhere on his other two computers.
I didn't dare connect either of the computers to the net. Just in case. I don’t know if I’ve said it before, but Zander is better than me with computers. I had no way of knowing if connecting to the net would set off a beacon to our location by connecting to the net.
Looking through the computers, it looked like Zander had a similar thought process. He'd downloaded entire html pages and websites for offline viewing. Some pages were about legal matters like manslaughter and past cases that contained similar situations. Obviously he'd been reading up on his own situation.
Other pages contained news articles, Wikipedia pages on different topics, technical spec documents, and all kinds of other things I don't understand. We also looked through his phone and all the accounts it had signed into. Even his Amazon account had some interesting purchases. And no, that’s not a sexual innuendo!
I'd link you to those pages, but I don't know what's important and what isn't. I don't want to reveal anything we might regret later. Sorry, everyone.
Katie reported that she'd found about the same information on the computer she was using. We have no idea why he's using two computers for the same stuff. Anyone have any ideas?
On her computer, there were digital versions of the police reports we had. These were searchable and probably came from a police database somehow. Except the digital version differed from the paper version. The digital version contained less information. The names of the individuals, their personal information, and every citation and warning were blocked out in the digital version. It was as if someone took the report in photoshop and dragged the eraser over the parts they didn't want.
"Someone didn't want us knowing about these three," Katie commented.
All three police reports had a section that referred to individual brawls at a bar. The report was so ordinary, however, that it didn't make sense. So what? Sophie, Kraig, and Jack had been in fights before, big deal.
Katie was the one to point out that the bar was the same across all three reports, and that the dates for all three were close together: within the same month. They had all occurred over a year and a half ago, but the pattern was weird.
My mom was reading over the physical police reports while we clicked through the computers. She demanded to be kept in the loop. I happily complied simply because she knew about the David King ordeal already. She might see something that we would ignore.
"Keep your sling on," she said absently when I started to take it off. Typing notes was annoying with one hand acting as a T-Rex claw.
I reluctantly kept it on, but went to sit down and take a break. That's when I started writing this part. Katie was still making furious notes while I wrote. I must have fallen asleep halfway through, though.
I've woken up now and kept writing this while Katie sleeps in what must be the most uncomfortable position in the world. She's slumped over the back of the couch, legs hanging along the back, and face in the seat cushion.
My mom must have gone back to her own bed after a while.
It’s 10 AM right now, and I’ll let Katie sleep for a while longer before I wake her. We have more to do today before Zander gets too far ahead.
I think I'll go and talk to Hernandez today and see if he knows anything else. I'll bring the police reports and ask if he knows these three.
I don't know if I'll have time to update all of you on what happens throughout the day today. I know it's only morning time, and I have a whole day ahead of me before I can post this update, but I don't know if I'll have time to write it quickly. If I don't have time, I'll go ahead and post what I have.
Zander, once again, if you're alive and okay, send me a goddamn message. I'm worried. We're all worried. And tired.
-Clark
P.S. As expected, I didn’t have time to write about what’s happened during the rest of today. I’ll update tomorrow. It’s hell, though. I'm sorry I can't reply to every comment to tell you when this update is up like Zander did. Little busy at the moment. Time is moving too quickly, I can’t write fast enough, and too many things are happening. I’m publishing right on the dot because we are quickly slipping into the past tense.
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