The man came back on the line. “You have something that we need shipped. Once you’ve delivered the canisters to our people at the airport, we’ll deliver your son to you. Don’t call the authorities. If you want to see Toby alive again, you know what you need to do. We want the canisters there within the next two hours.”

“I don’t have a car! I couldn’t help you even if I wanted to!”

“Use the car that’s parked in the spot where yours was. It’s unlocked. The keys are under the driver’s seat. Make the delivery. You do, and little Toby will be fine. You don’t, and we’ll park your car somewhere in the desert where no one would think to look, and we’ll leave him inside it, strapped in that car seat just like he was when you left him to die. In fact, we might be on our way to doing that right now. Time is ticking, Jake. You have two hours and not a minute more.”

++++

It took me a while, but I found a story about the death of a blogger from Baltimore named Thomas Kewley.

He died two months ago, chewing on razor blades until he bled to death. I couldn’t find any evidence that his death had been broadcast live online when he died. There was no suicide note.

Kewley was found at home, and I added the location of his residence to the case files. Perhaps analyzing the location and timing in connection with the other suicides would be enough to discern something about the travel routes of the observer who was present during the deaths.

If it was even the same person in each instance.

And if he was even there at Kewley’s place.

It was worth a closer look.

So, mobile phone records.

Your cell phone is constantly tracking you as it looks for greater signal strength—and that means it’s searching for and connecting with different cell towers. The resultant data is used by phone companies to help them develop their networks. Subpoenaing those records is common for law enforcement. Yes, there has been pushback from privacy rights and civil liberties groups that have brought lawsuits regarding when and how we use that information, but so far the Bureau has managed to justify the searches and they’ve remained legal.

All that—not to mention what NSA does on the books and off them—provides us with robust resources for tracking the pathways of mobile phones and smart device locations. Between the phone companies and NSA, tracing where a person has been is not nearly as difficult or implausible as it was just five years ago.