“As far as we know. Why?”

“If there’s a violent video—real life, not fake—YouVid’ll probably take it down. If there’re complaints or if their algorithm catches it and their vid police decide it violates TOS, terms of service, down it comes. Have somebody download and record it.”

Dellray said, “Our folks’re all over it. Done and done.”

“Hi, Fred.” A pause, then Szarnek said, “Got it…Man. Already twenty-thousand-plus views. And a ton of likes. Sick world out there. So this’s that guy snatched a few hours ago? I read the wire.”

“We think,” Sachs said.

“Hey, Amelia. Okay. And you need the location where this was sent from. Hoping he’s still alive. Okay, okay. There. I’ve sent the vid and an expedited request to the Warrants Desk. They’ll be on the phone with a magistrate, who’ll approve it ASAP. Minutes, I’m talking. I’ve worked with YouVid before. They’re in the U.S., New Jersey, thank God, so they’ll cooperate. If the server was overseas, we might never hear from them. I’ll call you back as soon as I can start tracing.”

They disconnected. Rhyme said to Sachs, “Get that chart going. What do we have so far?” A nod at the whiteboard. She grabbed a marker and started.

As she wrote, Rhyme turned to the computer to look at the video again. The screen changed. A red block of type came up.

This video has been removed for violation of our Terms of Service.

A moment later, though, the video arrived from Dellray’s technical people, via an email. An MP4 file. Rhyme and the others viewed it again, hoping it might yield clues as to where the footage had been shot.

Nothing. A stone wall. A wooden box. Robert Ellis, the victim, struggling atop the improvised gallows.

One slip, one muscle cramp would kill him.

Sachs was finished jotting a moment later. Rhyme looked over the chart, wondering if there was anything in it that might hold clues to let them narrow down where their perp lived or worked or where he’d taken his victim to make the perverse tape.

213 East 86th Street, Manhattan

• —Incident: Battery/kidnapping.
  • —MO: Perp threw hood over head (dark, possibly cotton), drugs inside to induce unconsciousness.
• —Victim: Robert Ellis.
  • —Single, possibly lives with Sabrina Dillon, awaiting return call from her (on business in Japan).
  • —Residence in San Jose.
  • —Owner of small start-up, media buying firm.
  • —No criminal or national security file.
• —Perpetrator:
  • —Calls himself the Composer.
  • —White male.
  • —Age: 30 or so.
  • —Approximately six feet, plus or minus.
  • —Dark beard and hair, long.
  • —Weight: stocky.
  • —Wearing long-billed cap, dark.
  • —Dark clothing, casual.
  • —Shoes:
    • —Likely Converse Cons, color unknown, size 10½.
  • —Driving dark sedan, no tag, no make, no year.
• —Profile:
  • —Motive unknown.
• —Evidence:
  • —Victim’s phone.
    • —No unusual calls/calling patterns.
    • —Short hair, dyed blond. No DNA.
    • —No prints.
  • —Noose.
    • —Traditional hangman’s knot.
    • —Catgut, cello length.
      • —Too common to source.
  • —Dark cotton fiber.
    • —From hood, used to subdue victim?
    • —Chloroform.
    • —Olanzapine, antipsychotic drug.
  • —YouVid video:
    • —White male (probably vic), noose around neck.
    • —“Blue Danube” playing, in time to gasps (vic’s?).
    • —“© The Composer” appeared at end.
    • —Faded to black and silence; indication of impending death?
    • —Checking location where it was uploaded.