“He was a little shaken, but he claims they are for an art project he’s doing. They’ve all been taken in public places. There’s no law against it. The paparazzi do it all the time.”

Simon shook his head in disgust.

Kate stood up and began to pace. “Could you at least tell where the text came from?”

He shook his head. “Not this time. It wasn’t over a recognized Wi-Fi. They used a VPN.”

“What’s that?” Kate asked.

“It’s a virtual private network, which allows data to be encrypted and the IP address of the user to be masked,” Anderson explained.

“We’re never going to find out who this is,” Kate whispered.

Anderson stood and walked over to her. “I promise you, I’m not going to rest until we do.”

Was this how the parents of her young patients felt when they had to sit by and trust Kate while their children walked that terrifying line between life and death? It was a wonder those parents hadn’t slapped her when she told them to remain calm, to trust her.

“Has anyone else been here today? Seen your outfit?”

“No. Well, my father,” she said, her eyes widening.

Anderson raised his eyebrows. “I’ll be in touch,” was all he said as he left.

Blaire wondered what that exchange was all about.

One of the BCT guards entered the kitchen. “There’s no one on the property or on the perimeter of the woods. We’ve got a team searching the rest of the woods now, but we’ve looked through all the video footage, and there’s nothing.”

“Big surprise,” Kate said. “I’m going to go check on Annabelle.” She looked at Blaire. “Will you come keep me company for a little while?”

“Of course.”

Blaire followed Kate to the playroom, where Hilda and Annabelle were sitting together on the couch, watching a movie. Annabelle was so engrossed that she didn’t look up as they entered.

Blaire and Kate stood behind the sofa. “What are you watching, sweetie?” Kate asked.

“Nemo,” Annabelle answered distractedly.

They watched for a moment, and Blaire jumped when Annabelle screamed.

“It ate Coral!” Annabelle yelled as the barracuda’s jaws started snapping. “No, her babies are gone too.” She started to cry.

Kate scooped her up from the sofa and hugged her. “What’s wrong with you?” she snapped at Hilda. “How could you let her watch this?”

Hilda’s eyes grew wide, and she began to stammer. “She’s seen it so many times. I had no idea it would upset her this time. I’m sorry. I would never have put it on if I’d thought it would frighten her like this.” Kate pulled Annabelle closer, trying to soothe her.

“Well, maybe you should have thought about what effect it might have since all that’s happened.” Kate ran from the room with Annabelle.