I stared at him for a second, considering the alternate approaches. “This guy doesn’t do honey. He’s subtle yet aggressive.” I conducted a half-second mental review of the interview and shook my head. “The antagonizing has already been done byhim.” That might’ve been a stretch. He hadn’t really said anything outright rude or aggressive, but given the tone of his questions and his history as a journalist, I stood behind my statement.
Katie clapped three times. “Let’s cyber stalk the man already!”
“I tried,” Brooke said. “He has no social media presence—or else he’s got Fort Knox-level privacy settings.”
Katie looked at Jackie, whose eyes were on her computer. They flicked upward after a second.
“Work your dark magic, woman,” Katie said.
“You’re like my little shoulder devil,” Jackie said with a frown.
Katie seemed pleased rather than offended. “Oh, come on! There’s gotta be something you can do to help Viv out—withoutbreaking any laws.”
Jackie looked at her for a second, then her mouth lifted at one edge. “Fine. Lemme see what I can dig up.”
Katie grinned, and both she and Brooke scooted their Affection Puffs closer. Nick and I got up and stood behind Jackie, leaning over to observe.
Watching Jackie at work was mesmerizing. Her fingers—little blurs of movement—flew across the keyboard. Windows opened, closed, multiplied, vanished.
She made a frustrated noise after a couple of minutes. “This guy is a digital hermit. His Facebook profile has got to be ten years dormant at the very least, and all I can see is his name and a pixelated profile picture.”
I leaned in to try to make sense of the vaguely familiar blob, but a different window popped up before I’d made any headway.
“Columbia grad,” Jackie said. “I can show you every article he’s published on Threadline, obviously, but this guy is definitely not your get-ready-with-me-video type. He’s a private person.” She couldn’t mask the hint of admiration in the comment.
“Who loves to expose other people.” Brooke sighed.
“Sounds to me like a man who’s got something to hide,” Katie said. “Pull up that picture you found, Jack.”
Jackie obeyed, and I was accosted by a screenfilled with Grant’s picture. He was seated, leaning forward with his elbows on jean-clad knees (did the man own nice clothes?), his expression neutral except for the slightest…twinkle? That wasn’t the right word. Whatever it was, it took away any overly serious vibes and made him seem personable.
Or like a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
“I wish he weren’t so hot,” Katie said with disappointment.
I gave her the death glare. Compliments—even reluctant ones—weren’t helpful.
Jackie sat back. “Evil people are always super hot or super ugly. It’s an unspoken rule.”
“So, this is all we’ve got?” I asked. “A picture, some generic info from his college days, and a bunch of articles that are tantamount to a wasteland of the companies he’s knee-capped?”
Jackie shrugged. “Unless you want his next piece to be about how Matchify’s lead developer went to jail for breaking all sorts of cyber laws…yes. This is the extent of it.” She closed the laptop lid. “You’ll have to do your recon the old-fashioned way.”
“Break into his house?” Katie’s head tilted to the side as she genuinely considered the idea.
Jackie turned to look at Katie, her eyes narrowed and mystified. “Whatis wrong with you? No! Observation. Questions. Conversation.That’sthe old-fashioned way.”
“The boring way,” Katie mumbled.
“Conversation,” Nick said, squeezing the stress ball until it disappeared in his hand. “Like flirting?”
“Viv doesn’t flirt before running statistical models.” Katie went still, then snapped her fingers. “Can you get him to create a Matchify profile?” Jackie opened her mouth, but Katie cut her off. “Apublicone. Squeaky clean!”
“If he has no social media, he’s not about to tell Matchify his deepest secrets.” I stood straight and smoothed my slacks. “I just need to get through the next couple days. That’s all. Brooke, maybe you can help me run through potential questions. He’llask all the ones we don’t want to answer—he’s already made a lot of headway on that front.”
Brooke gave double thumbs up.
“And we”—Katie snatched the stress ball out of the air when Nick tossed it, then squeezed it in her fist—“will be waiting in the wings to take him out if the opportunity—I mean,need—arises.”
