Duskwood: Love's Beginning

2 - Jake

I was monitoring the group's cell phones when something of interest popped up. Who was this Jayna? I read through Thomas' explanation and then decided I needed to know more. I hacked into her phone, scanning through her contacts, texts, emails, etc. for any mention of Hannah. I came up with zero search results. Hmm.

A check of social media showed that she had accounts, but they had been inactive or shut down for almost six months. Why she stopped using social media was not of concern to me at this time. However, I allowed myself to linger for a moment on her profile picture. 

Jayna was quite beautiful. She was standing by a bridge, wearing a strapless, form-fitting dress. Her hair, a dark, glossy brown, flowed over her light caramel shoulders. Dark eyes stared back at me, a secretive smile playing across her lips, lighting up her face. She looked lean with long, toned legs, but still had some nice curves. I cleared my throat, tearing my eyes away from her photo and clicking off of it. Clearly, I had been alone for far too long. I needed to focus.

A scan of her accounts told me that pictures and mentions of Hannah on those accounts were also nonexistent, and it didn't appear they had ever been connected.

I delved into the deep web. Jayna was 26, lived in Portland, Oregon, and worked for a medical clinic as a nurse. Her apartment had only her name on the lease. She had been going to school to become a Nurse Practitioner, but her attendance also ceased about six months ago, despite excellent grades. No matter, as it didn't seem connected to Hannah.

I read her conversation with Thomas and the others. She didn't just brush off the group and block them. Even when some of them were less than welcoming, she stayed and handled it with grace. In the end, Jayna even agreed to try to help. Hmm.

I weighed my options. Despite going without sleep for three days while I intensely looked for clues, I was no closer to finding Hannah. I didn't have a way to trace the text message with Jayna's number, since it had disappeared almost immediately from Thomas' phone. 

My energy was waning, and there was too much for me to do myself. I was not yet sure I could trust her, but she could be of use to me and do some of the menial tasks in this investigation while I finessed the more technical aspects of data mining. I believed a nurse would be intelligent enough to handle the work I needed help with.

Furthermore, I had memories of nurses being kind and compassionate to me during one of the most difficult times of my life. It almost seemed like a prerequisite to being a nurse. They also required discretion, as they had to keep their patients' information private. Her demeanor provided great potential; when I had tried to insert myself into the group, they had met me with distrust. For some reason, they seemed to want to trust Jayna.

It was decided. This Jayna would be brought into the fold as my insider to the group while she helped me investigate. I wrote in a script to give her phone access to the texts of the other group members.

Then I sent her a message.