C16 A lead to trace

As Kristine continued to stare at the recently updated photo of Jason and his four friends including the public figure she never thought would stoop so low to be Jason's friend...The world-famous star. Eric Kurt!

So the five of them knew each other Wayback? Were they actual friends? Did all of them including Eric have a part to play as part of Jason's entourage in his wayward lifestyle.?

Well, Kristine was certain about Sam and his two lapdogs though...Josh and Kyle. Since she already knew they were all connected in whatever happened to Rhea somehow, even though Sam's involvement still infuriated her...But Eric Kurt? It really came as a shock to her.

What if Eric Kurt was indeed the sponsor hiding behind Jason, with his status and wealth, he could be her prime suspect for now.

It will definitely make sense if Eric was indeed the sponsor or maybe a friend who bucked Jason or whatever he was to Jason. That would mean that Eric had been helping Jason in the shadows and always covered his numerous crimes all this time. Eric even protected Jason and always made it possible for him to escape judgement from the law despite his heinous crimes so far...It can't be good! After all, birds of the same feather, flock together.

It seemed the direction to seek Jason's sponsor was finally brought to light...If not, How else would she explain the close vibes between them in the photo? It looked like they all knew each other well enough.

The suspicions concerning these assumptions filled Kristine with a never-ending curiosity about this untimely discovery, but she has to take caution on how to approach the issue at hand or it might backfire or end up slipping out of control.

For now, all she had were suspicions of Eric's involvement with Jason but with no concrete evidence. So she has to start gathering evidence from there.

However, her first target now was Sam...she has to use him as bait to confirm all these suspicions and find out what exactly his part was in the demise of her sister. If he really approached Rhea for vengeance from the very beginning and on what motive did he flawlessly endorse in that scheme to ruin Rhea's life.

All these thoughts kept running inside Kristine's head as she sat in the taxi which was on its way directly to the airport.

"And they had the guts to party after nearly ruining my sister's life? Well, It's not surprising." Kristine voiced her thoughts out loud which caught the attention of the driver who kept sending weird glances at her in the rearview mirror.

But anyways, What if Eric Kurt was also part of the entire camping scheme too? What exactly was his role in it? Judging by their closeness in the photo, the background looked like a private party....a friendly get-together at the star's house.

Kristine's doubt about Eric was gradually turning into certainty the more she linked the obvious scene from the photo to the tips she gathered so far from this current situation.

After all, a Superstar wouldn't invite unfamiliar guests into his home unofficially, unless they were his close friends and maybe he knew them well enough or was also acquainted with them somehow.

Even Kristine was now sure about these prospects from all her deductions so far, but she needed to confirm it herself, to buck it up with concrete evidence...But how? How could she hope to gather evidence against a well-known Superstar who had never had any scandalous reputation since the beginning of his career?

This only goes to show how dangerous and two-timing he was to cunningly hide all these bad aspects of himself all this time, without the press ever finding out. Or maybe, he had already handled the reporters who snooped on these secrets and bought them with money so he could prevent them from publishing it.

Now, the question was how can she trap Eric Kurt and blow his cover...How?

Kristine's thoughts wandered for a minute, then her face brighten up with an idea.

"I have to find a way to get closer to Eric Kurt...this could help me find out about how they were all linked together, and also help me execute my plans. It's like killing two birds with one stone." Kristine thought with a deadly smirk lurking around her lips, even though somewhere within her heart she sincerely hoped she was wrong about Eric Kurt. That Eric wouldn't have anything to do with Jason or whatever happened to her sister. It would be such a shame for his promising career image and charms, as well as his outstanding personality....she surely hoped she was wrong about all this!

The taxi soon dropped Kristine at the airport for her half-hour flight to Riley State. She had already booked a ticket last night after she concluded to investigate everything herself and even stopped by her friend Cassandra's place to change her clothes since she left home with the pretense of going to the office, but it's her day off.

Kristine took out her bluetooth pods and placed it inside her ears to answer a phone call from Taylor Dray.

Taylor Dray was Kristine's friend at work who was also a formal hacker. However, he was currently working as a part of the security personnel at the Walker Empire. Kristine had sought his help to track down Sam's whereabouts once she landed in Riley State.

"Yes, Taylor...I am all ears! were you able to trace his last location? He just posted a photo on his social media account right now and even hashtag his location, but I am not sure if he would still be at the Superstar's house when I get there. So as a precautionary measure, keep tracking him." Kristine uttered confidently.

"I am on it! but the problem is, he had been ignoring my messages. He has to click on the link I sent so I could access his device and track him down, but he doesn't seem to fall for all my traps. Quite smart of him though". Taylor replied amusingly.

"No time for amusement Taylor...we have got to be double smart. These guys are the worse of the worst, and I need to bring them to their knees so be alert and keep trying. Show me what you've got!" Kristine paused to tap a message which she sent to Taylor's phone and a peep sound was heard from the other end.

"You've got the message right? try using that as your trap and I can assure you, he will definitely fall for it. Forward me his location after you track him...I am off. It's time to get down to business!" Kristine hang up the call even before Taylor could form a word in reply to all she just blabbered.

On the other end, Taylor stared at his phone after his call with Kristine ended, and read the message she sent him.

"I will make sure you pay for what you did to me along with Jason, and I have the evidence against you two...Rhea."

Taylor used these exact same words to send a message to Sam's phone and in less than a minute, it went through and Sam clicked on the link immediately and Taylor finally had assessed to his phone records.

"Gotha ya! I didn't know it would be this easy all this while. Well, after all, it's Kristine he was working with. She always had the ability to be the best in everything!" The repeated sound of the keyboard clicks on Taylor's computer echoed as he entered to trace Sam's location and gain assess to all his mobile data to retrieve every valuable information from his device. Just any clue to link him up with Jason as well as to figure out what exactly happened to Rhea. There was no better place to search and find evidence of an offender's acts other than inside his device. It holds all the secrets. Since the youths of today love to keep records of their mischievous and dirty acts on their phones for future reference or use it as threats against the victims.

However, nothing substantial was retrieved from Sam's phone after Taylor brushed through his records. Other than a few text messages between him and a number he could barely recognise, there was nothing to link him up with Jason.. then Taylor hissed in annoyance when he couldn't make out the registered name behind that number. All his efforts were wasted.

Meanwhile, Taylor realised Kristine might make out something from all the gibberish on Sam's phone so he saved all the data and sent the records to Kristine along with Sam's latest location. It seemed the only beneficial aspect was that he was able to trace Sam's exact location which he typed and sent to Kristine's phone.

On the other hand, Kristine briskly walked to the counter in her sleeveless purple dress which reached her knees, and a petticoat over her dress, with her thick long black hair loosen behind her and around her neck, as well as her spectacular sunglasses tucked gorgeously to cover her eyes from the morning sun. She drew the attention of all the passerbyers who were dazzled by her extraordinary beauty ever since she alighted from her taxi.

These occurrences had been a part of her daily life. There were occasions when she had to face worse-case scenarios for her divine looks. Like how she fell into the trap of Caleb Donnell...Their College Basketball legend.

Out of nowhere, Caleb appeared into her life like a tornado and didn't leave her until he made sure she swore herself off. To never trust the guys and relationships for as long as she lives...after her heart-wrenching breakup with him and his cruel betrayal. It was part of the reason why she became so paranoid and was also alert when it came to the guy her sister Rhea dated. However, she didn't see it coming with Sam Wilby...that conniving bastard. He really knew how to play his cards well...quite a great actor too it seems.

Whereas, even the gentleman Kristine met at the counter did not escape falling into Kristine's charm as he continued the process of Kristine's check-in. He kept staring at her mouth agape... a real striking goddess beauty before him, and he even blushed which Kristine pretended not to notice.

As the top most ranked beauty in college, Kristine has always been aware of the impact she had on the public ever since her high school days, so she learned over the years, to ignore all advances with a dangerous aura that she usually exudes to ward off obnoxious guys from approaching her with their empty love proposals.

The tempting yet dangerous vibes surrounding Kristine's personality as her mind still wandered on the information she just gathered were beyond imaginable, and her full concentration was also on the recent information Taylor sent her.

Kristine was so engrossed in making deductions as she glance through the text messages sent to and fro in Sam's phone with an unknown number, which she guessed must be Jason's recent private number. Judging from the flow of the messages on the same date of their camping trip.

"Get her to the warehouse in five minutes, I will meet you there!" Kristine reads this message from the information Taylor sent her. But she couldn't make out whether the 'her' in the message was referred to her sister Rhea or someone else. A dead end it seems...not good!

After Kristine finished her check-in, she took her seat patiently waiting for the announcement of her boarding flight, and took out her phone to call Taylor back.

Two rings before Taylor picked up!

"So did you get anything worthwhile from the information I sent you?. Taylor asked the moment he picked up Kristine's call.

"Yeah! but not strong enough...I need clear evidence, all you sent me were merely assumptions." Kristine uttered while she fidgets to tie her lace. She was wearing sneakers to complete her outfit since it was easy and comfortable for her movements on this particular mission.

"You know what, I suspect that number to be Jason's so I would appreciate it if you could hack into his phone and get me all his data. That would be more profitable." Kristine straightened up when the echoed announcement of her boarding flight was telecast inside the microphone. She stood up to make her way to board her flight.

"I am about to board my flight so please make sure you get everything on Jason's phone by the time I get to Riley State...I know I can count on you... bye!" Kristine took her seat by the window after she entered her flight and minutes later, the pilot announced his arrival and their destination before wishing them a pleasant flight. Soon, their flight was in the air on its way to Riley State.

Taylor stared at his phone after Kristine hang up the call and sigh in frustration.

"She really knows how to hang up when the conversation is about to get heated!." Taylor uttered and also got down to business cracking codes on his computer to gain assess to every piece of information on the number Kristine asked.