PROX CHAT

BASED ON:

INTERVIEWER: So we have a captive woman. An online game. And an unsuspecting gamer. The captive woman tells a complete stranger her true identity and that she's being held against her will. A woman who, up until about a week ago, was still missing.

CRABTREE: Yes.

INTERVIEWER: Were you familiar with the case first, or Fisher's story?

CRABTREE: The story.

INTERVIEWER: How long before?

Crabtree adjusts the cuff of his sleeve.

CRABTREE: I read it four months before the woman was recovered.

INTERVIEWER: What did you make of it?

CRABTREE: Effective. A little untidy toward the end. Fisher had a habit of giving an ending more work that it could reasonably perform.

INTERVIEWER: But it stuck with you.

CRABTREE: A young man hears a woman calling for help through his headset. He assumes she's participating in the game. Eventually, she persuades him to search for her name.

INTERVIEWER: And he finds a missing-person report.

CRABTREE: Yes.

INTERVIEWER: As happened in the case.

CRABTREE: As was subsequently reported.

INTERVIEWER: You're being careful.

CRABTREE: We're comparing a work of fiction with a criminal investigation. Discretion is appropriate.

A page appears on-screen. Only one passage in the out of focus text is clearly visible.

My real name is Malika Lakshmi; I went missing years ago. Look me up.

INTERVIEWER: Was that her real name?

CRABTREE: No.

INTERVIEWER: The game?

CRABTREE: Different.

INTERVIEWER: The location?

CRABTREE: Also different.

INTERVIEWER: Then we could be discussing a coincidence.

CRABTREE: We could.

INTERVIEWER: You don't seem particularly troubled by that possibility.

CRABTREE: It was my conclusion.

INTERVIEWER: What changed it?

Crabtree looks toward the page on the monitor.

CRABTREE: I asked to see the messages.

INTERVIEWER: Between the woman and the other player?

CRABTREE: Yes. The complete exchange. Before anyone knew who she was.

INTERVIEWER: What were you looking for?

CRABTREE: Differences, principally.

INTERVIEWER: Did you find them?

CRABTREE: Plenty.

He reaches beside his chair and grabs a folder.

CRABTREE: Before she gave her name, the other player stopped responding for several minutes. When he returned, she asked him not to leave again.

INTERVIEWER: Understandably.

CRABTREE: He told her he'd only gone to answer the door.

(Silence)

INTERVIEWER: That happens in Fisher's story.

CRABTREE: Yes.

INTERVIEWER: Was that detail in the news coverage?

CRABTREE: No.

INTERVIEWER: What had he gone to the door for?

Crabtree opens the folder.

CRABTREE: A pizza.