Riddick was bit confused by the rather anti-climatic find. He felt perhaps he didn’t look properly and so he checked again, but there was indeed nothing in the drawer.
What point was there in locking the drawer if there was nothing inside? Or was he the one who was perhaps over-thinking it? The drawer could’ve simply been locked and maybe the key lost, such small possibilities could not be overlooked.
However, the key to looking for evidence was always to assume there was something to find, and Riddick did just that.
‘No, couldn't be.’ Riddick was doubtful over a thought he just had, but still curious, so he laid flat on the ground and slowly shimmied under the study desk right under the side of the drawers and then used the clip he still had to unlock the drawer.
He then began feeling out the edges of the drawers panels. As he was doing so, he felt something above, something somewhat soft, and he wondered if it was a fake panel.
Although it wasn't evident on his face, Riddick was very surprised to find an old school method such as this being implemented. Riddick immediately removed Johnny as the one to do this since he knew this was a place where guests would be, and there was no telling when a guest could become curious and start looking for things.
It made more sense that someone like Jamie would try this, as she didn’t quite fully understand just how dangerous or efficient some clients could be. Or maybe it was just because they hadn’t encountered a situation that would cause worry over the spot.
For example, let's say one had been using a method to hide something over the span of a year or even more, all while guests were coming in and nothing went wrong.
The person would assume that their hiding place is safe and will continue to do so, especially if there were no close calls. It was always important to assume that another party could be very intelligent, but at the same time, Riddick felt it was necessary to acknowledge some people's ignorance, confidence, or just downright foolishness. Such was the case here.
If this were truly Johnny's doing, then Riddick couldn't help but think of him as nothing more than a fool. Because if he did intend to hide something, it was a much better bet to use one of the many cars present in the compound because for one, Johnny knew exactly when the cars would be coming and going.
So he could simply be alternating hiding places, especially if it was something so small that it could be fitted into a drawer. So he was sure that either there was another person who frequently visited here or this was Jamie's doing.
‘Now the question was why?’ The first and immediate thought Riddick felt was most likely was, Jamie was having an affair.
Looking at the signs, it seemed like the most logical conclusion to reach, and if that was the case, Riddick wouldn't need bother any further. But since there was still evidence to be found, he kept digging without wasting time.
He quickly undid the panel carefully so he could put it back after, and then retrieved an old-looking journal.
“Well this should interesting.” He muttered to himself as he retrieved the book, making sure not to tamper with it as he carefully raised it up. Seeing that he had collected some dust, it was clear that some time had passed since it was last opened by the owner. For this reason, he decided to be very careful how he held it, even going as far as not to touch the top cover so as not to remove the dust that was on top.
He carefully held the book at the tip of the cover and then opened so that even if some dust was removed at the edge, no one would notice, as it would obviously quickly collect even by morning. With this thought in mind, Riddick passed the introductory pages and reached where the writing began but immediately paused again as he muttered, "it’s written in Mayan.”
Mayan was a language predominantly spoken on the Mayan continent, south of the Allied Federation. The continent housed numerous nations with Mayan origins, and so the language was the most predominantly spoken.
Seeing this, Riddick confirmed his earlier thoughts about this likely belonging to Jamie. After all, Johnny had made it clear that Jamie was of Mayan descent from her mother's side, a trait he boasted about, given that Mayans were well known for their curvy figures and very high sex drives.
It wasn't uncommon for men who dated Mayan women to boast, and Johnny was no different in this case. That boast gave Riddick a huge clue.
Because of the near proximity to the Allied Federation, Mayan was also spoken by at least 7% of the Allied Federation population as a second language, so it was only natural for Riddick to know it to an almost fluent extent.
In addition, from what he knew, Johnny's Mayan was extremely rusty, and aside from a few phrases, he knew nothing about the language. Which would mean if this was indeed Jamie's, it only added further protection for what was already something hard to find, as even if Johnny found it, he wouldn't be able to read it, and given just how much trust he held in his girlfriend, Riddick felt it was unlikely that even if Johnny found this, he would do anything.
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Putting all these pieces together, Riddick began to feel Jamie was fairly manipulative and smarter than she let on, or at least smarter than Johnny.
One could be amazed by the extent some people went just so they could cheat. So these measures didn't exactly surprise Riddick, though, considering just how Johnny talked about Jamie, he had felt that if anyone was capable of cheating, it was Johnny.
He began to cycle through the pages and found some more clues to support his hunch, from Jamie talking about her day in which she saw a handsome man in another OT community, to her expressing the pleasure she felt as strangers eyed her body up and down.
In some entries, Jamie goes into vivid detail of some dreams she had of a strong man taking her away from Johnny and giving her the life she deserves as the princess.
‘And they say killers are heartless.’ Riddick thought to himself as he finished cycling through a few of the entries, not needing to see more to know where this was going.
Although it wasn't conclusive that she was cheating, evidence was there to point that she was fantasizing about it to a very high degree.
So, was it just fantasy or did Jamie explore said fantasy whenever Johnny wasn't about?
Riddick felt the latter was more likely. Other than that, it didn't really provide any information that was useful to him, so he quickly closed the journal and put it back under the drawer before leaving things as they were.
From there, he was about to begin feeling out the walls for any loose wooden panels or hidden pockets when Zoe's voice suddenly rang from his watch.
"Riddick, I'm done processing, and I found something quite odd."
"What have you found?”
“From what I was able to scan, it would seem there are very few devices present on the site containing ships of the second generation or better, you have inconspicuous things like the fridge, the television, or computer in Johnny and Jamie's room and rested on the dresser next to them are their two phones. However, I detect another phone present, but of the fifth generation, and in the kitchen."
Riddick was confused by this and asked, "The kitchen?"
Zoe confirmed. "Yes, the kitchen. Here are the coordinates.”
Riddick’s watch let out a flash and then projected a rough 3D map of Johnny's kitchen with a certain cupboard highlighted.
Riddick furrowed his brows but didn't question any further. He immediately left his room to go down to the kitchen. This was done quickly, and he soon reached the kitchen and found the aforementioned cupboard.
Upon opening it, he found numerous things inside: boxes of cereals, packs of oats and wheat, baby formula, and so on.
It wasn’t until Riddick brought his watch in close proximity that it began to beep the closer he got. Riddick received the loudest beep when he brought his watch next to a can of baby formula tucked away right in the corner of the.
Considering both Johnny and Jamie's height, both would need at least a stool to reach that far back. His main job made Riddick think the chances of Johnny being present in the kitchen were extremely low. Not to mention, even if he was in the kitchen, he would have very little reason to be going for the baby formula. This only further added to Riddick's earlier guesses, but he did not want to conclude on anything without solid evidence.
He reached out and easily retrieved the baby formula before opening it. At first glance, one would see a large metallic can of baby formula filled to the brim. But Riddick pushed aside the baby formula powder and found a smart-phone carefully encased in plastic and tucked under the powder.
Riddick carefully retrieved it, trying to spill as little powder as he could for easy cleanup.
Upon retrieval of the phone, it was indeed fifth-generation, which could be considered somewhat newer. But according to Johnny, he and Jamie only used tech to an agreeable extent and performance that meant going up to the second generation.
Anything higher would be considered too flashy in Johnny's eyes. So why was there a fifth-generation phone present and hidden here? Considering all the advantages that came with having a phone of that generation, Riddick really couldn't put it over Jamie to having gotten the phone due to its features.
It was well known among men that certain women liked to have the finer things in life, even in OT communities. Women often haggled their husbands on finer gadgets, jewelry, and so on in certain households.
But from what Riddick could tell from Johnny's boasting about Jamie, Jamie was not that type. But from the way things were looking now, it seems Johnny didn't know Jamie well enough.
Without letting his thoughts lead him, Riddick opened the plastic carefully, remembering how it was put so that he could return it to the way it was.
Upon retrieving the phone, he opened it up using Zoe to bypass the meager security. Because although for the 5th-gen was considered quite modern, it was no match for a something as sophisticated as Zoe, even if not at full operating power.
After bypassing the security, Riddick asked, "Zoe, can you extract and copy all contents and create a mirror profile on my phone?"
Zoe confirmed, "Affirmative. Processing data to create a mirror profile."
Mirror profiling was something that had grown very popular around the 2200s. It was the method in which data could be extracted from one phone and copied onto another as a separate profile.
So, if someone had damning evidence on their phone, one needed only another phone to pull the data over, create a mirror profile, and it would have everything the other phone had, down to the last metadata.
Back then, it was a method exclusive to the Allied Federation’s National Intelligence Agency (NIA). But as time went on, their methods grew more sophisticated, and it became rather common. No one really bothered with it in the current day and age, as it was much harder to use our new-gen phones than those of the old generation.
The extraction and profiling took a mere two minutes, after which a prompt flashed above Riddick's smartphone stating, "Mirror profile complete."
As soon as this was done, Riddick closed the phone without ever even touching the screen. He had all the content that was within the phone. So, even if the owner ever came, their messages and apps were untouched.
With this done, he quickly put it back into the baby formula and carefully put it back where it was. From there, he returned to his room and sat on the edge of his bed before taking out his phone.
“Load last imported mirror profile.” Following this command, a processing screen exhibited on Riddick's phone as it flashed on with a prompt stating, "Command received. Mirror profile being loaded."
After a few seconds, it stated, "Complete. Mirror profile successfully loaded." Then, the front screen faded away, and a new screen opened immediately.
It looked the same way the other phone did, from wallpaper to app, placement messages, and so on.
At this point, Riddick felt he could now gather solid evidence, and so he chose to start with the messaging app.
‘Let's see what we can uncover here.’