“You ever heard of PicStock?” I asked.
“Nope,” said Chastity. “What is it?”
“I’m guessing some stock photo site. Apparently that’s what we have to use for images now.” I brought it up on my computer and started searching for images we could use in the new Wineflix ads. The first thing that caught my eye was that you could only buy exclusive rights to images. You couldn’t just buy a normal license like you do on most sites. The prices reflected that. Instead of $10 per image, this site charged $1000. “They better have some good stuff on here…”
I did a few of my usual searches. Wine glass. Beautiful model drinking wine. Fashion model party. I had to admit, the images were good. And for a nice change in the stock image space, there were actually photos I hadn’t seen before.
Chastity watched over my shoulder and helped me save images that might work.
“Whoa, go back,” said Chastity suddenly. She sounded concerned.
I clicked back. “What? Did we miss one?”
She took the mouse from me and clicked on an image of a girl sitting on a cliffside looking off into the distance. I nearly fell out of my chair when I saw the larger version of the photo. It wasn’t just some random model in the picture. It was Rosalie. My sister. Who went missing three years ago. I felt my throat constricting.
“That’s Rosalie, right?” asked Chastity.
I nodded.
“Did you know she did any modeling?”
“Never.” My brain was working overdrive. Was it at all possible that this was a new photo? If it was, it meant that Rosalie was still alive. And even if it wasn’t, it was still new information. A new lead to someone who might know what happened to her.
I stared at the image and tried to blink away my tears. I needed to tell Marty, Tanner’s PI, about this immediately.
My heart sunk. I couldn’t tell Marty. I wasn’t dating Tanner anymore. There was no way he was still looking into Rosalie’s disappearance now. And he’d totally ignored me the entire time Tanner had been missing.
I shook the thought away. I didn’t need a fancy PI anyway. And I definitely didn’t need Tanner. I was a freaking amazing stalker.
This Is War - Chapter 15 – Apology Nudies
Friday – September 22, 2023
I searched high and low on PicStock for information about the picture of Rosalie - who took it, when it was taken, where it was taken - but I couldn’t find a thing.
Come on!Shutterstock at least gave the username of the photographer that posted the photos on their site. But of course this stupid site that Mr. Frost demanded we use wasn’t nearly as helpful.
“Maybe try their customer service chat?” suggested Chastity.
I went to thecontact ustab. But they didn’t have a chat option either.Stupid trash site!“Gah, they only have a phone number.”
“I’ll call,” said Chastity.
And that was why she was the best. She totally understood that I hated calling people.
She put her phone on speaker and placed it on the desk between us.
“Thank you for calling PicStock. We’re currently experiencing a higher-than-usual call volume, but a representative will be with you shortly.”
Twenty minutes later, someone finally answered.
“Hello, this is Olivia with PicStock,” said a man with a very thick Indian accent. “For quality assurance purposes, we are recording this call. How may I help you?”
For starters you could stop lying about your name, Olivia the Indian man.
“Hey, Olivia,” said Chastity. “I was just looking on your site and I found an image I really like. I’d love to hire the photographer to do more photos for me, but I can’t find their name on the site. Can you possibly give me their name?”
“What photo is this in reference to?” asked Olivia.
