Toward the end of the book, Robin manages to track down a photograph that Paperwhite has sent to other mods of Drek’s Game, claiming that it is a selfie. Using reverse image searches, she identifies the young woman in the photograph as Nicole Crystal, an art student who lives in Glasgow (ch 92). She is described as not ‘merely pretty: she was beautiful. Twenty at most, she was slim, with long red hair, cream coloured, lightly freckled skin, high cheekbones and large hazel eyes’ (ch 92).

Barclay is dispatched to Glasgow to interview her, and she then speaks to Robin and Strike via FaceTime, alongside her parents. Nicole explains that she sent the Paperwhite selfies to her ex-boyfriend Marcus Barrett whilst they were in a long-distance relationship. She has never played Drek’s Game and concludes the photos were hacked and used to catfish by whoever is using the name Paperwhite in the game (ch 97).