by Smoke, Lucy
I huffed. “And the notebook?”
“Notes,” he said. “On the case. I dated all of the times I saw Jenna’s face on the security footage and correlated it with her timecards. I got a picture of her employee ID from the office as well. From there, I hacked into the cities’ CCTV and followed her—”
“CCTV?” I shook my head. “What’s that?”
“CCTV is closed circuit television. It’s video recording in public areas, usually reserved for following crime and tracking down perpetrators,” Texas explained.
“Okay.” I nodded. “And you followed her using that?”
He nodded, but just as he opened his mouth to go on, the car pulled up to a curb outside of a tall office building and the driver announced our arrival. “Thanks,” Texas said, reaching forward and handing the man a few bills before we got out. “Let’s get inside and find the others before we continue this conversation,” he suggested.
I glanced up as the hot Australian sun burned across my cheeks and forehead and squinted at the reflective surface of the building as we strode for the spinning front doors. Texas didn’t even hesitate as we walked into the chrome and glass interior, moving through the lobby with confidence as he approached the front desk. I hung back for a moment as he spoke to the woman sitting there with her strawberry blonde hair pulled back into a severe bun.
My eyes scanned the room, noting the men in business suits and searching for the cameras Texas had mentioned. I spotted a couple above the front entrance, as well as over by the elevators, among other places. If Jenna had come to the office regularly, there was no doubt in my mind that her timecard would have had to correlate with her arrival and departure times. Unless there were other unseen entrances, there was no way to get in and out of the building without being seen by at least one security camera.
Texas’ hand touched my elbow, startling me as he urged me towards the elevators. “They’re upstairs in the meeting room.”
“Marv and Grayson?” I asked.
He nodded. “Everyone’s here. They’re there with Jenna’s temporary supervisor.”
We took the elevator up to the fifth floor and when the doors slid open, I saw the top of Marv’s golden-blond head. The meeting room was across from the elevators, the clean hallway windows allowing me to see him as he paced back and forth parallel to a long table. Texas and I moved towards the door of the room where the guys and another man I didn’t recognize were quietly talking.
Knix’s head popped up as we entered, but before he or I could say anything, Texas went down the row of windows looking out into the hall and lowered all the blinds.
“What’s going on?” Knix demanded as I went to his side. His hand moved to the small of my back, sending a shiver up my spine.
“I’m not sure,” I answered. “Texas said he might have found something. Did you find anything?”
He looked down at me, his expression softening before he sighed and shook his head. “I had to ask Bellamy to track down a few notes from people she had been talking to, but other than that, all we managed to discover is that she didn’t keep her case notes in the office.”
“Of course not,” the stranger said—I assumed this was the supervisor Texas had mentioned. He was a tall, thin man with a bushy mustache tipped in gray. It fluttered as he blew out a breath. “Jenna was working from the apartment for most of her stay here.”
“Why?” I asked. “Wouldn’t you want confidential information kept in the office?”
“Everything Jenna was working on was done via computer. Any confidential information she had was password protected on a company laptop.”
“Is this the laptop?” Texas asked as he stopped by the table and gestured for the silver cased laptop sitting there.
The man nodded.
“We found it in the apartment and brought it here when Knix called us and told us to meet here,” Grayson said.
Texas moved to open it as he set the notebook down. “Like I said, it’s password protected,” the supervisor warned. “The only people to know the password were Jenna and my boss.”
“Why is that, Mr. Stover?” Knix asked. “You are her supervisor, shouldn’t you have her password.”
Marv paused in his pacing as the man answered. “Normally, I would have, but Jenna was a temporary employee from another branch. My boss is her main supervisor, I was simply her liaison and supervisor when he was out.”
“Which he is today,” Bellamy pointed out.
Mr. Stover nodded, and a moment later, Texas looked up from the laptop. “I’m in.”
The man’s eyes widened and he hurried around Texas’ other side, gaping at the screen he saw. “That’s not—you shouldn’t be able to—how did you—”
“Most people don’t use random digits or words for their passwords,” Texas explained. “So, if you know a little bit about the person, it helps to be able to hack their accounts. I’ve spent the last several hours learning as much as I could about Jenna Wiedleman’s habits. Her password is pretty simple.”
“But…” The man continued to stare at the screen as Texas clicked through documents and opened up tabs. “You’re in company documents. Those should have been sealed.”
“Companies are harder,” Texas admitted without pulling his gaze away from what he was doing. “But they’re all pretty much the same. They need a seemingly random way to track company documents. The password was a combination of Jenna’s employee ID as well as her American social security number—I figured it out since most of these documents are from the primary branch. She only came here because the man she’s attempting to prosecute is native to Australia. From what I read on the documents detailing the lawsuit, he claimed to have been in Australia during the time the embezzled funds were transferred to a Swiss bank account with a surprisingly unoriginal name attached: John Smith.” Texas sighed as if disappointed and I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing. “Some people have no imagination.”
“Texas,” Marv snapped. “What did you find?”
“Well, nothing much from the documents on here or that I managed to gain access to via the company employee system your boss”—Texas paused to gesture to Mr. Stover—“gave me permission to hack.”
“He gave you permission to hack into sensitive company documents?” Mr. Stover looked ready to faint. “No, he couldn’t have. He wouldn’t—”
“To be fair,” Texas interrupted, “I did challenge him and he didn’t think I could really do it.”
“I recall telling you to keep everything above board,” Knix said on a sigh.
“It is above board,” Texas argued. “The primary owner and partner of Bricker and Stein gave me the go-ahead.”
“Did he really do that or did you goad him into it?” Bellamy asked.
“Does it matter?”
When Knix pinched the bridge of his nose and took a long, steady breath, I decided that enough was enough. Touching Knix’s arm and smoothing a hand down his bicep reassuringly, I looked towards Texas. “Tell us what you found,” I said.
Texas nodded and went back to scrolling through documents and moving them around for a second before he flipped open the notebook and began to type rapidly, scanning the scribbles on the page briefly as he began to speak again. “When I couldn’t get much other than a background through the company documents on the case Jenna was working, I looked through security footage and correlated her timecard to where she appeared on the cameras. Then I followed her on the last day she was seen using CCTV technology.”
“Did you find her?” Mr. Stover asked, appearing pale. Bellamy moved towards the older gentleman and pulled out a chair, urging the man to sit.
“I didn’t.” Texas sounded frustrated by that fact. I could just imagine that he was too. All of this sounded rather advanced, but if it hadn’t gotten us to our goal—which was finding Jenna—then we were still in the dark. “But I did find a few places she visited before she was supposed to have returned home.”
Marv moved around the back of Texas’ chai
r and watched as Texas typed a few things in and scrolled across whatever he was looking at before clicking sharply and sitting back. “That’s her,” Marv said.
Grayson strode across the room and looked as well. “Is this time stamped correctly?” he asked.
Texas nodded and then turned the screen for the rest of us to see. It was a grainy still of a short, dark skinned woman in a business suit, holding a briefcase as she got into a dark towncar.
Knix released me and put his hands on the table, leaning over as he stared at the image. “Can you pull the license plate numbers?” he asked.
“Of course.” Texas turned the laptop back, clicked a few buttons, flipped to a new page in his notebook and scribbled something down before ripping it out and handing it over.
Knix took the paper and frowned down at the numbers. “Okay, Texas, you and I will take this and head back to the hotel. We’ll find the owner of this vehicle and track him down. Bellamy, can you stay here with Mr. Stover and as soon as they’re awake, call Clarissa and give her and Alex an update.”
Bellamy nodded and Mr. Stover looked wilted and tired. I felt bad for the poor man as he shakily tried to stand. “Jenna is a wonderful employee, but have you ever considered that she decided to go into hiding because of the threats?” he asked. “Or perhaps she was bought off and used the money to disappear.”
I frowned. “Bought off?” I asked.
Mr. Stover looked at me, his lips tilting down. I could tell he didn’t appear to like my presence and he proved it in the next moment. “I’m sorry, but who are you?” he demanded.
“This is my wife,” Knix said.
My whole body tightened at the announcement. Not that it wasn’t true, but was still so new to hear it. The word sent a ripple of pleasure through me—completely inappropriate in timing, but undeniable.
“And is your wife in any way qualified to deal with issues of this magnitude?” Mr. Stover inquired sharply.
My eyebrows shot up even before Knix answered. “She is a part of my team, Mr. Stover,” Knix replied. “And as far as I see it, we’ve done more to look for your employee than you have. If I deem she’s qualified, then she is.”
While I appreciated that Knix was standing up for me, the truth was I still hadn’t done anything in the way of looking for Jenna. I kept my lips sealed, though, and waited.
Eyeing me with a mixture of doubt and distaste, Mr. Stover’s lips curled, but he let the matter rest as he turned back to Texas. “I’d like for any and all information you have on this manner to be sent to me directly, Mister…?”
“Johnson,” Texas answered.
“Mr. Johnson, if you would be so kind as to send me everything you have.”
Texas glanced to Knix, and there was a brief pause of tension as I watched anger flare to life in Mr. Stover’s expression. Before anything could happen, Knix sighed and nodded. “Give it to him,” he said.
Texas nodded and clicked through a few things on the laptop. “Alright, it’s sent.”
“Thank you,” Mr. Stover said stiffly. “I think I can trust that you’ll see yourselves out. I’ll be returning to my office. Please keep me abreast of any further discoveries.”
“Will do, Mr. Stover,” Knix said.
The older man nodded, cast me a sharp glance, and then departed.
“Well, he’s a ball of sunshine,” Texas said dryly.
“Ignore him,” Knix said. “We’ve got more important things to do.”
“Do you still want me to stay here?” Bellamy asked.
Knix nodded. “Keep an eye on Stover and go back through Jenna’s office space. Interview employees. Find out if she went out with any of her coworkers here. If they knew anything about her casework.”
“Will do.” Bellamy passed by me, pausing to press a kiss to my forehead before he disappeared out the door.
“I’ll still be going back to the hotel with Texas and once we have the owner of the car’s name, we’ll head out and track him down.” Knix straightened away from the table. “Where else did she go on the day before she went missing?”
Texas scribbled a few things down in his notebook and tore off two slips of paper. “Just two places—a coffee shop and a bank.”
“Alright,” Knix nodded to Grayson. “You take the bank. Ask for their security footage and see when she was there and who she spoke with. Interview employees.”
“Will do.” Grayson took the slip of paper Texas held up and winked at me as he, too, walked out.
“What about me?” I asked.
“We’ll take the coffee shop,” Marv said, snatching the last slip of paper from Texas’ hand before coming to stand at my side. “And we’ll reconvene later tonight.”
“Alright, keep me updated,” Knix agreed.
Marv took my hand, but before I let myself be dragged out, I pulled to a stop in front of Knix and went on my tiptoes. Knix stared down at me before a soft smile graced his lips. He bent down to meet me halfway and brushed a soft kiss across my lips.
“Be careful,” he whispered.
“Always,” I promised just before I retook Marv’s hand and we strode out of the meeting room. Hopefully, by this time tomorrow, we’d know exactly where Jenna had gone and would be well on our way to getting her back.
Chapter 9
Marv and I strode into Bean Water—one of the last places Clarissa’s niece had been seen—and promptly headed for the countertop where a bright-smiled barista in a black and purple uniform welcomed us.
“Hi and welcome to Bean Water, what can I get for you today?”
“Actually, we’re looking for someone and we’re wanting to know if you’ve seen her,” Marv said. “She’s about this high”—he held up his hand just above my head—“and she’s been missing for a few days. She’s a dark skinned woman and she would’ve been wearing a business suit when she last came to this establishment.” I grimaced. The barista began to frown, taking a step back from the counter as Marv’s tone became more severe. “Have you seen her?”
“I-I don’t—”
“Here, let me,” I said with a sigh, moving to stand in front of Marv. “Hi”—I paused and glanced down at the woman’s name tag—“Claire. My boyfriend and I were in here a few days ago and we ran into a woman on our way out and duh—stupid me, I made her spill all of the stuff she was carrying.” I slapped my forehead playfully. “I accidentally crashed into her and her stuff got mixed with mine. It looks like I have everything I need, but I accidentally picked up some documents she had with her and they seem pretty important, but we’re from America and we’re about to leave to head home and we were hoping to find her and return her stuff. Can you just tell us if you’ve seen anyone matching her description?”
“There are a lot of people that come through here,” the woman said, though she seemed more comfortable as I took the lead.
“Oh dang it, you probably do.” I sighed and then winced as I looked back up at her. “Would we be able to speak to a manager about security footage? I’m sure you caught our accident on camera. Maybe if we point her out you can tell us if she’s a regular here or we can at least print out a picture to give to the police if we have to give them her stuff before we leave the country.”
“Oh, yeah.” Relief was clear in her tone. “Let me go grab my manager!”
She dashed away as I stepped back and looked back at Marv. He lifted a brow at me. “You scare people when you’re so serious,” I said.
“Apparently,” he agreed, “but there’s just one thing wrong with your story.”
“What? The fact that it’s made up?” I asked.
He shook his head. “No.” His hand gripped my hip and brought me closer as he leaned over and lowered his head until his mouth hovered over mine. I inhaled sharply. “I’m not your boyfriend, Sunshine.” My heart pounded. “I’m your husband.”
“I—”
“Hi, I’m the manager here at Bean Water, how can I help you, folks?”
I spun away from Marv and plast
ered a smile on my face as a short voluptuous woman with bright orange hair approached us. “Hi,” I squeaked, shuffling away from Marv. I heard the quiet vibration of his chuckle at my back and quickly jerked my elbow back, nailing him in the side as I relayed the same story I had told the barista.
The manager—her name tag read Maria—frowned. “Normally, we don’t let anyone look at security camera footage,” she started. “But from what I understand, these are extenuating circumstances. When did you say you were leaving the country?”
I bit my lip. I knew it didn’t matter if she didn’t let us look at them. Texas could hack in when we got back to the hotel, but I also knew Knix wanted to keep everything as legal as possible.
“Two days,” Marv answered. “We’ve been here for a while and we have to get back for work.”
Maria nodded and when she agreed to let us in the back to look at security footage, I released a sigh of relief. “Thank you so much,” I said.
“You go on ahead,” Marv said as Maria moved towards the back office, gesturing for us to follow. “I’m going to check something out real quick.”
I frowned his way, but before I could say anything, he disappeared into the line of people who had begun to congregate at the counter as they ordered their drinks.
“This way please.” I nodded and trailed after the Bean Water manager as she led me towards the back through a small kitchen and into an office with tiled floors and a poster of a large Italian man with a handlebar mustache, holding a minuscule porcelain cup of espresso. “All of the security footage gets sent to the main computer,” Maria explained as she quickly scurried over to a small step ladder and adjusted it so that it was in front of the desk before she took the overstuffed looking computer chair.
I smiled and quietly nudged the stepladder back in place and came to stand alongside her as she clicked through some old files and found the security footage we needed. I gave her the date and time and she pulled up the video. I watched in silence as the frames moved by. I sighed when I noticed that the timeframe was stamped wrong—it was the right day, but the wrong time. The manager had pulled up the a.m. time period rather than the p.m. one I needed.