by Barb Han
“I got this.” Those words haunted him. They were the same ones she’d used right before her juvie arrest.
Safely behind the pole, Dash palmed his cell phone and turned on the camera feature. He reversed the picture, turning it into selfie mode. He edged his hand out just enough until he could see Alec and the guy in the suit. Dash snapped a couple of pictures as he studied Alec’s body language. He stood there with a rigid back and shoulders. He tucked his hands inside his pocket and rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet. His posture was stiff as he brought his hands out a few seconds later, right hand going straight up to his face. It was difficult to see what he did with that hand from Dash’s angle. Rub his chin or forehead? But then the hand fisted, and he tucked it back inside his pocket.
Dash activated video mode and zeroed in on the guy in the suit. He could blow up the video later and read the guy’s lips.
The two wrapped up whatever they were doing together. An eager handshake was followed by Alec glancing around before leaving the way he came and going, presumably, back to his office. He made a left out the door, so he was headed toward work, at the very least. But he hadn’t invited the guy upstairs.
Interesting.
* * *
RAINA TAPPED HER finger on the wooden table, waiting for Dash. She checked the time on her cell phone. He should have texted by now. What was he doing?
She drained her coffee cup, feeling a buzz from too much sugar. Or was it the fact that she’d been around Dash again? It was that same heady feeling she knew was bad for her in the long run. Sure felt good in the moment, though.
The text finally came.
I’m here.
It was about time. She stood up, tossed her garbage in the trash receptacle and made her way to the front of the building.
Dash’s all-black shiny and expensive sports car got looks from even money-tainted Seattleites. Cash practically oozed down the streets thanks to a certain e-commerce company’s headquarters. The headquarters of a famous coffee brand gave Seattle enough caffeine to fuel the long hours most workers spent in the office.
“Fancy ride for someone who works for the government.” She slipped into the passenger seat from a door that opened up instead of out, making the vehicle look like it had wings. Turned out Dash was as fancy as his sister when it came to cars. Raina had never been a fan of sports cars. Had never gotten the appeal of feeling like she was sitting an inch from the ground. She stretched her legs out in front of her, thinking how much fun getting out of this thing in a skirt was going to be—if by fun, she meant like swimming with alligators fun.
“It throws people off for exactly that reason and it’s a leftover from my high paying tech job era,” he said. Was that defensiveness she picked up on?
“It’s probably best not to announce to the world you’re a special agent.” She seat-belted in, and he shifted gears.
“It also has enough oomph to make it up these hills.” He tapped the gas and the thing responded to his lightest touch, lurching forward. The engine roared.
Raina grabbed on to the armrest for safety, wishing there was a way to brace herself for the next couple of hours with Dash.
Within minutes, he pulled into the parking garage of his building and into the space marked for the penthouse. The penthouse. Should she really be surprised? She already had so many unanswered questions about Dash, none of which she could have asked Layla without sounding off alarm bells that said Raina was into her best friend’s brother. There was no way she was giving away her attraction.
The door opened with the push of a button. She threw her legs over the side and hoped she’d be able to pull herself up. There was no graceful way to do it. As she struggled, Dash came around the side of the vehicle and offered a hand up. She took it. No choice there. As she pulled herself to standing, she realized his face was turned toward the elevators. She appreciated the gesture of him not gawking at her while she struggled or accidentally showed her panties.
“Thank you,” she said as she straightened her skirt.
“Welcome,” was all he said, and that deep timbre still washed over her.
She grabbed her satchel containing her laptop and handbag, and then followed him to the elevator bank. Inside, he pressed his thumb to a pad and then pushed the button marked PH.
Words escaped her as the glass elevator zipped up to the top floor soundlessly. The doors opened to an apartment with a strong masculine vibe that was surprisingly warm and welcoming. The place had character, and the space was well defined despite being very open.
The midcentury-modern furnishings blended seamlessly with the view. The place was almost overwhelmingly beautiful. Wood, stone, leather and other fabrics gave the apartment a lived-in feel. She wondered how much this place set him back financially. His government salary might cover taxes and electricity. That was about it.
“There’s so much natural light here.” She took in the wall of windows. Being a corner unit, the space afforded both water and city views. “It’s amazing.”
“Thank you.” There was more than a hint of pride in his voice.
The interior was a mix of eclectic, contemporary, rustic, vintage and midcentury styles. If she tried to pull off a look like this, her place would look like a sad garage sale.
“Almost all of the wood is reclaimed,” he said as he tossed a key fob into a basket near the elevator.
She took a couple more steps inside. The living room wasn’t especially large, but it had everything needed for comfort. A good-sized sofa and a weathered leather chair were nestled around a hand-carved coffee table. The wall of windows overlooking the water made the place feel so much larger than it was. There was a curved balcony outside the dining area with a panoramic coastal view, and a kitchen that was a cook’s dream.
“Did you decorate this yourself?” she had to ask.
“I had help.” The fact that he didn’t elaborate caused her to think there was probably a woman involved. An ex?
Rather than get lost down that rabbit hole, she decided to pivot. “As far as your sister goes, do you have a suspect list?”
He shook his head and motioned toward the sofa in the living room. “Do you want water or anything before we get started?”
“No thanks.” She didn’t need to remind herself this wasn’t a social call or a date. She moved to the sofa and pulled out her laptop. There was a C-shaped side table, made from wood, conveniently positioned next to her as she sat down. She set up her laptop there, kicked off her high heels and tucked her feet underneath her bottom.
As she booted up her system, Dash took a seat next to her. The sofa dipped underneath his weight. The man was six feet four inches of muscle. From memory, he had washboard abs and the kind of long torso that transitioned into an improbable V at the hips. He had a flat piece of tech in his hands that was larger than a tablet. He tapped on it a couple of times, and what had looked like a massive painting on the opposite wall now turned into a screen. Another couple of taps and the arm of the sofa opened and a small table came up and out, like an automated version of a first-class seat on an airplane.
Working in IT, Raina made good money. It wasn’t push-a-button-open-a-table money, but she drew a nice paycheck. Why Dash would leave a life where he got paid ridiculous amounts of money for his trade to work for the government, she’d never know.
“So, you don’t have a suspect list. What’s your next step?” she asked.
His fingers moved across the keyboard, and something resembling a whiteboard filled the screen on the wall. Using his finger on the pad/remote, he wrote the words Suspects, Motive.
Then he pushed the table away and turned to face her. With those stormy brown eyes on her, her throat dried up. She swallowed to ease some of the dryness.
“I’m more interested in where you think I should start,” he said.
Chapter Six
; “I’ve never really liked her boss much, if I’m honest. There’s something about him that makes my skin crawl more than a little bit.” Raina shivered, looking like a cat had walked over her grave.
“He’s not my favorite person either,” Dash agreed. The fact that Raina had such a visceral response to the man caused Dash to want to look into Alec Kingsley’s background even more. Easy enough to accomplish with all the resources at his fingertips. However, since Kingsley was part of an official investigation, Dash had to follow the letter of the law. Which meant he had to go slow even though his sister didn’t have all day. He couldn’t stand to think of her locked behind bars, no matter how much she swore Popsicle orange was her color. Her mental toughness might be the stuff of legend, but everyone had a breaking point, including Layla.
“There’s a guy at her office who is super competitive with her. Every time she gets an accolade, he tries to shoot her down behind her back,” Raina continued.
“Name?”
“Stuart something.” She snapped her fingers like it might help her remember. “Oh, it starts with an R. I remember because my mind immediately went to Stuart the rat.”
“Sounds like a real jerk.” Hearing anyone had it out for his sister was enough to get Dash’s blood boiling. He wrote on the pad with his finger, and Stuart’s name came up. He split the screen and pulled up the company’s website. A quick scroll of names on the Representative page revealed the last name: Ross.
“That’s him.” She pointed.
Dash clicked on the contact, and Stuart’s information came up along with his picture. He looked smart bordering on nerdy. His face was sallow. He had black hair with loose curls on top and Coke-bottle glasses. Despite the fact that he was smiling, there wasn’t much Dash liked about the guy’s face.
“My initial thought for the motive in this case was greed, but revenge works too,” he said.
“Kill two birds with one stone.” Raina studied the picture. “At the company Christmas party last year, he tried to lick my face.”
Dash couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Why does he still have a job?” More anger surfaced. Dash flexed and released his fingers, trying to work off some of the tension. Any more and he’d need a full-scale workout.
“I didn’t report him.” She flashed her eyes at Dash. “Before you say anything else, I was going to, but he said he’d had too much to drink and was mortified. I didn’t even make it home before he started calling to apologize.”
“He called your personal cell?” Dash was normally cool during an interview but talking to Raina brought out all his protective instincts.
“I guess he got it from a colleague in my department.” She shrugged. “Now that I think about it, the whole ordeal threw me off, so I didn’t even ask how he got my number.”
“Have you seen him outside of work? At your favorite coffee shop? Hanging around your building?” he asked.
“No. No. Nothing like that. I only saw him at work. Sometimes in the parking garage when I drove in.” She folded her arms across her chest like she did when she was feeling vulnerable.
Dash wrote the word stalker under his name anyway. “Who else?”
“Well, if we’re going to go down the road of stalkers, we have to consider yours.” She compressed her lips like she was stopping herself from continuing.
“Talia Herzog.” Her real first name was Natalia but she’d shortened it, saying it sounded more American. Dash pulled up SecureCall, an app he had created to make face-to-face calls that couldn’t be hacked into or traced. “Call Madeline.”
The program pulled up the contact and initiated the call.
“Damn, you have a lot of cool tech here, Dash.” The admiration in Raina’s voice made him smile despite his somber mood. Then again, her presence alone had him off-balance.
“Hey, Dash.” Madeline Striker could only see him on her end, so it was only fair he let her know someone else was in the room.
“I have Raina Andress here with me,” he immediately stated.
“Oh. Okay. Hello, Raina.”
“Hi.”
He jumped right in. “We’re calling about Talia. Do you have a trace on her? Any recent activity?”
“Let’s see.” The sound of Madeline’s fingers dancing on a keyboard filled the quiet. “Ah, okay. I do see activity with her. She’s been circling the office and your apartment building, careful to keep the court-ordered distance.”
“Doesn’t sound good,” he said.
“No. No. It sure doesn’t. She is definitely in play in the area, sticking mostly to Seattle and Bainbridge Island. She’s on Pier 52 more than you would want her to be,” Madeline informed him.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Raina turn toward the floor-to-ceiling windows. He could read her mind. If she could see for miles, someone else would be able to see in from miles away.
“Let’s keep a close eye on that one,” he said to Madeline.
“Will do.”
He thanked her before ending the call, but he could almost see Raina’s wheels turning.
“Your ex worked in IT, is that right.” It was more a statement than a question, but he answered it anyway.
“Yes.”
“What’s your story with her?” The muscles in Raina’s face tensed ever so slightly when she turned toward him. His ego wanted it to be because she still had a thing for him—but the wall she’d erected between them said even if she did, it wouldn’t matter.
“I had to take out a restraining order against her two years ago. She wouldn’t let up,” he began, not enjoying airing his dirty laundry. He reminded himself that this was for Layla, and kept going. “She’s smart and a good hacker. It took some doing for me to prove she’d hacked my email and social media accounts.”
“Is that the reason you no longer have a personal account?”
He nodded.
“I’d started seeing someone else, and Talia wasn’t put off by that. She said I would come around to the fact she was the only one for me in a matter of time,” he continued.
“Only it wasn’t a suggestion, I’m guessing,” she said.
“No. She flattened Emma’s tires, except that we couldn’t prove she was responsible. A guy came out of nowhere, following Emma.”
“Did he hurt her?” she asked quickly.
“Not physically. I think she was scarred mentally by being followed and ‘accidents’ kept happening. One to her vehicle. Then her dog came home from doggy day care really sick. The owners couldn’t explain what happened. Her identity was stolen, and someone maxed out her credit card. Untangling it all was a mess, and Emma decided I was bad luck. Talia was successful at ruining the chance of continuing the relationship.”
“I thought you didn’t do relationships,” she quipped.
* * *
RAINA WISHED SHE could reel those words back in. Too late. They were out there.
“I never said that, exactly.”
Now she really wished she could be spared the pain of embarrassment. He’d said he didn’t do relationships. What he’d meant was that he didn’t do relationships with her. The sting was worse than a sunburn. But that was another rabbit hole she had no plans to trip down.
She directed the conversation back on track. “Didn’t your sister mention that your ex went after you professionally?”
“She did her best to make me look incompetent at work and was almost successful there, since I hadn’t initially suspected she was behind it,” he admitted.
“What happened to her? Why did she stop?”
“Prison. She was sentenced to two years but was paroled six months ago for good behavior,” he said.
“And according to Madeline, she’s been circling like a shark.” Raina’s comparison must have struck a chord.
“Talia would realize that Layla is a weak spot for me,” he s
aid. “Nothing is sacred with her. She could try to frame my sister out of revenge.”
“Your sister didn’t like Talia.”
Dash issued a sharp breath. “That’s an understatement. My sister couldn’t stand Talia and made no effort to hide her feelings. Talia complained that I should cut the cord with my baby sister and stop hovering. We fought about family ties, which were important to me and not her.”
“But you haven’t had contact with her in two years. She got out of prison six months ago. Why wait so long to strike? Why hurt Layla now?” There had to be a reason. People didn’t just come out of the woodwork. Although, Talia seemed like the type who would take her time plotting her revenge. Layla could only be the beginning. Based on what had happened to his last girlfriend, Talia had a lot more to dish out.
“No. I haven’t. She hasn’t been legally allowed to be around me either. So she’s keeping to the shadows.”
“She sounds like a real piece of work,” Raina said a little too loud. The fact that he was willing to date someone like that over her sat about as well as a hot poker in her stomach.
He didn’t respond.
“We have to put her on the list.” She no longer wanted to talk about Talia.
He nodded solemnly.
“She’s the obvious choice. Too obvious.” Raina tapped her finger on her armrest.
“Tell that to Seattle PD,” he quipped.
“They’ll figure it out. They might have to be led to the truth, but they’ll get there, if we have to drag them to it.” She had no plans to let her best friend rot in prison.
With his gaze focused and lips thinned, the determined look on Dash’s face said he would die before that happened. Layla was lucky to have him for a big brother.
“So, obviously, the trail leads to her even though we both know she’s not guilty,” Raina continued.