Page 42 of No Good Deed

“But that’s just my impression of them. They could be decent men outside of the office.”

Tessa shrugged. “Doubtful. People tend to be who they are most of the time. The men you’ve described as honest, kind, family-men, respectful, and considerate could probably be taken off the suspect list. At least until we eliminate the others.”

That was true. Piper couldn’t imagine any of those men trying to hurt her or break into her space. “Okay. How many does that leave us with?”

After a quick sort, Tessa smiled. “Nine. It seems like you’ve worked with mostly good people.”

That made Piper feel better. She’d enjoyed her job over the years, and it was easy to overlook the creeps and the users. Focusing on them made sense, but it didn’t make it fun.

Tansy pointed at the list. “You’ve used obnoxious three times, creepy four times, and superior twice. I’m going to guess you could use all three of those adjectives to describe some of these men.”

Piper nodded slowly as she looked over the list. Looking at the smaller sample was easier than suspecting everyone. It also made it easier to eliminate a couple. “These two obnoxious guys can be ruled out. They’ve moved out of the state. And this one was fired over some harassment issues about a year ago.”

“That leaves us with six candidates. Much better than the hundred we started with.”

John Hopewell, Adam Bedlow, Jeremy Mattick, Ethan Westerlake, Kyle Hamilton, and Duane Greenwood.

Piper studied the list, thinking about each man in turn. Trying to put his face and voice to the man who’d mugged her and the man who bothered her outside the B&B the other day. She tried to imagine each one deliberately crashing her car.

Tansy asked. “What about body size? Can you eliminate any of them from the mugging or the recent attack?”

Piper frowned and pictured the men and the attackers. “I never saw the mugger, and his voice was a gruff whisper. Probably an attempt to disguise it. Which worked.” He’d done the same thing at the B&B where she’d seen him, but he’d stayed in the shadows.

She tapped on the screen. “Both John and Duane would be too short to be the man at the B&B. The rest are all a lot taller than me. Stronger too.”

Four names. Adam. Jeremy. Ethan. Kyle.

Just thinking about them had her tension rising. As if he’d felt it, Troy appeared behind the couch and reached over to rub her shoulders. “How’s it going over here?”

She shrugged but reached up to squeeze his hand. “I’m not sure.”

Tansy laughed. “It’s not that bad. We’re chasing a theory Tessa had and have narrowed it down to four potential names.”

Piper shrugged again. “But it’s not based on much other than my gut feelings.”

Troy kissed her hair. “Gut feelings are generally pretty trustworthy.”

“Maybe for other people.” Oops. She hadn’t meant to say that out loud. Made her sound pathetic.

But the three people with her all laughed softly. Tansy patted her knee. “We’ve all been fooled before. My biggest one caused more than a bit of a fuss.”

Sam appeared and tugged Tansy up into a hug. “She calls being kidnapped and tortured a bit of a fuss.” He sat in another chair and swung Tansy into his lap.

Piper’s blood froze. Kidnapped and tortured? Piper had enough trouble dealing with a mugging.

Sam ran his hand over Tansy’s arm and cuddled her into him, showing how much the memory had upset him. “Let’s hear the theory.”

Tansy looked at Tessa with a smile. “It’s your theory.”

Tessa flushed but also smiled. The rest of the group gathered around while Troy moved to sit with Piper. He tucked her under his shoulder. She was already craving his touches and she leaned in.

While her family had been loving, they hadn’t been demonstrative. Troy and this entire group touched easily and often. She liked it far more than she would have expected.

It wasn’t like the way some men at work tried to touch. Which brought her back to the list.

Tessa spoke softly to the group. “With a situation like the one Piper is experiencing, we thought it would be interesting to approach it from an emotional viewpoint to narrow the focus. Piper’s subconscious might already have a sense of who is targeting her. This didn’t take much time and if it doesn’t work, we have more traditional ways to check the data.”

Flynn sat on the arm of the couch beside her. “Because your gut worked for you growing up. You learned who to stay away from. Smart. How did that theory work out here?”

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