Page 50 of The Shadow

“But even if you didn’t have me,” Harvey says, reaching out his finger to gently poke the tip of my nose, “you know you have it in you regardless, right?”

I nod my head and he pulls me closer to kiss the top of my head.

“Say it again,” I ask him for probably the thirtieth time since last night but he doesn’t seem to mind. He just smiles at me and repeats himself.

“I love you.” He smiles, planting a kiss on my shoulder. “I love you,” he says again, this time placing a kiss on my fingertips. He repeats the process over and over until after a dozen kisses, my body is begging for release again.

When we’re finished, we take a long shower and cook an easy dinner of frozen ravioli and green beans.

“You can use a program that will record the meeting you have with him?”

“Yup.” I smile around a big bite of pasta.

“But he won’t know?”

“Not impossible for him to know but highly improbable,” I say, thinking through the statistical chance he’d even have the knowledge to know this kind of program exists. “They make these programs for employers to spy on their employees or track progress, and parents often use them on their children’s computers to make sure they’re not able to get around firewalls or other security measures put in place.”

“Have I told you how intimidating you are?”

“Me?” I laugh.

“Yeah, you’re incredibly smart. Like, I knew you were smart, but I think I’m realizing just how out of my league I am here.”

“Good, let it serve as a reminder”—I playfully press the tongs of my fork against his exposed forearm—“I know how to cover my tracks.”

“Oh, I have no doubt about that.” He laughs.

“So anyway, that program will be running on my work computer, tracking every keystroke I make at his request. Granted, I can’t do any sort of audio recording; I think he’s smart enough that he might frisk.”

Harvey’s eye twitches. “Frisk you?”

I shrug. “Yeah, something I thought of after the fact. I know he doesn’t trust me and he thinks he has that video over my head, and the money, but I think he’ll at least cover his tracks.”

“So, after you have that recording that shows you actively going in and hiding money and accounts, then what? You just call up his wife and ask her to meet you?”

“That’s exactly what I plan to do and I’m really hoping it works because otherwise, he could just say that I did this on my own and he never asked me to so it would be useless on my end.”

“What do you think she’s gonna do with the information?”

I place my fork down on my empty plate and reach for my glass of pinot noir. “I’m not sure other than show her lawyers, but I would assume if they think they can use it, they will. Otherwise…” I shrug. “I just want her to have the information. She deserves to know… everyone deserves to know.”

“What does that mean?” I ask her. She looks over at me. There is clearly something she still hasn’t told me about the plan.

“I’m going to hack him too. Go through any and all information I can find that he’s hiding… which we both know is probably a lot and probably way worse than we can imagine.”

“Aspen.” The look on his face is already saying what he’s thinking.

“I know,” I say, holding up my hand, “but it has to be done; it’s the only way. This fraud, it’s not enough. People like him get away with stuff like this all the time. Whatever I find, it’s going on that same thumb drive he gave me and then a copy of it is going to the FBI, every news outlet in the nation, and DA’s office.”

“And they can use that as evidence in court?”

“Technically yes, since I’m just a private citizen.”

“Smart and kind,” Harvey says, shaking his head as he finishes his last bite of pasta. “I hope you know I’m fucked.” He grabs both our empty plates and walks to the kitchen sink.

“What do you mean?”

“With you,” he says, his back to me as he places the dishes into the dishwasher. “Not a chance in hell I’ll ever meet someone like you again.”

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