Page 31 of Jina

“I have a list of Mike’s gym members that we need to look at,” Cole said, mostly to prevent Jina from tagging along with the guys. “I’d like your opinion on them.”

“Okay.” She walked with Zeke and Flynn to the door. “Let me know what you guys think after you scope the place out.”

“Will do.” Zeke headed outside with Flynn following behind him.

Over Jina’s shoulder, he swept his gaze over the parking lot. Everything looked quiet and serene. For now.

“Let’s check the list of names.” Jina was all business after the guys left. “I’d like to get that finished before we head out to the strip mall.”

He found himself grinding his molars together at her assumption. Without saying anything, he wiped the table with a napkin, then set up his laptop. She sat right next to him to see the screen.

Close enough to kiss, not that he’d be stupid enough to consider such a thing.

After bringing up his email program, he clicked on the attachment Mike sent. The list of names was shorter than he’d anticipated.

“Ten names, huh?” Jina mused, her eyes on the screen.

“Yeah.” He turned the laptop so she could see it better. “Any of them look familiar?”

She took her time, then nodded. “Oliver Norman. He was one of the guys who hit on me. I only know his name because his buddy egged him on by saying, ‘Yeah, Oliver, go for it.’” She turned to look at him. “I don’t know his buddy’s name, but both of them stayed far away from me after I put Oliver down.”

“Looks like Oliver is a cop.” Mike had helpfully added an occupation to each name as he knew it. “Any other names seem familiar? If not, we’ll start with our good friend Ollie.”

She chuckled at the nickname, then looked back at the screen. “No. Most of the guys I sparred with didn’t tell me their names. It’s probably best to start with Ollie and go from there.”

The first thing he did was check Oliver Norman’s criminal record. Finding nothing there, he switched gears. “Let’s hope Oliver Norman has a social media presence.”

“I don’t get why he would,” Jina murmured. “Not only is it a total waste of time, but why would you make it easier for people to find you?”

“I don’t get it either.” Renee had been on social media to keep in touch with her numerous cousins scattered across the country, but it had been a nightmare for him to get the account closed after her passing. “Huh. Here’s an Oliver Norman who lives in Timberland Falls.”

“He drives out of his way to go to Mike’s,” Jina said, leaning forward to see better. “Yep, that’s him. Except he wasn’t smiling like that when I saw him last.”

“You enjoyed every minute of putting him down, didn’t you?”

“I can’t lie, it was satisfying.” Her smile faded. “It’s not that I wanted to be confrontational, but what is it about a woman working out alone at a gym that makes men think she’s there to be picked up? I mean, seriously, I couldn’t have looked any worse all hot, red-faced, and sweaty.”

“You’re beautiful no matter what. And men are simple creatures. I could tell those guys couldn’t seem to resist trying to impress a pretty girl.”

“Idiots,” she muttered half under her breath. She gave him a sideways glance. “You never tried.”

“Nope.” He had to tear his gaze away from her mouth. Despite his attempt to remain professional, it seemed he was a simple creature too.

Pretty girl plus attraction equals kiss.

Yeah, he was an idiot all right. He needed to stay focused on the task at hand. He scrolled through Oliver’s social media page. “I don’t see any postings related to Mike’s gym.”

“Why would he? He’s too arrogant to put something like that out there into the world for all to see. Hold on, see that guy?” She tapped her index finger on the picture. “That’s his buddy.”

“Evan Wilde,” he read out loud. He toggled back to the document Mike had sent. “Wilde is on here. He’s a cop.”

“Great, I guess that was my lucky day,” she groused.

Evan Wilde also came up clean as far as a criminal record, and he lived in Timberland Falls too. That gave him another idea. “Let’s see if either of these guys has a black Honda registered to their name.”

Jina’s phone pinged with an incoming text. As he accessed the DMV database, she read it out loud. “Strip mall is deserted. Not sure this will work. Be back soon.”

He refrained from saying I told you so. He felt certain they were onto something with Oliver, but that thought was short-lived.

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