Page 23 of Operation: Integrity

Connor’s brow furrowed. “She wasn’t wearing one when she came to seem me, but she was only in here for a minute. She was so uncomfortable in the small room that I didn’t want to make her stay any longer than she had to. Normally, my initial meeting lasts longer and I’m able to go through the rules. That wasn’t the case this time.”

“She has one.” Sam leaned on the arms of the chair, feeling the need for their support.

“Are you sure? It’s not usually an issue. Our guests come here with almost nothing. There hasn’t been a single one that had all that they needed when they arrived. She had one small bag. I’ve seen women with bigger purses. How did she get one of those? They’re expensive.”

“I don’t know, and she doesn’t have any family left who would reach out and send things to her. I can’t imagine the halfway house would’ve given it to her or let her have it with how they feel about tracking.”

Connor snorted, then cleared his throat. “That’s true.” He pressed a few buttons on his desk phone and waited a moment for the person on the other end to answer. “Dominic, can you come to my office, please? Thank you.” He set down the phone and scrubbed his face. “Nothinglike testing the capabilities of the new security system right away.”

“We can test it all we want, but if someone has already gotten on the property then we need to worry about if they’re still here. Did you take apart that drone? Is that an option? Could it have gotten to her before we saw it in the field?”

Connor shook his head. “It wasn’t a delivery drone. It was for surveillance. Dominic was able to take apart what was left of it and determine that it had a camera that was sending a feed somewhere else, but it wasn’t recorded. There were no clamps or any other way to attach something to it and it was very small, too small to carry anything else.”

So, that idea was a bust. “But it could’ve been a test run. To see if they could fly one onto Wayside. Is there any way to check the cameras and see if they saw anything abnormal in the last few days?”

A knock sounded on the door and Dominic came inside. “Good afternoon,” he said as he settled into a chair. “You asked for me?”

Connor nodded and gestured to Sam. “Sam has some questions. Kelly, our newest guest, suddenly has a watch that tracks movements and we don’t know how she got it.”

Sam took a breath. “I know the cameras before weren’t detailed enough to get images of birds flying, but do you have a way to scan those images for drones. You wouldn’t have to go back further than two days.”

Dominic narrowed his eyes in thought and frowned slightly. “We have quite a few cameras to check. It’s a fairly tall order and also possible that nothing would show up at all. If you think a secondary drone came on the propertythat was as small as the first, there is no way we would see it.”

“I think it may have been bigger if it delivered the watch,” Sam said. It also had to be big enough to see where it was navigating because, if this belonged to Nathan like the other one, he wasn’t close enough to see exactly where the drone was going without a camera.

“Spenser and I will take a look. Teddy would usually help me, but he’s been called away.”

Connor looked at him and his brows bunched. “Called away? I can’t imagine he would go anywhere without telling me.”

Dominic shrugged a single shoulder. “This isn’t my argument. You’ll want to take it up with him. I’m merely the messenger, telling you that he’s taking this opportunity while Spenser and I are here to man the cameras to do what he called ‘unfinished business’.”

Sam shifted in his chair. Connor’s blood was obviously boiling, but he held his emotions in check quite well. Only someone who knew him would ever know how angry he was. “I’m sure he was going to tell you. He wouldn’t just leave without talking to you,” Sam said, hoping to break the tension so they could get back to worrying about Kelly.

“I’m sure you’re right.” Connor drummed the table. “Do you have anything else you need to do today?”

Other than avoid Kelly’s cabin so he didn’t say something that would hurt her and probably end his friendship with Edwyn, no. “I have nothing scheduled.”

“Good. If my dad is going to be headed off somewhere, then I’d like you to help Dominic hunt for anything of value on those cameras. Maybe, while you’re looking, you can see if we need any additional devices. I want to beable to see the entire perimeter of the property. No gaps. No one gets on or off my land without me knowing. Understood?”

Dominic gave a nod and stood. “Understood. We’ll let you know if we find anything. I know this is important, so we’ll get started right away.”

Good. Hunting through thousands of images would keep his mind busy and keep him away from anyone else. Sam stood and followed Dominic. “So, where do we start?”

Dominic laughed for about a second, before halting the sound so abruptly it resembled a cough. “Like you said, we’ll start at the very first images taken on all the cameras two days ago. Thank the Good Lord that they only take a picture when they sense movement or we’d be here for a very, very long time.”

A very long time was exactly what he needed to get his mind and his heart in the right order.

Chapter Eleven

It was like Lacy had known Kelly was supposed to be somewhere and wouldn’t leave her alone to let her go. Kelly paced her living room, window shades still drawn, heart still racing. She hadn’t meant to ignore Nathan’s direct order to meet him. What if something awful had happened to Jasmine because of her?

She waited for the watch to buzz again. It had to. He had to tell her what she needed to do to make up for missing him. Hopefully, he hadn’t killed Jasmine after such a small issue. She bit the inside of her cheek. Drat Lacy. Kelly had used every excuse she could think of to get rid of the overly friendly woman. She’d pled a headache, backache—which had been the absolute truth — and finally that she was exhausted after a long day.

Lacy had insisted on hanging out with her long into the evening, well past the time when Nathan had said he wanted to meet her. “If only I had a way to message you.” She shook the watch fiercely. “This isn’t fair.”

As if on command, her watch buzzed seconds later. She looked at it as she headed for the sofa to sit. Thoughshe’d wanted to hear that there was nothing wrong with Jasmine, hearing from Nathan was still terrifying.

Where were you? You must be too stupid to know how to use the watch. Did you read the directions that were in the box? Scroll to the bottom, click the button, and speak your text. Here’s a hint, you’d better start with an apology and end by saying you’ll meet me tomorrow.

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