Page 60 of Conner

“It's about to get crowded,” Conner said as he took his dishes to the tubs in the corner. “Let's get out of here.”

Sasha quietly walked down the hallway next to Conner. He wanted to sweep her up into his arms and take all the worry that was clearly written all over her face away. It was killing him that he couldn’t. He was quickly learning he would do just about anything to make Sasha Maloof smile. But sadly, he couldn't make this better.

It was just about time to start the meeting. Hillary was already in the conference room along with a couple men Conner had seen around but didn't actually know.

“Conner, what are you doing here?” asked Hillary.

“I’m just here for moral support,” he said with a hand on Sasha's shoulder as he sat down next to her.

Sasha still hadn't said anything, she just got out her laptop and phone. He put his hand on her knee that bounced under the table. He was pleasantly surprised when her knee stilled, and she took that hand.

“Sasha, I’m Brady.” He stuck out his hand to shake her. “Hillary has told me some of what had been happening,” said the man sitting next to Hillary. “We have an officer and cyber forensic specialist coming to help. I won't ask any questions before they arrive, so you don't have to tell people more than once.”

Sasha nodded silently beside him. She seemed so small, and it filled Conner with rage. She was a queen and to see her looking like this was hard.

A few minutes later an officer in uniform and two men in suits joined them.

“I’m Detective Owen,” said the man in a suit as he reached out to shake Sasha's hand and then the other men in the room. “This is officer Malone and this is Detective Gomez. He is the cyber specialist we brought in.” He reached out and shook her hand too.

“I’m Jason Brady,” One of the guys from the Magic said. “I’m in charge of security here at the center for the organization. We do have some protocol to deal with these situations which is why we brought you in.”

“You did the right thing,” he said to Jason. “Now, Sasha. I know this is hard and I'm sorry you're going through this, but if you could please tell us what is happening and when it all started.”

Conner sat next to her as she recounted everything that happened, her hand holding his tightly the whole time.

“Do you have the note?” he asked when she mentioned it.

“I have the note,” Conner said. “I can bring it wherever we need to bring it. I also took a picture of the car with the rose and the letter.”

“Can you send that to me?”

“Yeah, sure thing.”

“And you say he sent you pictures of the inside of your apartment?”

“Yes,” Sasha said quietly.

“Okay, can we head over and take a look?”

She nodded.

“We’re also going to need to take your laptop and phone to run an analysis on. We can get them back to you tomorrow. You can come down to the station and get them back and we can get the note. Can we go to your apartment now?”

“You need to take my laptop and phone?” Sasha said, her eyes filling with tears.

“Yes, ma'am. I'm sorry, but we’ll be able to run a fill analysis on them there,” said detective Gomez. “I am also going to ask you to write your usernames and passwords here for all the socials he has contacted you on.”

“Is all that necessary?” Conner asked.

“Yes, it is standard and necessary. If you would like to come to the station I can try and run the analysis quickly and you can have them back tonight,” he said.

“If you’d like we can go to your apartment now and then you could bring the note in. Hopefully we can get your devices back by then.”

Sasha just nodded and took the notebook, writing her information. Seeing her wipe a tear from her eye had Conner ready to lose it.

“Does that sound okay to you?” Conner asked, trying to get her to look at him. She met his gaze, eyes brimming with tears. Her lip caught between her teeth as she nodded.

“Okay,” Conner said to the detective. “We’ll go get the note and I’ll bring it to you over at the apartment.”

---