Page 17 of Cassidy

There were only two pawnshops in the city, unlike the dozens in Las Vegas, and of course neither of them reported getting any computer equipment in this morning. Both owners promised to call if that changed.

Sitting back in the chair, she stared off into the distance, wondering how the shooter had found Gabe at her place. An inside job? She scanned the precinct, which was mostly devoid of officers as they were all out on the street, but quickly dismissed the idea that anyone working here was responsible. As far as she knew, none of them had computer skills that were anywhere close to those possessed by Gabe. Besides, why hit him on the head, drop his body out in the middle of nowhere, and then shoot at him?

No, this wasn’t police related. His personal electronics had been taken for a reason. Why, she had no idea.

But Gabe might know once his memory returned.

If his memory returned.

When her phone rang, she quickly grabbed it. Seeing an unknown number gave her pause. “Yes?”

There was a moment of silence, making the tiny hairs on the back of her neck lift in alarm.

“Who is this?” she demanded.

More silence. After another beat, she lowered the phone and looked at the screen. The caller had disconnected. After waiting a moment, she quickly redialed the unknown number.

But the call went straight to voice mail. A nonpersonalized voice mail.

“I’d like to chat,” she said, feeling foolish at leaving a message for what could very well be a wrong number. “Call me back.”

She set the phone on the desk next to her, practically willing it to ring. But the unknown caller didn’t try again.

If Gabe were here, she’d ask him to track the number. But she wasn’t sure how to do that. It occurred to her how much Rhy and the rest of them depended on Gabe’s expertise. None of them could do even half of what he could.

And that wasn’t good. All systems should have a level of redundancy.

“Cass?” Gabe emerged from the equipment room, his hair sticking up out of his head at odd angles. He looked different without his glasses, and she kinda missed watching him push them up on his nose. “We need to go back to my place.”

“What?” She jumped to her feet. “Do you remember what happened?”

“Not really, but I think I left something in my house.” His gaze implored her to go along with the plan. “Please. I need to check the freezer.”

“The freezer?” She crossed over to put a hand on his arm. Clearly, his head injury had gotten worse. “You better sit down. I’ll talk to Rhy. We need to take you to Trinity Medical Center right away.”

“I don’t need a hospital,” Gabe said, shaking off her hand. His flash of annoyance was so unusual that she took a step back. “I’m not crazy or losing my mind. I woke up thinking I stuck something in the freezer for safety. You know, so that no one else would find it.”

She eyed him warily, wondering if he really had used the freezer as a hiding place. But for what? Gabe’s expertise was computers. “I don’t think electronics work well at subzero temperatures.”

“They don’t,” he agreed. “But I still need to check. Please, Cass. I need something to help jog my memory.”

She glanced at Rhy’s office, noticing he was on the phone again. Gabe’s home in White Gull Bay wasn’t that far from the precinct. She reluctantly nodded. “Okay, we’ll go. But we need to get in and out of there relatively quickly.”

“I can do that.” He looked relieved that she’d given in. “Thank you. It’s important.” He grimaced, and added, “At least, it feels like it is.”

She reached for her police-issue jacket that she’d tossed over the back of her chair. “We’ll take the new undercover Jeep since Rhy doesn’t want us driving our respective vehicles.” She knew where the keys were located and headed over to grab them. “That should help provide some anonymity.”

“Whatever works.” He shrugged into his coat, wincing a bit as if his head still hurt. “I appreciate you doing this for me.”

She paused, noticing his choice of words. Remembering what Rhy had said about Gabe confiding in her, she asked, “Do you think this is something you’ve been working on by yourself? Outside of the precinct?”

“I, uh . . .” He looked surprised. “Maybe. Stealing my personal computers does lead to that conclusion, doesn’t it?”

“Yes. Although that virus impacted the entire precinct.”

“I know, and that worries me. I hate thinking I may have put everyone at risk by my actions.” Gabe followed her outside into the cold December air. Dark clouds hung in the sky, but it wasn’t snowing like it had been last night.

She unlocked the Jeep, then glanced at him. “You know that Rhy values your work. If you needed to investigate something, you could have discussed it with him. Maybe even gotten the rest of us involved.”

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