Page 75 of High Roller

God damn it. My feelings for her step into the spotlight of my mind once more, and I’ve just promised Grace we could explore what is happening between us. Since I’m a man of my word, and because I’ve wanted Grace since the day I met her, I shove my hand into the pocket of my slacks and put a foot of space between us. “Let Owen examine the pins, and we’ll figure out what to do next.”

Her nod is stiff, and she doesn’t say anything else as Owen and I leave and head for his office. Where mine has classic furniture with a rustic feel, his is filled with all the latest tech and sleek modern furniture. He runs our entire security operation from this office.

He sits at his desk and lays the pins in front of him scanning it with the wand again. The light turns orange once more. He sets two pins aside and runs the wand over just one, repeating the process with the other three. All of them light up orange.

“We have signal jammers here. Would that impact it?”

Owen shakes his head. “I mean, yes, it would stop the signal from going anywhere, but it should still be trying to transmit.”

He snaps his fingers a minute later. “Her phone. I bet the app that actually makes these work is on her phone. He would expect that she wouldn’t go anywhere without it. What happened to it?”

“I made her leave her purse, so it’s probably in the casino lost and found.”

“I have to get it before someone gives it back to Phineas. That might be why he was freaking out. His backup trackers went offline, and he wants to know why. His wife is a valuable asset. It would make sense he would want more than just a phone tracker in case someone did take her. So why would he tie the tracking abilities to her phone?”

I shake my head and hold up my hands. “Slow down, man. I’m barely following you.” Owen is a verbal processor, but he’s usually speaking techno-babble that I can’t understand. Today it’s worse than normal.

“Sorry. It just doesn’t make sense.”

“Maybe the phone has to be within a certain distance, and he’s suspicious that since her phone is still transmitting but the pins are not it means she’s been separated from her phone.”

Owen snaps and points at me again. “That would make sense. I’m going to the casino to pull up transcripts of his interactions with casino staff.”

“Good plan. I’m going to go ask her a few more questions about her husband.”

“We need to be prepared to move her,” Owen says before I can move to the door.

I groan. “Yeah. We can make that happen if we need to. Do you have someone on the SUV?”

Owen nods. “One of my people is watching it, and they’re ready to follow it if it moves or the occupants swap drivers.”

Owen is already out the door, and I follow him. “Send Harper home and I’ll have Grace take over,” I tell him before we split up in the main dungeon. Owen heads for the exit, and I head for Bellamy’s office.

Grace is sitting behind the desk writing diligently on the form. I spy a notepad with more writing on it next to her. She’s taken the task seriously. Not that I expected anything less.

“Good girl,” I murmur when she doesn’t look up.

She sets her pen down and smiles. “Thank you. Is everything OK?”

“Not exactly. Owen found a tracker, but Lili swears she didn’t know about it.”

“Do you believe her?”

I round the desk and pull her up into my arms. “I do. Right now, I need to redirect your focus to the shop so Harper can go home. You can finish this project later. Thank you for taking it seriously.”

“Thank you for giving it to me,” she whispers as she lays her head on my shoulder.

I kiss the top of her head before she stands and pulls away. “I’ll get to work in the shop. You do what you need to.”

“Thank you, butterfly. When it’s time to close, we’ll talk more about this.” I tap the questionnaire still sitting on the desk. “And then I fully intend to give you a proper kiss.”

She blushes but heads for the door without saying anything else. When she’s gone, I head for Lili’s suite.

I don’t bother knocking this time, and I find her sitting on the floor stretching.

“I can come back,” I mutter, feeling like I’m invading her privacy.

“No, stay. I’m sure you have questions.”

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