Page 48 of Teach Me
“You should be able to get a warrant from the fact that you had an eyewitness to him beating her,” Con growled.
“What did you find?” Jack asked, cutting off any further words from Con.
“You were right.” Gaines threw Con a wary look. “There were remote cameras positioned on her floor of the building and throughout the apartment, mostly in light fixtures. None were currently sending, so tracing the signal is out. We also found bugs in the—”
“We don’t need to know where,” Con warned him. A shiver shook Jess hard, and her nails bit into his skin. Gaines glanced at her, sympathy in his eyes.
“Is there any chance he…that he was in the apartment? While I was there?”
“We just don’t know,” Gaines admitted, his tone a degree softer than before. “The cameras don’t record; they send a signal to an outside server, which might or might not record the feed, but unless we have the server, the point is moot.”
“This guy’s too smart to record himself,” Jack muttered.
“Or too arrogant to not record it,” Con countered.
Jack nodded. “True.”
Jess shifted, whimpered. That tiny sound, so small, so quiet, shot through Con like lightning. Rage boiled up—at Holbrooke for doing this to her, and at himself for being so damn impotent to do anything about it. He’d spent his life training for the moment when he’d need to protect those around him. To watch Jess, so fragile, being torn to bits by this bastard who believed he could dictate her life was like watching the Titanic sink without a life raft to help—the situation was disintegrating by the second, and there was nothing he could do. Except maybe get his hands around the fucker’s scrawny neck—
He glanced down at Jess, saw tears on her wet lashes, and knew that, given the opportunity, he would kill Holbrooke. He would guard Jess with his body for now, but in the end, that bastard was going to disappear. Permanently.
Gaines was still talking. “The warrant will take time. We’re hindered by the fact that both Holbrooke’s office and residence are technically owned by his father. We’re currently trying to find a judge that’s not a family friend. We’ll get it, though; don’t you worry. As you said, we have an eyewitness.” Gaines rubbed long fingers across the lines in his forehead.
“No traces from the cameras, though,” Jack observed.
“No fingerprints or anything of that nature, though we’re working on tracking down where they were bought. I don’t think we’ll find anything going that route, but we’ll do it anyway. Like the phone calls and texts, there’s just no way to trace the feed. Too much throwaway tech these days.”
“What phone calls and texts?” Cris asked.
Gaines explained, his voice grim. “Unfortunately it’s fairly easy to stalk these days without getting caught.”
“He didn’t just stalk,” Cris said. “He beat her. Not once but now twice. It seems fairly easy for this dick to get away with anything, not just stalking.”
Gaines shifted uneasily. Con’s gaze met Jack’s, and he could see the lightbulb go off behind his friend’s eyes just like it had Con’s. Gaines was right; it was easy to get away with some things. But Holbrooke wasn’t getting away with something easy. The technology he had access to helped, but this man knew what he was doing. He had to have done this before.
“Any clues or contacts in his past that might help?” Con asked, forcing his voice to stay casual.
“Nothing.”
Jack’s brow scrunched up. “He’s awfully good at covering his tracks for someone who is so obviously on the edge of crazyville.”
“You’d think,” Gaines agreed, “but I haven’t found anything.”
Jack met Con’s gaze once more, the light in them assuring Con he would find what Gaines couldn’t. He could do it too. Knowing Jack’s infamous hacker skills were in charge of the search, that he could go where Gaines feared—or wasn’t allowed—to tread, eased the boiling emotions swirling in Con’s chest.
“So basically we know nothing and have no real options unless we can get a warrant.” Jess’s voice was heavy with resignation. She’d been down this road before.
Gaines didn’t deny it. “Which is why we need to get you someplace safe. We need to buy a little time.”
“She can come home with us,” Cris said firmly.
“No.” Jess and Conlan both spoke at the same time. Ignoring Con, Jess pushed up from his chest to tell her best friend, “I will not bring this mess into your home right now.”
Cris opened her mouth to argue, but Jess got there first. “No. Absolutely not. I love you—and you too, Steven—and I appreciate you wanting to help me, but that baby comes first. Besides, you can’t go home.”
Steven’s face was filled with understanding. And worry. Cris frowned.
Jess’s voice gentled. “That’s why I didn’t call, and why I’m not going anywhere near your home. That’s the first place he will look. You are going to your mother’s house and going straight back to bed like your doctor told you to. No arguments. You have to keep yourself safe right now.”
