Page 32 of Mistletoe and Malice
He peered down at his half-eaten stack. “We can talk about it later.”
“Arrout rhat?” she inquired around the huge bite of fluffy pancakes.
Her mother shook her head. “Riley, I swear, you eat like a linebacker.”
She swallowed and followed it with a gulp of orange juice. “Only when it’s us, Mom, I promise. I’m the very picture of manners in public. Ask Colton. He was right next to me at the Cantrells, and I didn’t put my elbows on the table or anything.”
Colton turned to her mother. “Yes, ma’am. I can attest to the fact she was on her best behavior.”
“Glad to hear it,” Mom replied with a wink.
“So, talk about what later?” Her gaze roamed from Colton to her father’s furrowed brow and returned. “Something happened. With the creep? Or something else?”
The two men exchanged a glance.
“Hey. Right here.” She pointed two fingers at her eyes, to Colton, and back. “I’m a big girl. Tell me already.”
Her dad looked at the man next to her. “Go ahead. Or she’ll badger you senseless until you do.”
She inclined her head toward her father. “What he said.” She forked another bite of pancake into her mouth. All that dancing last night must have burned a ton of calories, because she was famished.
With a sigh, Colton put down his fork and finally gave her his full attention. “I got a call from Tech Ops last night after you went up to bed. They found something in a social media scan.”
“Is that as serious as your face is saying right now?”
“Somebody cloned your social media account and has been posting as you since Thursday. Some pretty questionable stuff. Designed, we surmise, to tarnish your reputation or credibility. Petersen got it taken down, but we don’t know what damage might’ve already been done.”
She stared at him for a pregnant second. “I see.”
His eyes narrowed as he studied her. “Except you don’t appear all that surprised.”
Nodding, she wrapped her cloth napkin around her hands in her lap. “I guess I should’ve seen something like this coming.”
He twisted in his seat to face her. “Now I’m getting the feeling there’s somethingyou’renot tellingme.”
“In my defense, I didn’t know if there was actually anythingtotell you.”
“Until …”
“Last night.”
His eyes widened. “Last night. After we got back?”
“Yes, but I thought you’d left. Figured I’d tell you today.”
“Tell me what, exactly?”
The icy glare was back. Perhaps she should have clued him in after the first card arrived. What was that thing about hindsight?
“I got a card.” She moved her head from side to side. “Actually, three cards. One Monday, one Wednesday, and the last one yesterday. Delivered to the lobby security desk.”
“Like greeting cards?”
“Yes. Unsigned. The first one was ambivalent. Couldn’t tell if it was good or bad. Said they werea fan, but I should be sure my currentpet projectwasn’t myundoing.The second one said he hoped I wouldsee the lightbefore thetrainhit me. That nobody could survive a hit like that. I assumed he meant my career taking a hit—maybe my reputation—if I lost my current case.”
“You believe they pertain to the Everett case?”
“That was my first guess, of course, since I don’t have any others right now.”
