Page 57 of Forbidden Secrets
He shrugged.“I worked on Shane’s ranch when I first got here.Bradford assumed that was my primary occupation.I didn’t set him straight.Beyond being honest work, it’s none of his fucking business what I do.Plus, it was hard to resist giving him the opportunity to show the world he’s an asshole.”He drummed his fingers on his thigh.“Keeley and Delaney would be better backup.”
“I don’t know.I’ve only recently reconnected with those two.I don’t want to impose.If you think it’s important, I can ask Mom or Paul.”
“You could, but I’m positive Keeley and Delaney would like to be there for you.Like I said, Keeley already laid into me about excluding the women from our investigation.”
“I’ll have to thank her for that.We’re seeing Delaney at the farm tomorrow.I’ll see how that goes before asking her.”She shifted so she was facing him.“I don’t think you’re wrong to suspect Chase.It’s awful to think he’s capable of doing what was done to me.If it’s true and he’s exposed, it’ll shake up this town.The Bradfords have been a big deal in Sisters for a long time.”
She narrowed her eyes at his change in expression.“What’s that look about?”
“Nothing I can talk about.”
Realization dawned.“That night at Easy Money, Chase claimed the FBI was harassing him, and yousaid they tried to limit their harassment to criminals.Is the FBI investigating Chase?”
“Good memory, but I still can’t talk about it.”
She nodded slowly.“Wow.That makes things more complicated.”She picked up her phone when it signaled.“Chase says Friday at one at the bakery is fine.”
“He accepted damn quick,” Gage muttered.
His arm rested along the back of the couch.She shifted under his watchful gaze, worrying he could see more than she wanted to reveal.She set her phone on the coffee table.“Anything else bring you here tonight?”
“Besides you?I want to go over what I’d found in my initial search of the people on your spreadsheet.”
Besides you?Why did a throwaway comment like that make her feel all sparkly inside?She gave herself an internalget it togetheradmonishment.“Right.Why don’t you add what you found to the spreadsheet?I made it so you could edit it too.”
He shook his head.“Nope.Not putting anything in a document someone with the hacking skills of a third grader could get into.”
“Do third graders have hacking skills?”
“You’d be surprised.I investigated a case where a twelve-year-old hacked his school’s computer system.He changed his bully’s name to ‘Imma Asshole’ and his grades to straight Fs.”
“Maybe I could hire him to transfer Liam to one of the other elementary schools.”
“He probably could do that for you.”
“Yikes.”
Gage pulled his phone from his pocket and moved closer until they were shoulder to shoulder.He angled the screen so she could see and opened an app.“This app allows you to store and manipulate data and provides encryption.I transferred the information from your spreadsheet and added notes on what I found.You’d listed twenty-one people.There are a few with red flags.”
“What were you looking for?”
“Criminal records, court and civil records, police reports, complaints.Anything that suggests a pattern of violence against women.”
“This seems intrusive, like an invasion of privacy.”
He gave her ayou’ve got to be kiddinglook.“Cops would do this and more if they were to reopen the case.That’s what you’re aiming for, right?”
“I guess so.I don’t have the full plan worked out yet, but I figured I’d start by talking with Delaney, see if she knows who still lives in Sisters and reach out to them.She might be able to help me identify others I missed and, hopefully, give me contact info for them.Once I have that, I’ll start making calls.”
His green eyes were sharp as he studied her.“The information I found indicates most recent known addresses and should inform who we look at first and what we ask them.”
“We?”
“Yeah, we.We’re doing this together.”She must be softening because she didn’t even bother protesting.Somehow she’d acquired a hunky ex-FBI agent security consultant whose expertise could mean the difference between success and failure in her quest.
He went on, “Download this app.I’ll authorize you on my account and we can share information that way.”
“Right.”She reached over a snoozing Pancake to retrieve her phone.She downloaded the app.“You move fast, you know that?”
