Page 26 of Texas Scandal

“No trouble at all,” he said. The relief in her eyes was all the thanks he needed. Besides, he actually liked being around her. This way, he could kill a few birds with one stone.

“At first blush, it looks like the laptop is the only major item the sheriff’s office took,” Melody said after giving the living room and kitchen a once-over. “If something was planted here before they showed up, that’s a whole different conversation.”

There was a lot about her situation that seemed orchestrated. For instance, the note on her vehicle being left the same day the body was found. Could it be a coincidence? Was someone in the know? Her brother came to mind. They were going to have to speak to Coop.

Prescott hadn’t returned Tiernan’s text with instructions on how to handle the locket, and Tiernan sure as hell wasn’t leaving it behind. He’d watched a crime show with Corinne once where a detective placed evidence in a paper bag.

“Do you use paper or plastic?” he asked her as she stood at the door with her hand on the handle, a clear sign she was more than ready to get out of there.

“At the grocery?” she asked. “Paper.”

“Where do you save the empties?” he asked.

She motioned toward the sink. “In the cabinet under there.”

Tiernan retrieved a folded-up bag from the stack. Using a paper towel, he picked up the necklace and placed it inside. “We’ll have to run this by Prescott’s office while we’re downtown before we head over to Green Things.”

“Okay,” she said. Her quick, overly enthusiastic response said she dreaded facing down her father’s one-time mistress. She couldn’t avoid it for very long. The stop with the necklace would only add an extra twenty minutes in between here and the grocer, where he hoped to get a few answers.

MELODYSATINthe pickup with Loki while Tiernan ran into the law office. She could see the receptionist through a wall of windows from their parking spot in front of the downtown Austin building, making it easy to keep an eye on Tiernan. There was something comforting about having him in her line of sight at all times after being in her apartment. The awful feeling of her home being violated returned, washing over her like a rogue wave threatening to suck her under and drown her.

Then there was her half-brother, Jason. Facing his mother while she was reeling from the loss of her child made Melody sick to her stomach. There was no getting around the visit. It had to happen, so she would put on her “big girl” pants and push through.

Another minute passed before Tiernan was back in the driver’s seat. At least they’d handed off the locket. An involuntary shiver rocked her body. Where had it come from? Who did it belong to?

“I should have taken a picture of the locket before you turned it in,” Melody said to Tiernan.

“It’s on my phone,” he said with a raised eyebrow as he checked to see if a car was behind them.

“Right,” she said. “I forgot.”

He backed out of the spot and navigated into traffic. She should probably check her own phone at this point. She had time to kill between now and arriving at the grocer. This might be a good opportunity to get through some of her messages and voice mails. Most of them would be work related. Since she was most definitely fired after not showing up yesterday and today, she might as well face the music and get it over with.

After retrieving and turning on her cell, she took a good look at the screen. The button indicating texts showed the number fifty-seven. Her email icon showed double the number. The second wasn’t a huge surprise, considering she was the communication gatekeeper for a real-estate tycoon. She would take great pleasure in being able to hand off all those to someone else. There was always a backup in case she needed to take a morning off to attend something like jury duty. Pamela Steiner was that person.

Rather than go through each email, Melody clicked the button beside every name she recognized and forwarded the lot directly to Pamela. She typed a quick note welcoming Pamela to the position. She’d made no secret of wanting the job when Melody moved on at some point. HR had been on a cross-training kick for the past two years. Looked like their efforts were about to pay off big-time.

There were half a dozen emails left from folks she didn’t know. One by one, she clicked through them. Four were work related. One was spam that had gotten past her filter and managed to land in her inbox. The other contained a pointed message.

“Hey, I got something creepy in my spam folder,” she said to Tiernan as she studied her cell.

“What is it?” he asked.

“‘You did this and now you’ll pay,’” she said as she read the screen. Ice water ran cold down her back.

“That’s direct,” he said. “Forward it to Prescott. He’ll need to see it.”

“The words aren’t the worst part,” she said. “It came from my mother’s inbox but there’s no way she sent it. For starters, it would be the first time she emailed me. I highly doubt she would start now.”

“Someone could have easily phished her email,” he said. “It doesn’t require the most top-notch hacking skills if they can get someone to click on a link. Then, they can send a note from their ‘inbox’ remotely.”

“My mom knows how to use her iPhone six ways past Tuesday, but I could see her falling for a scammer when it came to emails,” she said. “All it would take is something happening with my brother for her to immediately click.”

“Hackers have gotten good at tricking folks,” he said. “I fell for it one time and got locked out of my email. That was a long time ago. I learned my lesson.”

“It only takes once,” she agreed. “Do you have Prescott’s email handy, by the way?”

“It’s in my phone,” he said, fishing it out of his pocket before handing it over. “You’re welcome to check my contacts.”

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