Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 83986 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83986 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
“That’s a very charming greeting there, Mr. Davis, and hello to you too, ya dick.”
I grunted.
“Do you want me to blow up your email with files, or do you want a quick rundown?”
“I thought you were hunting down some bounty hunter and that’s why you couldn’t come on this job.”
“Yeah, well, turned out he was in Vegas with the woman, and because I hate the desert, I called Croy and had him find them for me. He and that partner of his took all of a day to make that happen. Both are now in the custody of the US Marshals, so our job is done.”
“How nice for you to have minions.”
“It is nice,” he agreed with a chuckle.
“So you’re back in the office?”
“Yeah. Me and Shaw are getting everything from law enforcement on your Elliot Voss/Kit Riggs situation, and Owen has been sending information. He and Nash are flying to LA to meet with Preeya Shah, but the Wi-Fi has been weird on the plane, so I’m playing middleman. Owen can get me, but he can’t get you.”
My heart stopped for a moment, terrified of why Owen and Nash felt the need to turn Jared’s private jet not for home, not toward Chicago, but Los Angeles.
“Okay,” I managed to get out after a moment. “Tell me.”
“Do you wanna know about Shah or Riggs?”
I knew what I should have said, but I couldn’t. “Shah.”
Sharp exhale from him. “Okay, so Owen talked to Preeya Shah, and according to him, she is both absolutely charming and terribly scary, and we all know how much he likes that combination.”
That was Jared Colter in a nutshell. “Yes, we do,” I agreed, and suddenly, even without hearing more, I felt better, the vise around my heart loosening.
“It turns out there’s nothing for Owen to get into with finding any photographic or video evidence of this guy Furniss spying on Mr. Lennox.”
“Why?”
“Because as soon as Mr. Lennox called to tell her what happened, she took it upon herself to go talk to Mr. Furniss.”
“And by talk, you mean…?”
“Threaten him and gain access to every part of his life.”
Jesus. “How?”
“She asked him nicely.”
“Oh, the hell she did.”
“I don’t know. I looked her up, and she’s, like, five feet three. A teeny-tiny woman. She’s beautiful, delicate, and doesn’t look like she could scare anyone.”
“But?”
“But I haven’t met her in person, so I don’t know if she’s menacing face-to-face. All I know is what Owen told me and that Furniss gave her access to everything. His cloud, all his files, digital and paper, and even his safety-deposit box at the bank and his secret safety-deposit box that he keeps under his aunt’s name.”
“Why would he do that?”
“Have a secret box, or give her access to it?”
“The access, of course.”
“Probably because she asked.”
“That’s crazy.”
“I guess he knows her and didn’t want her mad at him, and more importantly, didn’t want her to come back for a second visit.”
“Huh.”
“That’s what I said.”
“What else?”
“She tossed his place, checked his email, his messaging apps, borrowed his laptop, went through everything there, and then had her tech guy—who just so happens to be a friend of Owen’s—go through the laptop again just to make sure she didn’t miss anything.”
I liked Preeya Shah so very much. Easy to see from her tenacity and how thorough she was that she cared deeply for Ash.
“And? Did she find anything?”
“She did. She found one explicit video, but that was all. There were hundreds of pictures, but they all looked like they could have been in a regular magazine. Nothing NSFW at all.”
I exhaled deeply. “That’s good. And she’s sure she didn’t miss anything?”
“More important than her being sure—because we don’t know her or how she works—is that Owen is. Not only did she ID the other person in the video, and check him out thoroughly, but she had another friend of hers track down all Furniss’s purchases on the dark web because she was worried there might have been something there, but no.”
“Okay, good,” I said, feeling like a weight lifted. “And what did she do with the video?”
“She deleted all trace of it and made sure Furniss didn’t send it anywhere.”
“That’s good.”
“Furniss actually just moved to Paris last week. He has a job there now, guarding a family, and he lives in their house.”
“Okay…”
“When Owen spoke to her this morning, she explained that she had just returned from Paris the day before, having flown there to have a final word with Furniss.”
“You’re kidding.”
“I am not. From what she told Owen, she just wanted to make her position clear on Mr. Lennox to Mr. Furniss so there could be no misunderstanding.”
“Who is she?”
“Owen thinks there’s more to her than what he can see, but when he looked her up, all that comes back is owner of Bridge Security, mother of Kochai, who’s five, and Drew, who’s three, and wife to Evan Shah, a mild-mannered CPA.”