Page 70 of On Edge

I reach into my pants and extract Troy’s phone and pass it to her. She gives me a funny look. “So this is his, is it?”

“Yes, it’s Tro—I mean Severin’s.”

Laine smirks at me. “Ooh, you stole his phone?”

I nod. “He wasn’t at the auction the day Nell disappeared. I need to know if he was at Grayfleet at all that day, and if not, where was he?”

Nola thinks for a moment. “So you actually want me to hack the location data rather than his phone?”

“Can you do that?”

“I have a friend who could, we just need his number and a date and time, but let’s check his device first, just in case.”

I don’t tell my friends that Troy kissed me, and other things…I don’t know why. Something holds me back. I’m not sure they would understand. Laine might, considering what happened between her and Jaxon, but….

I blink, trying not to let my mind wander. Laine is nodding at whatever Nola was saying. Nola sits cross-legged on the floor of the changing room, with her laptop open, turning it on. When she connects Troy’s phone to it, the screen glows eerie blue, illuminating the sharp angles of her face. Then her fingers fly over the keyboard.

Seconds pass, but eventually she frowns.

“Shit. I can’t bypass carrier security. The phone’s too secure. He’s got this locked up like Fort Knox.”

Of course, he would. My stomach sinks. “So that’s it?”

“Hold on, he might still have…” Nola unplugs the device, takes a safety pin from the lingerie I picked up, and jabs it into a hole in the side. A SIM card pops out. “Ah, he does. I thought it might, since it’s an older model.”

“What will that do?”

She ignores me and takes the SIM out of her old, small, black flip phone and inserts Troy’s. “Okay, there’s like...three old numbers saved to the card itself. Everything else must be on the phone or cloud.” She reads out the numbers, and I type them into my own phone. “Do you recognize them?” I shake my head. “It’s the best I can do until Quinn gets the location data from Severin’s number. Unless…”

“Unless what?”

She shrugs, sticking the SIM back into Troy’s phone. “There’s always face ID.”

“I’m not doing that?”

“If he wakes up, as he asks why you’re in his room in the middle of the night. Sit on his face.”

I stare at her, my already face warm. “No! That won’t work.”

Nola gives me a look. “It always works. But if you’re too scared, then sedate him. Crush some sleeping pills into his wine.” She says it like she’s giving me the recipe for a meat pie.

“Oh, I guess that might work.”

Nola smiles, eyes gleaming. “Better yet, poison the bastard.” She reaches into her jacket pocket and offers me an apothecary vial containing a colorless liquid. “Here. Untraceable but effective. You only need a few drops.”

I dare not touch it, but I have no choice. “What is it?”

“Best you don’t know, eh?”

“Don’t freak out.” Laine lets herself back into the changing room cubicle, locking the door behind her. While Nola worked on the phone, she went out to keep a lookout.“But a big guy just came into the store, and he doesn’t look like the type to buy lingerie for his girlfriend himself.”

I suck in a breath. “Mundel? Does he look like he just walked off a Downton Abbey set?”

Laine stares at me. “I wouldn’t say Downton Abbey, no.”

Maybe I watch too much daytime TV.

But then Laine’s nose wrinkles, “More like the Apprentice?”