Page 69 of Ride the Lightning

They went over the presentation slides and devised a plan of how to divide and conquer. Jonah had hoped to take Avery to lunch, but he’d already made plans with his friend Karlee.

“Would you mind bringing me back something? I want to do some digging around on Earl’s case.”

Avery slid the notepad to him. “Write down what you want.”

Jonah drew him a picture.

Avery looked down at Jonah’s stick figure with the raging boner and smiled. “I can cancel with Karlee. Tell her something’s come up.”

“It will still be up when you get back from lunch. Have fun.”

“Fine. I’ll grab your usual from Bytes and Brew.”

“Thank you.”

Jonah’s gaze lingered on Avery’s ass as he left, then he gave himself a mental shake.Big head in the game, St. John.

Curious to see if there was any internal movement while he was gone, Jonah typed Earl’s name and hit enter.

Access denied.

What the fuck? He thought maybe he’d typed the name in wrong, so he tried it again.

Access denied.

Jonah tried the case file number since he’d memorized it.

Access denied.

Jonah sat staring at the computer for a long time, trying to assess all the possibilities. Then he typed in Bo Cahill’s name and received the same message. He typed in the names of cases Trexler had assigned him, and those he could view.

Fuck me.

Someone had restricted his access to only the cases he’d been assigned. It didn’t take a fucking genius to figure it out. Why hadn’t Trexler rubbed it in Jonah’s face during their meeting? He figured Trexler would relish having a conversation like that.

He could poke around in the system and find who restricted his access, but he wasn’t as skillful at hacking as Avery. He risked a chance at getting caught.

Jonah sure as hell couldn’t make the request through the bureau’s IM system or ask over the phone. He had been suspended to discourage him from pursuing the investigation further. Someone had slashed his tires. Maybe it was coincidence or perhaps it was because he hadn’t heeded the warning. Now his access to case files was restricted. Jonah was getting close to answers, and someone didn’t like it.

But who? Trexler?

Jonah’s adrenaline spiked, making him fidgety and edgy. Was it excitement or paranoia setting in? Jonah was aware of how similar the emotions affected the body.

When Avery returned with his lunch, Jonah crooked his finger for Avery to lean over his desk so he could show him that his clearance was restricted. Avery’s brows dipped into a deep V. Jonah flipped over the top sheet with Boner Man, then wrote a message for Avery.

Will you see who restricted my access? I think it’s important. Suspension. Slashed tires. Now this…

Avery gestured for Jonah to give the notepad to him. He picked out a pen from the cup on Jonah’s desk and wrote a response.Leave it to me.Then he pivoted and left Jonah alone in his office.

Forcing his frustrations aside, Jonah dug into his lunch so his blood sugar wouldn’t tank and impede his presentation. He would not give Trexler a reason to humiliate him again. Unfortunately, a stress headache had already started to form, which only intensified as the meeting time neared.

His phone vibrated with an incoming text from Avery.It was Trexler. 2:36 pm. Yesterday. Remote laptop.

Thanks. See you in the conference room,Jonah replied.

Son of a bitch. Why? Trexler wasn’t old enough to be involved with Earl’s death unless he’d been killing drag queens at the age of ten. But he could be protecting someone now just like Bo Cahill had back then.

Jonah sent a quick text to Rocky, asking him to dig up as much as he could find on Butch Trexler and his family. The man was going too far out of his way to protect retired officers that weren’t connected to him.