Page 45 of Stripping Bare

"He swore he didn’t. Said the only reason he handed one over to you was because Tessa was withyou.”

“And the otherstaff?”

“One of the maintenance guys remembered seeing a dude in a navy hoodie. But hell, it’s December. That didn’t strike him as suspicious. He figured it was a resident going out for ajog.”

“What about security footage?” hedemanded.

“They asked for it, but apparently the state-of-the-art system the building owner promised residents has yet to to beinstalled.”

“But there are cameras in the hallways,” Tessasaid.

“Yeah,” Maggie said, “but they’re not connected toanything.”

“Unfortunately, hardware doesn’t do dick without the proper software behind it.” Disgust rolled through Jonah. He would be having a friendly chat with that building ownersoon.

“What about tracking down the dude in thehoodie?”

Maggie’s gaze flickered away and slowly back to him. “Asheville PD wasn’t willing to put that kind of manpower into it. After all, nothing was missing from Tessa’s condo. And three words of graffiti didn’t warrant a full-outinvestigation.”

“What the fuck, Mags? That was athreat.”

“Has anyone tried to directly hurtTessa?”

“Hey, you two,” Tessa said, waving a hand in front of Jonah’s face. “I’m standing right here. And no, no one has tried to harm me. But I received an odd call from a Steele Trapemployee.”

“Someonelocal?”

“He worked at Steele Trap in Seattle. I’m not sure where he isnow.”

“Did he threaten you?” Maggieasked.

“Notexactly.”

“What the hell doesnot exactlymean?” Jonah demanded. “That’s a yes or no question. When you first told me about Carson, you didn’t mention that he’d scared you in anyway.”

“He was obviously unhappy with me, but that’s because he thinks I’m blackmailing him. Which I’m not. But someone hacked into my confidential client files.” Tessa cut him a quick look. In response, Maggie’s gaze narrowed. Tessa hurried to say, “And the company denied abreach.”

“So you’re telling me you plan to just accept that at face value?” Now Maggie’s attention was on Jonah. She knew exactly what he and Micki were capable of when it came to digging through data. She turned to Tessa. “Tell me about thecall.”

“Fuck.” Jonah paced and brooded while Tessa gave Maggie the lowdown on Carson’s call. He didn’t like these new details. Maybe he needed to look more closely at Carson. “What can you do about this?” he asked hiscousin.

Maggie lifted a shoulder. “Honestly? Not a lot. None of this has occurred in my jurisdiction. I’ll stay in touch with Asheville PD, but unless something else happens, I doubt they’ll put any more time intoit.”

Maggie finished her coffee, rinsed out her cup, and put it in the sink. Then she gave Jonah a slug in the shoulder. “Sorry I couldn’t do more. Let me know if you need anything, and please stay on the right side of thelaw.”

Once she left, Jonah returned to his pacing. This time, he added some muttering. “If they won’t find this fucker, then Iwill.”

He rolled Tessa’s mention of Carson Grimes around in his head. Originally, he’d just considered him an innocent bystander, but what if there was more toit?

Jonah checked the time on his phone. Not quite nine, which meant it wasn’t even six on the west coast. If he called Steele Trap’s HR director at this hour, she would get on the next plane to North Carolina and castratehim.

Wait a sec, Carson had called Tessa. “Where’s yourphone?”

“Upstairs.”

“I need it. You should have Carson’s call-back number onthere.”

“You don’t reallythink—”