Page 13 of Tracing Her Stolen Identity (Secure Watch #2)
“Yeah, Charlotte Holbock,” he said, sitting in the desk chair. “With her husband, Mack, they tracked him down and unexpectedly took him out. She won a presidential citizen medal for her involvement in the case.”
“She’s a great artist, too,” Skylar said, pointing at some of the other drawings. She pulled a pencil from her pocket and opened a new page as he snorted. When she glanced up, he was smiling. “What?”
“You carry a pencil in your pocket.”
“I’m an artist. Of course I carry a pencil in my pocket. There are also several in my chair bag and my truck, and sometimes I stick one in my hair just in case.”
“Just in case all the rest desert you?”
“More like an emotional support pencil,” she said, scratching out the image she’d pictured last night. “What exactly do you do for Secure Watch? Are you like a hacker or something?”
His laughter filled the room, and it lifted her lips, too. “No, I leave the hacking to Mina, Delilah and Kelsey. I’m what they call a digital forensic examiner. I get to solve mysteries.”
“You always loved a good mystery book as a kid,” she said with a smile, remembering all the choose-your-own-adventure books they used to read together.
“I love solving puzzles, and this job lets me do it day after day. When a company has a problem, I get the information from their devices and try to learn how the unauthorized person accessed the system. It’s my job to follow the trail and gather all the evidence for trials and that kind of thing. It’s rewarding work.”
“It’s the kind of work no one thinks about anyone doing, to be honest. You assume you’re safe online when that’s anything but the truth. Case in point,” she said, dropping her pencil to motion around the room.
“You nailed it. The cases we’ve been involved with over the years have unintentionally taught people that, I think.
It’s been hard for Cal. He went from being a small security group installing perimeter cameras to being thrust into the spotlight without being equipped to deal with the influx of business.
He stepped up and kept evolving. That’s all any of us can do in a world like this. What are you drawing?”
She turned it to face him. “We passed some sandhill cranes on the way here yesterday. They were standing there watching their baby waddle about. I’ve never done sandhill cranes before, but they inspired me.”
“What are all the letters and arrows for?”
Lowering the pad to her lap, she pointed to the tallest crane. “Those are notations telling me what color glass to use or what technique to use on the glass to shade it.”
“The way you do art has always fascinated me,” he said, leaning forward and clasping his hands in front of him. “Listen, we need to talk.”
She knew it was coming. They’d been awake for an hour and had made small talk but avoided the real reason they were there. They couldn’t keep doing that if they were going to solve this problem so she could move on with her life.
“I know it’s time, but I’m nervous.”
“It would be weird if you weren’t nervous,” he promised.
“That’s normal, but remember you have an entire team behind you and they’re working round the clock to find out who is behind this.
Last night, while you were sleeping, Iris sent me the background information on Miles Bradshaw.
Interesting guy, and not in a good way.” She held her hand out to him as if to say, Right?
“They’re doing a deeper dive into him now that I highlighted some areas for them to focus on. ”
“What kind of areas?” she asked, setting the pad on the coffee table. Relaxing time was over. She needed to dig in and help Reece. People she didn’t even know were trying to get to the bottom of this, so the least she could do was help.
“To start, his increasingly aggressive interactions with other artists and gallery owners. He also has some history of petty crimes and such. The team will ensure there aren’t other accusations about more significant crimes against galleries or people.”
“I still find it hard to believe that an artist would damage galleries just to get back at me,” she said, her shoulders falling forward. “It’s hard enough to keep art galleries open, so destroying them only makes it harder for everyone in the art community.”
“I would say that I agree, and I do to a degree, but I’ve also worked with a lot of narcissistic individuals. Many believe that if they can’t be involved in something, no one can. If that makes sense.”
“It does,” she said with a nod. “Miles certainly fits that bill. The amount of rage exhibited in my home yesterday makes me want to vomit, but it also tells me whoever did it was focused on my art.”
“How so?”
Skylar pulled herself back up against the cushion to get comfortable. He must have noticed, because he moved beside her on the couch and braced her feet against his thigh so she wouldn’t keep sliding down.
“Thanks,” she said with a relieved smile. “It’s hard to sit like this.”
“I understand. I’ll have your chair ready soon. The art?”
Her nod told him her head was back in the game. “What I meant was, the house was tossed, but if you looked around, my art took the brunt of it. Every mosaic and glass piece was shattered. All the paintings or sketches were ripped apart and shredded.”
Reece was quiet for a few moments before he nodded. “You’re right. I was focused on the whole picture, but it’s obvious when you break it down. That leads me to my next question.”
“Which is?”
“Silas.”
The name slammed into her like a thousand bullets that she wasn’t sure she’d survive.