Page 20 of Tracing Her Stolen Identity (Secure Watch #2)

Mina walked into the conference room with her lips in a thin line.

Cal and Iris Knowles followed her into the room.

Iris was a member of the Secure Watch team and was second to none in her work, but she struggled with social situations, so Reece was surprised to see her here.

He had no doubt what she was about to tell them was anything but good news.

The only good news he’d gotten today was when Selina called him an hour ago to say that Sky was ready to leave the med bay.

He’d dropped what he was doing and run down there to help.

Once she was back in her chair and he’d taken the information Selina had given him about what to watch for should the autonomic dysreflexia flare, they’d returned to the command center to work through the videos on her Facebook page.

He wanted her to rest, but she insisted she was fine and wanted to resolve this sooner rather than later.

He didn’t blame her. He couldn’t imagine what it must be like to be in her shoes and not know if she would get her life back.

He’d worked with many people in the same situation during his career, but it was different when it was someone you were close to.

He hated using the past tense when it came to Sky and prayed that he no longer had to when this was over.

But the look on Mina’s face told him they might be a step closer to answers.

“I have news,” she said, setting the tablet down.

“It doesn’t seem like good news, judging by the look on your face,” Sky said from beside him. He smiled. She was never about mincing words.

“You could say that,” Cal agreed, glancing at Mina. “We’ll walk you through it.”

Mina handed a sheet of paper to Reece. “An arrest warrant?” he asked, skimming it. “Wait. I don’t understand. I thought the cops knew she didn’t do this.”

“That’s what we thought as well,” Cal said. “Then I heard from one of my contacts at the Duluth PD that they had no choice but to update the warrant and execute it.”

“I’m confused,” Skylar said. “How are they going to arrest someone who doesn’t exist?”

“That’s where things get interesting,” Mina said, and Reece could see the wheels spinning in her head.

She had found a thread to pull and was giddily unwinding it.

“Skylar Sullivan once again exists in the world. Everything has been restored except for your social media pages. Binate is still controlling those.”

“And your bank accounts have been restored but emptied,” Cal added. Skylar gasped, but Cal held up his hand so he could finish. “Your accounts are protected, so we’re gathering the proper information to send the bank so your balances can be restored once you’re clear of this.”

“And you think the sudden return to the living for Skylar Sullivan was for the purpose of the arrest warrant?” Reece asked Mina, who nodded.

“I believe that Binate finally forced their hand by causing damage to enough galleries that they didn’t have a choice. Since Skylar is now ‘missing—’” she added air quotes “—it looks like she ran.”

“Pun not intended,” Sky added, making his lips twitch.

“Rolled,” Mina said, with the tip of her fake hat.

“It has to be Miles,” Skylar said, her arms crossed over her chest in a tight embrace. “No one else I can think of would hate me enough to go through this much to set me up.”

Reece could, and his name was Silas, but he knew better than to say it.

Skylar was stressed enough, and tossing her brother into the mix wouldn’t help matters.

Instead, he gently tugged her arms off her chest and rested them on her lap.

“Remember what Selina said about keeping your posture open and not tense for the rest of the day.”

The scathing look she sent him would have made a weaker man cower. “Thank you, WebMD, for your insight into living in my body.”

Mina snorted, and Reece sent her a glare that did nothing but make her grin wider.

“I’m still digging up dirt on Miles Bradshaw,” Iris said, speaking for the first time.

She stared at the table, not making eye contact with anyone, which wasn’t unusual.

She’d been in an accident as a child that left her with a traumatic brain injury.

“He’s a disgusting individual, I can tell you that.

” Iris finally looked up and met Sky’s gaze for half a second before she dropped it again.

“If there’s a way to tie him to this, I’ll find it. ”

“Thanks, Iris,” Reece said with a smile, knowing she’d never see it but appreciating her nonetheless.

“No thanks needed. I’m doing the job that I’m paid to do.

” Cal cleared his throat, and Iris grimaced.

“Sorry.” She glanced at Sky again. “I had an accident when I was younger, too. It scrambled my brain and messed up the pathways that would have helped me in social situations. I apologize for my bluntness. It’s not that I don’t care. It’s that I don’t know how to show it.”

“You’re fine, Iris,” Sky assured her. “I appreciate that you’re here helping me. Honestly, bluntness is good, especially in this situation. Coddling isn’t necessary when my life and livelihood are at stake.”

Iris nodded once as though she agreed with everything Sky had said. “Miles Bradshaw is a boil on the backside of life,” she said, jumping right back into the situation at hand.

“I couldn’t have said that better myself,” Sky agreed.

“I thought I was stunted socially, but this guy has zero filters and zero humility. If someone isn’t stroking his ego and calling him pretty at all times, he takes it as a personal affront.”

“It’s like you’ve met him or something,” Sky muttered. “Miles is all of those things.”

“And more,” Iris said, holding up her finger. “Turns out, he prides himself on being an aficionado when it comes to sussing out fake art.”

“Spoiler alert,” Sky said, “his art is the fake art.”

“That is correct,” she agreed. “Or, at the very least, it’s copied art.”

“Meaning?” Cal asked as he tried to follow the conversation.

“Meaning he may make the art, but he’s using other artists’ ideas. Maybe he changes the colors, but the designs are always a copy of someone else’s work.”

“Is this something I can have my police contact look at him for?” Cal asked, and Iris sat blinking at him in confusion.

“He means, is it something Miles can be arrested for,” Reece clarified for her.

“Oh! No, I mean, not really. He changes it just enough to claim it’s ‘original,’ even when the design is recycled. It’s kind of like fan fiction. It resembles the original story, but they change it enough so it’s not obvious plagiarism.”

Sky motioned at Iris. “Exactly that. And it’s not illegal to use someone else’s design—it’s just lazy.

If you look through his portfolio, you understand why no one wants to carry his work in their galleries.

The galleries and shops around Duluth are looking for unique pieces.

Even when he can convince someone to take his work—that’s usually due to a hard guilt he lays on them—the art doesn’t sell and they sever ties with him quickly.

He can’t take constructive criticism, either.

And not about his art, because art is in the eye of the beholder, but about his propensity to push people away rather than engage.

Miles doesn’t have a future in the art world as it stands now.

Maybe if he came up with something original, he could move to a different city and find a place for it.

First, he’d have to change his entire personality. I don’t see that happening.”

Cal leaned toward Sky and Iris. “Personal opinion time. Do you think Miles is capable of vandalizing these galleries?”

“Yes,” they said in unison, lifting his lips into a smile.

“Most especially because of his hatred for Skylar,” Iris said. “I found some posts on a public forum board that were anything but complimentary.”

Sky rolled her eyes as Iris handed out some papers to everyone. “All I could do was sort through and find some of the best ones. There was a lot to choose from. Sorry, Skylar, but he doesn’t like you.”

Sky’s laughter filled the room. It lifted Reece’s heart and brought him back to life. If Sky was laughing, she was going to be okay.

“Sweetheart, that is not information I didn’t already have. The last altercation we got into was in February. Long story short, he got mad when another art gallery dumped him.”

“Tell them why,” Reece encouraged her, wondering if this was the crux of the problem all along.

“I could prove that some of the art he sent them was manufactured.”

The room was dead silent for a beat before Cal whistled. “That sounds like motive to me.”

“He was so angry security had to remove him from the event, and the event planners banned him for the rest of time,” Reece explained. “He claims that Sky’s art is the problem because she uses recycled materials.”

“That sounds like my kind of art,” Iris said. “If I want manufactured pieces, I can go to the store. If I want unique, I’ll look for an artist doing something unusual in the art form.”

Sky nodded as she made eye contact with every person in the room.

“I know who Miles Bradshaw is. This is not new, unexpected or distressing information. He was the first person I thought of when Mina told me to think of people who might have a beef with me. If he could make me go away without it blowing back on him, he would.”

“Make you go away?” Cal asked with a lifted brow.

“He says I use my disability to get sympathy, which is why people buy my work.”

“See line four,” Iris said, shaking the paper.

Heads dipped as everyone read line four. Reece saw red. “‘I’d like to drive that sorry excuse for an artist into Lake Superior. I’m so tired of her poor-pitiful-me routine at events. The only reason people buy her art is because they feel guilty that she uses a wheelchair.’”

“Wow,” Mina said, lowering her own paper. “He really doesn’t like you.”