Thread of Suspicion

by Susan Sleeman

  “What’re you doing?” she whispered and jerked free.

  He heard a screen door slamming in the backyard.

  “He’s running.” She bolted down the steps, and it took Luke a second to react.

  By the time he moved, she’d raced through the weed-filled yard to a chain-link fence. He charged after her, nearly stumbling over a stump hidden in the weeds. She leaped over the fence, landing with the grace he’d come to expect from her. He hurdled the fence, all of his injuries from yesterday screaming at once, stealing his breath and stopping him in his tracks. When he could breathe again, he pounded around a building and into a narrow alley littered with trash.

  Dani neared the mouth of the alley and he heard her shout, “Freeze.”

  Luke kept running, clamping down on his teeth to stem the pain as he charged over the crumbling asphalt.

  “Don’t,” he yelled when he saw her make a diving attempt to stop Eggleston.

  She landed with hands on his shoulders and dragged him to the ground. By the time Luke reached her, she’d wrenched Eggleston’s arms behind his back and was sitting back, breathing deep. Luke dropped down beside her and tried to take control of Eggleston, but she glared at him so he backed off. Still, he stayed close by in case Eggleston tried anything.

  “Let me go,” Eggleston whined, and tried to sit up. “I didn’t do nothing.”

  Dani pressed his face into the ground. “Then why did you run?”

  “It’s instinct to run from cops.”

  “We’re not cops.”

  “Right,” Eggleston said disbelievingly.

  “I’m a private investigator, and my friend works for a computer company,” Dani said. “All we want is information about a computer found in your possession when you were busted last week.”

  Eggleston snorted. “I tell you anything and you’ll go running to the cops.”

  “We have no reason to do that. We just want to know where you got it.”

  Eggleston craned his neck trying to see Dani. “Let me up and I’ll tell you.”

  Luke doubted the creep was telling the truth, but Dani seemed inclined to let the man go.

  “You try anything,” Luke warned, “and I’ll come after you.”

  Eggleston cast an appraising eye at Luke, then nodded. Dani released Eggleston and sat back on her haunches. Luke remained crouched, ready to pounce if he needed to protect Dani.

  Eggleston sat up and, rubbing his wrists, he winked at Dani. “You’re mighty tough for such a pretty little thing.”

  Luke wanted to silence the guy, but Dani ran a hand over her hair and smiled, obviously using Eggleston’s interest to get the information she needed. “You didn’t say where the computer came from.”

  “I bought it off a homeless dude I deal with sometimes.”

  “Where’d he get it?” Luke jumped in.

  Not taking his eyes off Dani, Eggleston shrugged.

  “What’s the man’s name?” Dani’s tone was far sweeter than Luke’s had been, and it grated on his nerves that she’d be so nice to a man she’d had to tackle to the ground.

  “Don’t know him by anything other than Smash.”

  Dani looked disappointed. “Do you know where I can find Smash?”

  “Nah. He doesn’t bed down in a regular spot. Likes to be free, you know what I mean? But I run into him every now and then.”

  Dani pulled out a hundred-dollar bill from her pocket and waved it in the air. “This will be yours if you call me when you see him.”

  “Oh, yeah.” Eggleston reached for the money.

  Dani snatched it back. “Only if you call me.” She dug out her business card and handed it to him.

  “Then be ready for my call, pretty lady.” Eggleston laughed as he got up.

  “I’ll count on it,” Dani answered sweetly while Luke cringed.

  Eggleston took off and Dani slowly came to her feet, easing out apparent soreness in her limbs as she rose.

  Luke spotted blood staining her knees and elbows. “We need to get medical attention for you.”

  “Later.” She took out her phone, stabbed a button, then lifted it to her ear. “Mitch, good. I stopped to talk to Eggleston, and he said the computer came from a homeless man named Smash. I was hoping someone there might know where I can find this Smash.”

  She held her phone away from her ear and Luke heard Mitch’s angry response but couldn’t make out the words. Luke didn’t like the guy’s tone, but what could he do about it?

  “How was I supposed to know you were on your way to question him?” Dani snapped into the phone. “If you’d bothered to tell me, I would’ve waited for you and Eggleston would be sitting at home right now.”

  She listened, planting a hand on her hip. Suddenly she disconnected and shoved her phone into her pocket. “You could probably tell that was Mitch, and he’s miffed. Kat convinced him to take time out of his busy morning to come over here and question Eggleston. Mitch’s almost here and he’s mad that I wasted his time by chasing off Eggleston.”

  Luke met Dani’s gaze. “Eggleston’s probably back at his house by now, so Mitch can still question him.”

  “He’d better be, or I have no hope of getting my sister’s husband to talk to me again.” She gestured down the alley. “Let’s go meet him at the house.”

  She limped along and Luke slipped a hand under her elbow to help.

  “I’m fine,” she said and shrugged free. “I don’t need your help all the time. I’ve done just fine on my own, and I’d appreciate it if you’d back off.”

  He held up his hands and let her take the lead. She had a stubborn streak a mile long, and if they were going to work together, he needed to remember not to push her. Hard to do when she rushed headlong into dangerous situations.

  Rounding the corner of the house, he spotted a nondescript blue sedan in Eggleston’s driveway. A tall man whose bulky build said he took his fitness regimen seriously stood on the lawn. He’d folded his arms over his broad chest, and a scowl drew down his face. He had a gun holstered at his side and a badge clipped to his belt. When he caught sight of Dani, his eyes narrowed and Luke knew the guy was mad at her. Good and mad.

  She didn’t seem to care but hobbled up to him as if approaching a sweet little baby, not an angry cop. “A simple phone call would’ve prevented this problem, Mitch.”

  The glare Elliot directed at her made Luke pull in a deep breath and step up next to her. Not that she needed protecting from her brother-in-law or would even entertain Luke’s help if she did. But Luke didn’t like the look in the man’s eyes, and every defensive bone in his body sat up and paid attention.

  “Look, Mitch,” she said, not at all fazed by the glare. “I’m sorry about what happened. You know I wouldn’t have stepped on your toes if I’d known.” She flashed a dazzling smile that would make Luke do just about anything, but Elliot’s face remained stony. “While I’ve got your attention, I thought I’d ask if you’d let me come down to the station and look at the computer myself.”

  “Really, Dani? You think I’ll break every investigative rule for you just because we’re related now?”

  She grinned again and actually took a step closer to the guy, who looked as if he wanted to lock her in a cell and throw away the keys. “Not every one of them. Just the ones I need you to break.”

  Elliot rolled his eyes. “I was so not prepared to become a part of this family.”

  “Does that mean I can look at the computer?” she asked sweetly.

  Elliot sighed. “No, but if you give me a list of things to look for I’ll have someone do it for you.”

  “Guess that’ll have to do.” Her lower lip slipped out in a cute little pout, and Luke couldn’t seem to take his eyes off her mouth. A very kissable mouth.

  “Be careful, ma
n,” Elliot said, clapping him on the shoulder and drawing his attention from Dani. “With the look on your face it’s only a matter of time before you’re as connected to the Justices as I am.” Chuckling, he headed for the house.

  Luke felt Dani’s eyes on him, but he wouldn’t look at her again. Instead he watched Elliot step up to the front door and waited for him to head inside and return with information about the investigation.

  Good. Concentrate on the investigation, he thought. If he could keep his focus on the threat to his company, he wouldn’t be thinking about the threat to his heart who stood just a few feet away.

  * * *

  Carrying her gym bag holding torn and bloody clothes, Dani wound her way through SatCom’s main room filled with cubicles. She smiled encouragingly as she passed curious workers on her way to Luke’s office. Though he’d founded the company, his office wasn’t as large and grand as she’d expected.

  He was looking out the window, standing with that perfect posture she’d come to associate with him, his cell phone pressed to his ear. He didn’t turn even when she dropped her bag on the floor.

  That was fine with her. She was still riled up over the way he kept trying to protect her like a helpless girl instead of seeing the abilities she’d spent many years developing.

  Interfering like my brothers and taking charge like Paul, she thought as she wandered to a bookshelf filled with military photos and awards. Or maybe, she was using his behavior as a distraction from the connection that seemed to exist between them.

  So not thinking about that right now.

  She picked up a large photo of Luke. As she’d suspected, he was something to look at in his dress uniform. The jacket tailored to his wide shoulders tapered to a trim waist. A cap pulled low shadowed his eyes, making him look even more intriguing. Next to him stood a high-ranking naval officer who presented Luke with the Navy Cross.

  So he’s a hero. She should’ve expected that. Par for the course for a man like him. Jump in. Take charge. Rescue the helpless or those in danger. She didn’t need rescuing, though he kept trying when Mitch got a little miffed. She could handle her brother-in-law on her own.

  “Memorizing that?” he asked, coming up behind her.

  She jerked her eyes free and set the picture on the shelf. “You’re quite the hero.”

  He looked embarrassed by her praise. “Just doing my job.”

  “You don’t need to be so modest. The Navy Cross is a top honor.”

  “I’m not being modest. I just don’t happen to think I need medals for doing my duty. The only reason I displayed them was to impress the procurement committee.” He motioned for her to sit at the round table where he’d placed her laptop while she’d cleaned up. “While you dig into the code, I’ll arrange to have personnel files brought over. Though I have to say, since we’re working on a military project, I fully vetted everyone before they were hired.”

  She wasn’t surprised to hear him defend his team. He’d likely adopted that attitude while in the military, but she couldn’t be as trusting. “People change, Luke. One of your workers could have been offered money to turn on SatCom, and we have to be thorough.” She settled on a cushioned chair near her computer. “Tim gave me network logs yesterday, but I’d like to have real-time access to the network.”

  “He wants to talk to you anyway, so I’ll have him stop by when he’s free.” Luke sat behind his desk and lifted his phone.

  She quickly lost track of his conversation with Tim as she reviewed software change logs for Crypton and discovered Luke had never made a change, adding credence to his claim of a lack of programming knowledge. Next, she delved deeper into network logins starting six months prior and moving forward. She found a login from Luke’s house during the time the two of them reviewed his home computers yesterday. Neither of them connected to SatCom, so the login couldn’t have come from his home unless his wireless network was hacked. With added security protocols that was virtually impossible. Which meant the log had been altered to make it look like Luke had logged in from home.

  Someone had falsified the report. They wanted to make Luke look guilty.

  Thrilled to have a lead that pointed to a suspect other than Luke, the next few hours flew by as she tracked the transmission through several servers. It didn’t take long for her to realize she was hunting a person who knew how to hide his tracks. As she worked, something kept niggling at her mind. The hacker’s pattern was familiar somehow. She’d seen the programming style before, but where?

  “Knock, knock.” Tim stood at the doorway, holding out a piece of paper. “Here’s the login information for the network, Ms. Justice.”

  She swiveled to face him. “Please, call me Dani.”

  “And I’m Tim.” He handed her the paper. “Of course you’ll need to destroy this as soon as you memorize the info.”

  Luke got up and joined them. “Isn’t that overkill?”

  Dani shook her head. “Tim’s right. You can never be too careful with passwords. Especially since we already have a problem.”

  Tim smiled his thanks at her, lighting up his face and making him boyishly handsome. “Good to talk to someone who understands tech stuff.”

  “Back atcha,” Dani said. “My family would rather be hung by their fingernails than talk about computers.”

  “I hear you.” Tim laughed and Dani joined him.

  “I’m starting to feel like a third wheel,” Luke grumbled good-naturedly.

  Tim’s humor faded, and he fired a patronizing look at Luke that Dani suspected was a normal occurrence between the partners. “Guess we could talk about the investigation instead. Any new leads?”

  Luke nodded. “We found the computer I told you about earlier.”

  Tim’s eyebrows went up. “Really? How?”

  Dani quickly explained about Eggleston and the homeless man, leaving out her takedown of Eggleston. “I’m hoping Eggleston gives me a call and this homeless guy can tell us where the computer came from. Maybe even give us an ID on our suspect.”

  “That’s good news, then, isn’t it?” Tim’s gaze drifted to her computer screen as if the talk of Eggleston had bored him and he couldn’t wait to get back to a topic he loved to discuss. “How about your work here? Having any luck?”

  “Maybe. I found another login to the network that occurred yesterday. At first, it appeared as if it came from Luke’s house, but as I dug deeper, I found he’d used a proxy server in a long string of proxies. I’m tracking the transmission now.”

  Tim gave a low whistle and leaned against the doorjamb.

  “I’m going to pretend I understood that.” A lopsided grin flashed on Luke’s face, and now that Dani was starting to believe in his innocence, she grinned up at him. She got lost in his eyes, enjoying their obvious connection, until Tim pointedly cleared his throat.

  She jerked her eyes away. She was working her dream case, and she had to let go of this hold Luke had on her. With his good looks, Tim probably had to deal with women throwing themselves at Luke all the time. She was not going to be one of those women. She focused her full attention on Tim.

  “With skills like that,” he said, “it’s likely our hacker’s done this before.”

  She nodded. “But why is the question. Since there’s really no financial payoff for this kind of hack, I’d say our hacker was hired to do it.”

  “Hired by someone who wants us to fail.” Tim pushed off the door frame. “He’s no match for us, right? We won’t let him sink us.”

  “Right,” she answered absently as his words tickled the elusive memory that she couldn’t help but feel was connected to the case. She needed to figure it out instead of standing here talking. “Thanks for the login, Tim.”

  She turned back to the computer, opened Crypton and started clicking through the code while Luke and Tim chatted near
Luke’s desk. She went deeper into the program. A line of code jumped out at her, sending her heart plummeting.

  This was it. The elusive hint she couldn’t put her finger on earlier. Just a snippet of code but it was distinctive, like a trademark. A trademark for a ruthless hacker. A killer. Echo, the man who’d murdered Grace Waters, Dani’s friend and partner at the FBI, all because they’d tried to apprehend him for hacking a bank’s website.

  And threatened to kill me if we ever crossed paths again.

  How had she not seen the pattern yesterday?

  “Oh, no,” Dani whispered as her world seemed to collapse in on her. Father, no. Not Echo. I can’t handle this again.

  “Dani.” Luke looked up. “Is everything okay?”

  Okay? her mind screamed as the two men watched her closely. No, everything isn’t okay.

  Feeling as if she might be sick, Dani bolted from her chair and ran down the hallway to the women’s restroom. She leaned over the sink and took a good look at her face in the mirror.

  Colorless. Fearful. Terrified.

  This couldn’t be happening. Not when she’d finally given up on finding Grace’s killer and laid it to rest.

  “But it is happening,” she mumbled, her mouth so dry the words barely slipped through her parched lips.

  Echo was back and they were not only dealing with a ruthless hacker who worked for the highest bidder, but if she did her job right and got too close to him, he’d kill her without a second thought.

  FOUR

  Dani continued to stare at her face in the restroom mirror. She’d never expected to see Echo involved in this sabotage. Sure, he was a hacker, but one who usually worked credit card and bank fraud. He was all about the money. The sabotage to Crypton could only earn him a payoff if someone paid him to do it.

  Had she been wrong about Luke, and he’d hired Echo?

  She didn’t want to think so, but other than Security-Watchdog, she’d found no one else with strong motive. If the government of another country had bribed Luke to listen in to satellite phone conversations, he was the worst kind of traitor imaginable.