No Good Deed: A Small-Town Romantic Suspense Novel

13. Up To No Good

After they’d gone over her presentation again, Troy needed to look at the town with Piper’s ideas in his head. While she backed up her changes, he grabbed Oreo’s leash, and in short order they were outside and walking toward Phail Way. Then he changed his mind and scooted back to grab her USB so they could share it with Marcus.

A central location in town had been on his mind for years, but he’d never seen a way to make it a reality. The saloon had always been an option, but for the first time, he saw a way to make it happen.

His team. He’d need to rope in Marcus with his thoughts, and then they’d start working on the rest of the group. Sean first. He had a construction background from before the Army. Having a project to sink into would be the best way to get him here.

Aisling Gallagher was a carpenter who lived out at Midnight Lake, but she was busy with the lodge and making furniture. He knew she’d help anyway. “What about adding a page on your website for local artisans? Aisling makes furniture. Ginny’s partner Nimii and Josie from Midnight Lake are both artists. Addison Syrette is an author and blogger. And there are other talented people in town. ”

Piper beamed up at him. “That’s a fabulous idea. Showcasing local talent is a great way to encourage people to visit.”

Troy squeezed her hand. They hadn’t talked about their relationship after leaving his bed this morning, but he didn’t plan on keeping anything a secret. Piper didn’t appear concerned about it either as she leaned into him.

At the corner of Phail Way, Troy tugged her to a stop and studied the view. The three buildings she was talking about stood across the road. There were no other buildings on that side of the street on that block. There wasn’t anything behind them either. “It’s just empty lots back there. I have a hard time visualizing this space without buildings I’ve seen my entire life.”

She laughed and hugged his arm. “It’s sometimes easier when someone has fresh eyes on a space. There would need to be parking somewhere, but I wouldn’t put that in the front. It would be better along the side, probably past where the saloon sits, in case you can find someone to open it.”

He squeezed her hand. “I’ve actually got some ideas of my own about that.”

“Do tell.”

“Not yet. I don’t want to jinx it, but don’t talk anyone else into wanting that space.”

Her laugh had him smiling and needing to kiss her. He didn’t resist, but kept the kiss short and almost sweet.

Oreo pulled them apart when he yanked on his leash to shove his face into another snowbank. “You’ve got yourself a weird little dog, Piper.”

They walked around the block slowly, letting Oreo jump into all the snowbanks he wanted. Piper pointed out where she envisioned the gazebo and the movie screen. She showed him how the path could wander in and out of the existing trees. “I’d suggest putting the splash pad in one corner, some climbing and swinging sets in another. If there was more of an elevation, I’d suggest a small zip line, but I don’t think that would work here. Maybe someone could build an outdoor adventure park on the outskirts of town one day.”

When they were around the back of the block, Piper stopped to look around. “I don’t think I’ve been down this stretch before. I think you could open up the far side of the street to more businesses once things are moving. I’d continue the walking path through the trees and to the next pond. It could loop around with the creek and end up back on the far side of the block.”

They kept walking, and Troy felt excitement and confidence speeding through him. “I’m so glad I put out that ad for a city planner. The perfect person answered it.”

Piper laughed. “Hardly. But I’m very glad I spotted your ad.”

He wanted to argue, tell her she was perfect, or at least perfect for him. But they’d only spent one night together. Rushing her into a commitment might be the best way to push her away, and he didn’t want that.

As they approached the saloon, Oreo decided it was time for a nap. He plopped to his belly and closed his eyes. Laughing, Troy picked up the dog and tucked him into his jacket again. “The entire block is like a marathon for his little legs.”

He studied the building that had caught Piper’s eye for an indoor gathering spot. He hoped his guys would be on board with his plans for it.

When they reached Phail General, he opened the store and ushered Piper inside. They set Oreo up with a water dish and dog bed, then he took her hand and walked back to Marcus’s office.

His friend was working at his computer, but waved them in. “What’s up?”

Troy grinned. “Piper’s got some amazing ideas, and I want you to see them. And those ideas sparked a few of my own about how to get the guys here.”

No need to elaborate as Marcus smiled. “That’s something I want to hear more about.”

Troy led Piper to the couch in the corner. “Bring your laptop over, and you can see her presentation.”

Marcus didn’t so much as raise an eyebrow at the way he and Piper held hands, but he knew his buddy had noticed.

Marcus set the laptop on the small table and sat on the other side of Piper. Troy pulled out the USB and plugged it into the laptop, then angled it for Piper to take over.

When she clicked on the USB icon, she frowned at the file folder. “This isn’t my presentation.”

Troy sighed. “I must have grabbed the wrong USB. With them all looking alike, I should have grabbed them all.”

Piper clicked on the folder. There was only one file inside. When she clicked it, a spreadsheet popped up. Columns of what looked like financial information with multiple sheets. Frowning, she clicked on all the pages. More of the same. “I don’t know what any of this is. Could this be what someone is after?”

He and Marcus exchanged a grim look. “I think it’s exactly what someone is looking for.”

* * *

Piper flipped through the spreadsheet pages again. They were all similar and looked like financial ledgers but without the usual column headers.

The cells in the lefthand column held combinations of letters and numbers but no words. The pages were labeled with One, Two, and so on. She pointed at the second and third columns. “Looks like these two combined are month and date, but there are no years. Could each spreadsheet be a different year? Do you think this is a blackmail list? Someone skimming from a bunch of companies? If someone has made so many attempts to get this information back, it has to be something illegal.”

Marcus nodded. “Probably. Or some private RD, but it doesn’t look like that kind of data to me.”

Troy agreed. “I don’t have a clue, although your instincts are probably right.” He turned to Piper. “Who could have put this in with your other USBs?”

Piper sat back and thought about that. “Anyone in the office would have had easy access. I kept the Cloud Gate container on my desk.”

Marcus tapped the USB. “Are all of your USBs the same style? How many did you have?”

“A lot. I got them at an event at the Plaza back in Chicago. All kinds of tourist booths were set up. I happened to be at the one in front of the Cloud Gate when one of the people manning the booth realized that one batch of their USBs had a misprint on them. They were supposed to give them away as souvenirs to tourists, but this batch had Cloud Goat printed on them instead of Cloud Gate. I thought it was funny, and the volunteer gave me one of the misprinted boxes. I think there were about fifty in the box.”

Troy tapped his finger on the table. “And you didn’t keep all of them?”

She shook her head. “No. I thought it was cute, so I kept a bunch for myself and set the rest in my Cloud Gate tin on my desk and let people know they were free to grab some for themselves.”

Marcus moved to his desk and grabbed a notebook. “Did you give any away to other friends or neighbors?”

Good question. “I don’t think so. I’ve had them for ages. The event was over a year ago, but I don’t recall sharing them outside the office.”

Marcus huffed out a breath. “That leaves us with a lot of potential connections. How many people worked in your office area?”

“Around thirty.” And one of those thirty had tried to hurt her? Had broken into her apartment? Crashed into the car she was driving?

Panic had her heart thundering against her ribs. Until now, she hadn’t truly believed the incidents were anything more than a random string of bad luck. This USB changed everything.

Someone she knew had tried to get this USB back, and when that hadn’t worked, they’d tried to hurt her. Had they been hoping she’d been carrying the USB? She likely had been, as she generally brought the Goat everywhere.

“Why would I have this? And why wouldn’t they just ask for it back?”

Troy placed his hand on her shoulder and tugged her in for a hug. “Someone was probably hiding whatever information this is. Hiding it in plain sight with a plan to retrieve it later. But before they could get it, you picked it up and put it in with your other USBs.”

Marcus pulled on a pair of gloves and tapped the USB. “There are a couple of things I want to do here with your permission. First, I’d like to copy the files to other USBs. Then, I’d like to take possession of this one as evidence. I’m hoping it doesn’t have a virus or malware attached to it. If it does, my laptop is already compromised.”

She hadn’t thought of that. “I’m so sorry.”

The deputy smiled at her. “Nothing to be sorry about. Not your fault, even if there is something on it. I have my doubts because it didn’t have any encryption to get into the files in the first place. I’m guessing it was an impulsive decision to put this one in with your others. Makes me think someone was using your office for after-hours visits about something illegal. Whatever this is, he didn’t want it found, but he wanted it easily accessible later.”

“He?”

Marcus nodded. “A man mugged you. A man accosted you at the BB. I’m going to guess this is all connected to him.”

Troy tightened his grip, and she leaned into his comfort. Piper worked with a lot of men. There were definitely women in her field, but the balance was heavily skewed toward males. There were also clients who came freely into the office. Friends. Family members. Staff from other offices in the building. Cleaning staff. The list was huge. Yet she couldn’t imagine any of them trying to run her off the road.

“Piper?” Troy’s voice broke into her musings and she shook her head to clear it.

“Sorry. I missed that.”

He smiled and squeezed her shoulder. “No problem. Marcus wants to know if all of that is okay with you. Can he take the USB and contact the police department from your old suburb?”

She nodded. “Of course. I was just trying to think through all the men I’ve worked with. I don’t know them all well, but I can’t imagine anyone trying to hurt me.”

Marcus studied her. “What about breaking into your place or the office?”

She huffed out a breath. “That’s different. I think that’s easier to see. It’s not violent on a personal level. I suppose I can imagine a lot of people being able to do that. Which is depressing.”

Marcus handed her a large notepad and a pen. “Why don’t you just start noting down names. Start with people you worked with most recently, and then add others as you think of them. Don’t worry about sorting them or putting them in order. Just try to get as many names down as you can.”

And then they’d have to go over the list to find whoever had created the spreadsheets. The person who’d tried to hurt her. A shudder ran through her as she picked up the pen.