Chapter 27
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Nick
“Social media!” Noel came rushing into the tech room. It was Wednesday, and Matt was with JJ. I was scouring over background checks.
“What about it?” I asked after my pulse calmed the fuck down.
“Is Matt on social media?”
I spun in my chair to look at my brother. We were identical in every way. The only differences were that he loved to wear his sunglasses all the time, and he’d started tying his hair in a ponytail when it got too long and he was too lazy to cut it.
“Yeah, he has Insta, and a couple of others.”
He snapped his fingers. “I was watching a movie where this girl was being stalked and the guy got to her from her Facebook or something.”
“You think whoever is doing this is on social media?”
“They could be in his everyday life and they could not. Here’s the thing, people post everything on SM. Pictures of drinks, food, places they go to, clothes they wear, people in their lives, relationships. Seriously, it’s too easy to find someone and know everything about them. Let’s say they’re also in their real life, it would add gasoline to the fire.”
Noel was on to something. “Can you get into his socials? I’m elbow-deep in these checks. Get Mason to help; he’s smart.”
“On it. Can I ask your boy his passwords or should I just backdoor him?” He waggled his brows.
“I will kill you in your sleep,” I deadpanned.
“I’ll go ask him.”
After he was gone, I started digging more. I was looking into Nicole and James Somers. High school sweethearts, no kids, not for lack of trying. They’d purchased the apartment complex ten years ago and had done a lot of work to it. They didn’t have a lot of turnover, so I guessed tenants were happy.
Nicole’s father had passed when she was five, and her mother lived in England with some man very much her junior. James’s father had also died a few years ago from a massive heart attack, and his mother was currently in a hospital for multiple things.
No records on either of them. On paper they looked great. I had to dig more for the dark shit. First I dived into the type of porn they liked to watch; their search history was going to be the big thing, and from there I’d go even further.
A hand squeezed my shoulder. “What on earth are you doing?” Matt laughed. “Porn?”
“Not my porn—this is what your landlords are into.”
“What?” He pulled up a chair. “How is this helpful?”
“People are secretive creatures. But what they enjoy can sometimes tell the story of the types of personalities they have living in their heads. I don’t kink shame, don’t misunderstand me, but patterns are what patterns are.”
“And what is their porn life telling you?”
“That they are far too boring, that they’re hiding something.”
Matt snorted. “Are you serious?”
“Yes.”
“And you’re going to find out what that is?”
“I am.”
“I’ll leave you to it. I was just popping in see how you were doing.”
I turned to check him out. “You leaving?”
“No, JJ was using the bathroom. We still have stuff to do. I’ll come back when I’m done.” He leaned in and kissed me and damn, that had me ready to rip off his clothes and bury myself inside him.
“Don’t leave without me.”
He cocked his head. “You’re going to stay with me every night?”
“Until this is over, yes. If you won’t come here I’ll go there.”
His jaw fell. “Uh, and what if I wanted a night alone?”
I smirked. “Do you want a night alone, Mattie?”
He pursed his lips. “Don’t call me that.”
I laughed. “If you don’t want me there, I’ll stay here and stare at you through my computer screens.”
He sighed and ran his fingers through my hair, eliciting a moan. “Fine, you can come home with me, little stray.”
“ Pfft .” I swatted his hand away. “Okay, you can be going now…Mattie.”
With a frustrated growl, he spun on his heels and walked out of the tech room. I cackled at his tantrum. I did like having the last word.
When I left the tech room to head home with Matt, I’d placed some feelers out with other hackers who lived in the dark web, or TOR, as they called it. They’d get back to me with the information I was looking for. Always did.
I had to follow behind him because he’d go into work in the morning and I had to do a shift at Saintly Sweets, because apparently I wasn’t pulling my weight there. They knew I was working to find Matt’s stalker, but they all said they’d help and so I agreed.
We had a quiet night, cuddles, hand jobs. In the morning we showered and ate breakfast. It was so domestic.
I walked him to his car, keeping an eye out while he got in.
“Have a good day, honey.” I laughed.
“You too, dear.”
I waited until he drove away to walk out of the garage to my own car. Imagine my surprise at finding a note on my windshield.
“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” I opened it : You can’t have what doesn’t belong to you. Matt is mine to keep.
“Oh, no you didn’t, creepy McCreeperson. You do not know who you are fucking with.” I got into my car and drove like a bat out of Hell to Saintly Sweets.
“What did the cameras show?” Shep was pouring batter into cupcake holders. JJ was with him and when I arrived, they knew something was up.
“I’m scanning them now.”
JJ scrutinized the note while I scrolled through my phone. It sucked not having my computer, and this would take a while.
The back door opened, and Four and Gabe walked in.
“How’d it go with Aziza?” JJ asked.
“Good.” Four walked to where we were, his eyes going to the note. “The stalker?”
I nodded. “Yep. Left it on my car this time.”
Four hummed.
“What is it? You hummed.” JJ pointed at Four.
“Nick is a threat. An obstacle. If I were them I’d kill Nick, make Matt vulnerable and needy, and swoop in.”
We all froze and stared at Four.
“What?” He shrugged as he stole a cookie from the tray.
“That’s a dark assessment.” JJ looked at me with wide eyes.
“Yes, this person is escalating.” Four narrowed his eyes at the note. “It’s a woman.”
That, once again, had us all still as glass. “How do you know that?” I wondered.
He pointed to the note. “The note. I studied handwriting. This is neater, more rounded, and decorative. Not an exact science, but I’d bet it was a woman. Men write sharper, hurried, larger lettering.”
“So you’d say this was a woman?” Shep put the bowl on the table.
“I’d focus there, yes.”
“But the bagger bike belonged to a Greg Morgan. He never reported it stolen. When I tracked him down, it wasn’t on the property. He’s well…a man, not a woman.”
Four took a bite of his cookie, slow-blinking at me like I was an idiot. “You already know it isn’t him—otherwise, you’d have killed him and this would be over.”
“He doesn’t fit, and I did some background. He’s obsessed with cats to a very unnatural level. He’d more likely be stalking Matt if he had one just to steal it.”
Four nodded. “Why would a person buy a bike but not have it on them? Does he pay the insurance and payments?”
“He does.”
Four shrugged. “I was never the brains of an operation, just the weapon. But I’d focus on Greg Morgan. He’s letting someone use his bike.” He walked out to the front of the store, and I stared in the direction he’d gone.
“Did you really never bother to find out who was using his bike?” JJ scrutinized me.
“And who would that be, JJ?”
“Who is in his life?”
“Cats…for real. He works and goes home to his cats.”
Shep furrowed his brow. “Cats are cool.”
I sighed. “This isn’t helping. I’ll cover lunches for everyone; then I gotta get home to dig.”
I went to the main area, where Four was smiling at Lizzy. I’d never seen him look so happy. She was going on and on about this band she’d seen, and started singing songs when he said he wanted to hear.
I backtracked into the kitchen and pointed the way I came. “Four and Lizzy?”
JJ laughed. “He is crushing hard.” He placed a hand on his heart. “It’s so sweet.”
“Sweet, right. Does she know he’s killed hundreds of people?”
JJ shoved me playfully. “Love is blind. Now, shoo. Cover Darby’s lunch first.”
It was going to be a long day.