Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
“We should start by writing down everything we know.” The pen in Noah’s hand clicked, his thumb on the end. “Two kidnapping attempts. One at the natural history museum, one during your run this morning. Four days apart. At least three people involved, possibly the same people in each.”
“Plus the man with the neck tattoo,” she said. “Who I saw across the street from the museum yesterday. Like he was watching me again.”
“Right. And, we know someone altered the surveillance video of him. So he’s likely at the center of it.” The ballpoint went still as Noah thought. “We don’t know how many people are behind this. But they’ve clearly got funding. They’ve got connections that would allow them to tamper with evidence.”
“And somehow,” she said, “they were able to figure out when I’d be at the natural history museum and where I’d be on my run.”
“Who could’ve known about your appointment at the museum?”
She thought. The list was disconcertingly small. “Lindley and Anderson, because I was supposed to meet with them. My personal assistant in New York.”
“Who else?”
“I gave Blake and his assistant Tori access to my scheduling app so they could arrange security while I’m in West Oaks.”
“So your first bodyguard team knew your schedule? The ones who took you to the museum?”
“Well, no. I don’t think Blake told them. They asked me where to go when they picked me up at the airport.”
Noah jotted this down. “What about your running routine? Who would’ve known you’d be out this morning?”
“That might’ve been easier to guess. I’ve taken morning runs in Central Park for years. Sometimes Soren runs with me.”
The pen scratched over the paper. Danica leaned over. “Your handwriting is terrible. How can you even read that?”
“I hate taking notes on my phone. Writing it out by hand helps me memorize what I need to know, and usually I never look at the paper anyway.” He shrugged, his shoulder sliding against hers like a caress. “Or I shred it if it’s sensitive.”
His eyes went distant, like his mind had gone somewhere else.
“What is it?” she asked.
“Just thinking about notes. Records… You mentioned a scheduling app you use. Who has access to it?”
“Like I said, my assistant, plus Blake and Tori for this visit. And my father. He uses the same app, and we usually share our schedules. It allows our assistants to make plans for us if we’re in the same city. Otherwise, we can be like ships passing in the night.”
Noah wrote the names in a separate list. Her stomach burned to think of these people as suspects.
“Your brother?”
“Not Soren. Wait, I did share access to the app with his assistant previously, so we could work out a scheduling conflict over the holidays. But his assistants seem to change all the time.” Then she had a concerning thought. “Could someone else have gotten unauthorized access to the app?”
“It’s possible. Anything digitized could be hacked if it’s connected to the Internet.”
In a way, this made Danica feel better. Because some outsider could still be responsible. But the thought of a stranger going through her personal information made her ill.
“I want one of our computer experts to check your devices,” Noah said. “Laptop, phone. If there’s any kind of spyware on there, some way these people could’ve hacked into your schedule, we need to know.”
“We have IT people who manage cybersecurity for both the foundation and my dad’s company.
They’ve set up anti-virus software and firewalls that’re supposed to keep us secure.
But…god.” Her eyes blinked closed. If she truly started contemplating the people that could’ve betrayed her, who could be selling her out, it would become paralyzing.
Noah’s hand reached for her, fingertips about to brush her skin. Danica inched away from him. The last thing she needed was to fall into his arms for real—because that was exactly what she wanted. To wish all this away. Make the rest of the world disappear.
Noah was helping her, and she could trust him. But she couldn’t turn over full responsibility for this situation to anyone. Not even him.
“If these people know your schedule,” Noah said, “then you’ll have to stop doing what they expect.”
“Wait.” Danica turned sharply to face him. “Are you suggesting I give up my schedule?” She’d done that today. But for the rest of the week? Even longer?
“Change it,” Noah said. “Rearrange it. You didn’t mind getting to the museum early on Friday, right?”
“But that was a half hour change, and the kidnappers still almost got to me.”
“Just shows you need to shift things more. Keep them guessing.”
She grumbled. But he was onto something.
Crap.
Give up her schedule. Just the thought made her want to break out in hives. But if she was unpredictable, it would be that much harder for the kidnappers—if they were still after her—to find her.
She made a decision.
“I’ll cancel as many meetings as I can. And I’ll cancel my flight back to New York on Friday. If we’re really going to track down who’s responsible, then I should stay in West Oaks until it’s done.”
“Agreed. I’ll let Bennett Security know we’ll be protecting you until this is over. However long that takes.”
Danica nodded, her nerves starting to calm again. In a way, this was a new plan. And when she had a plan, she felt secure.
“What’s going to happen next?” she asked. “How is this investigation going to work?”
“While you were showering earlier, I called in to the office to let them know what’s going on.
I had to keep it brief, but my co-captain has the general contours.
Next, I’ll be sending them all the info we’ve put together so far, and they’ll get started on research.
Our computer experts will need your devices, as well as those video clips the detective sent you.
I also know someone we can trust in West Oaks PD.
A friend of a friend. We can ask him to poke around, see who might’ve had access to the surveillance video to alter it. ”
“But how can we do all of that without anyone else finding out? Especially if you’re also going to stay with me as my bodyguard. If anything, Blake is going to expect me to investigate on my own. I’m troublesome like that.”
She’d been demanding more involvement for days. If she suddenly went quiet and was inseparable from Noah, who happened to be a bodyguard with Bennett Security?
If she didn’t know whom in her inner circle to trust, that meant she couldn’t trust any of them.
“That’s why you’re supposed to be unpredictable,” Noah said. “What’s the last thing Danica Foster-Grant would normally do at a time like this?”
“Um…host a raging kegger?”
Noah’s grin widened. “Exactly what I was thinking.”