Chapter 23
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Nolen
It was a good thing we settled that argument because it didn't take Lex long after I texted him to show up.
I opened the door and stepped back to let Lex in.
"Thank you for coming over to do this."
My friend merely gave me a chin lift. Lex was a man of few words unless you were Nancy. She managed to get all the best parts of him.
"Let me show you where I want things."
I walked him around the house and showed him all the places I wanted cameras set up and motion sensors located. Lex took everything in without asking a single question or saying anything until we were done.
"I'll have everything up today."
"I appreciate it."
I left him to do what he did best and went back inside to work on my computer. I found Vanessa on the couch curled up in her usual spot.
"Done already?"
"Lex is going to do the setup while I get some work done in here."
"Anything I can help you with?"
"You want something to do?"
I could see her shift uncomfortably. "Yeah, kinda. I'm so used to working at Sophisticated Sheen that I've been going a little stir-crazy lately with nothing on my mind except figuring out who my blackmailer is. Now you're taking over that, so I really have nothing to do."
I could see how she would be bored. It had to be hard sitting around the house healing.
"I'm going to go through known associates of Joel to see if I can figure out who people are. I could use your help going through their profiles."
Vanessa almost looked excited at the prospect. "Yes, please."
We worked for about an hour and still weren't making any progress. Every known associate I showed Vanessa turned out not to be who we needed.
"How is this possible?" Vanessa sat back with a huff.
"I don't know. I thought for sure going through arrest records would give us something."
"Is there a chance he was never arrested before?"
I rolled my neck. I was getting a tension headache from thinking too hard. "I mean sure there is, but usually anyone associated with the gang has a record."
"Maybe he's not associated with the gang."
I was starting to think the same, but if that were the case, I didn't have the slightest idea where to go next.
"It just doesn't make sense."
"At this point, nothing does." Vanessa sighed.
Wasn't that the truth? I was trying to think of another avenue to explore when there was a knock at the door.
"Are you expecting someone?" Vanessa looked at me.
"Not that I know of, but it could be one of the guys checking in."
I put my laptop off to the side and headed for the front door. Sure enough, it was my entire team standing on the porch.
"Hey, guys," I said once I had the door open. "What brings you here?"
"Figured we would bring the work to you, since you're not coming to the office." Hendrix pushed his way in with a fake huff. I knew it was fake based on the way he smiled over his shoulder at me once he was inside.
"I hope we weren't interrupting anything." Easton smirked, and it made me wonder if Hendrix told him about the last time I was interrupted.
The answer was probably yes. Hendrix had a big mouth.
"Nope, we were just looking at some mug shots."
"Find anything to help?" Maverick asked as we all walked into the living room.
"Not a thing," Vanessa answered with a frustrated tone. "I'm beginning to think this guy is a complete ghost."
"At least we know it's a guy. That's narrowing it down some." Easton tried to stay positive, but I could tell it wasn't doing anything for Vanessa.
"Yeah, but there are literally millions of guys in the world."
"That's true." Easton sounded like someone took the wind right out of his sails.
Something that couldn't be easy for him, considering this all started with him.
Los Cangris had been initially after his wife, Kati, because of her connection with them.
The rest of us were just bystanders from there on out.
"So if it's not someone connected to Joel and they don't have ties to Los Cangris, could it be someone else from your past?"
Owen looked at Vanessa with hope in his eyes, but it quickly disappeared when she shook her head.
"I don't think so. I didn't stay in touch with anyone when I moved here. That was the whole point. I wanted a fresh start away from everyone who knew about my sister and her problems. And certainly no one who would be blackmailing me about things here in town."
All of the guys nodded their heads like that made sense, and it did. Whoever wanted to know about B. Feather had to have some connection to the town. That was the only thing that made any sense. It wasn't like she wrote about things outside of town.
"Okay, so we know it has to be someone connected to either the town or Los Cangris. There's nothing else that fits."
"I've run through every known associate of the gang, past and present. Vanessa doesn't recognize a single one of them." I couldn't keep the frustration out of my tone. It was there whether I liked it or not.
"Okay, so we expand our net," Maverick suggested. "We don't just look at the gang members themselves but their family as well. There has to be a connection somewhere."
I wanted to agree, but it was starting to sound like we would be throwing darts at a board and hoping something stuck.
"I'll get on it." I was the one with the computer skills needed, and it would keep me from going insane.
"Keep us posted," Maverick said as he and the guys made their way back toward the front of the house.
"I will." I followed them over and let them out.
Once they were gone, I grabbed my laptop and got comfy. I guess I was about to spend the rest of the night sifting through people's lives.