LITMIR.BIZ

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need conversation to peg Jeff. A ruggedly handsome and charming man was high risk, pure and simple. Beg for his help, though? Well, that was an entirely different matter.

      After she buckled her seat belt a few moments later, Jeff turned off the lights to the garage, kept the car’s headlights off and slowly backed out of the town house driveway and onto the street.

      “Shouldn’t the police be here by now?” Victoria whispered.

      Jeff shrugged. “I certainly would’ve thought so.” He pressed the brakes. “I’m tempted to drive over there.”

      “Please, don’t.” Her hand jutted out and touched his shoulder. “I don’t want him to see us together. I can’t stand the thought of him targeting you because of me. He torched my house. For all we know, he might be armed and start targeting you. Let’s hurry. This is our chance while he’s busy.”

      Jeff considered her for the briefest of moments and then glanced down at her hand, still on his shoulder. She jerked her hand back and stared out the window. If only she could crawl underneath the seat and hide. Less than an hour alone together and she was already sending him the wrong message. She had meant what she’d said, but there was no need to put her hand on his shoulder...his very strong shoulder.

      Jeff swung the car in the opposite direction, and a minute later, flipped on his headlights. “So, how do we gather evidence if someone’s already changed the reports?”

      Victoria rifled through her purse and pulled out her security badge. “I saved a separate copy on the office server underneath a miscellaneous receipts file. I’m hoping no one’s found it yet.”

      They rode in silence the short distance to the office. Jeff parked the car at the far end of the company lot. “Do you want to wait here and send me in for it?”

      Victoria examined herself. Her neighbor’s clothes were not only big on her, but also outdated in style, and not very flattering. She wore a pink cardigan with pearl buttons, brown dress pants and black loafers. “I’d be lying if I said no, but I also think it’d be more efficient if we just get it done together. Do you have a flash drive we can use in your office?”

      “No, but I can email it somewhere.”

      Victoria shook her head. “You can’t email a file like that. It’ll get filtered. Anything over twenty-five megabytes gets blocked.” She flicked her hand in the air. “Believe me, I already tried.”

      “Then I’ll burn it onto a disk. I’m hoping to get you somewhere safe and still have time to go back home and change before the official workday starts.” He leaned over and pulled his office badge out of the glove compartment.

      She pressed herself back into the leather seat at his sudden close proximity. He even smelled good. She inhaled deeply and caught a whiff of pine trees and cedar.

      Victoria bit her lip. If she couldn’t find the evidence, then this would effectively prove to Jeff that she was a crazy flake. She’d been there, done that. She couldn’t afford to lose her reputation and, most likely, her job. How would she ever get hired again? This was her last chance.

      Victoria slung her purse over her shoulder and walked to the office entrance, her head held high. They stepped inside the glass lobby and strode to the automatic sliding glass door.

      A security guard at the oval station gave Jeff a nod. Jeff touched her shoulder. “Go on up. I know this guard. He might have seen the Range Rover yesterday. I’ll catch up in a minute.”

      Victoria wanted to object but followed his gaze. She recognized the guard but doubted he remembered her. She gave a thumbs-up and held up her badge to the keypad that opened the elevators. It made a high-pitched sound, followed by an off-pitch buzz. Her face heated, and she could feel the guard’s eye on her. “That’s weird,” she said nonchalantly. She held up her badge again, only to produce the same horrible sound.

      “Maybe we’re not allowed until our shift?” Victoria asked, realizing how silly her question sounded.

      Jeff shook his head. “No. I’ve been here before on a Saturday to catch up on work after I had the flu. I’ve never had a problem before.”

      The security guard left his station and walked up to them. “What seems to be the problem?”

      Victoria hoped Jeff could see the panic in her eyes. He responded by smiling at the guard. “Hey, Charlie. Victoria’s badge isn’t working. Can she use her driver’s license instead?”

      Charlie frowned. “As much as I’d like to do that, I can’t. There’s quite the process if your badge doesn’t work. Did you bend it, snap it?”

      “No, nothing like that,” she replied. Her heart raced. Had Wagner already fired her? He had told her she’d regret not meeting him after work.

      Charlie looked between the two of them. “I’ll see what I can do, but I might need to call a higher-up.” He waved them over to his station and opened his hand. Victoria handed over the badge, and he slid it underneath a stationary scanner.

      The high-pitched buzz echoed around the glass walls. “Well, that’s strange.” He peered over his glasses at her. “Says here that your account doesn’t exist.”

      “What?” Jeff leaned over the counter. “That’s got to be a mistake. She was working here just yesterday. I’m her supervisor in the...”

      “Oh, I haven’t forgotten who you are, Jeff,” the guard interrupted, fingering Victoria’s badge. “And I haven’t forgotten Victoria here either. She’s the one that’s always leaving homemade fudge for me and the guys in the break room.” He flashed a smile. “You didn’t think we were going let the chef of those goodies remain a secret, now did you? Got too many retired police detectives in our department for that.”

      Victoria’s cheeks heated. Not so much from the guard’s good-natured ribbing but more from Jeff’s surprised stare. Apparently, she wasn’t that adept at doing a good deed in secret, no matter how hard she tried. Victoria shrugged. “It’s nothing, really. I like to cook. I just don’t want the temptation to eat it all.”

      Charlie held up his closed fingers to his mouth. “She makes peanut butter fudge so smooth, it melts on your tongue. Even wraps it up in fancy homemade boxes that the wife loves to keep.” Charlie sighed. “But, I’m afraid without a call to my supervisor, I can’t help you.” He lifted up the phone to his ear. “It’ll be a few moments, folks.”

      Victoria held her hand out toward Charlie’s arm. “Would you mind if we just waited until normal business hours? I can stay here while Jeff checks on a very important report for me.”

      Charlie looked between the two of them and hung up the phone. “I can do one better. There’s no rule against Jeff signing you in as a guest.”

      “Oh, that would be great. Then we can go home and change and deal with this whole mess when I get back. Right, Jeff?”

      “Well,” Charlie mused, “this isn’t my normal shift, but I’m sure I can leave a note for the next guy.”

      Victoria smiled sweetly. “It’s okay. I don’t mind going through it all again. No sense in making any more paperwork for you.”

      Charlie’s eyebrow rose, but he said nothing. Instead, he handed a clipboard to Jeff. “Just sign her in there.”

      Jeff complied. “Hey, Charlie, there’s been some guy in a red Range Rover bothering Victoria after work. If you could just keep an eye out for him in the future, that’d be great.”

      “Is that so? We’ll keep a watch out for him, Miss Hayes.” Charlie raised a hand in acknowledgment.

      When Jeff swiped his badge, the elevator doors opened swiftly, and they stepped inside. Victoria worried her hands. “Thank you for asking him to keep a look out. I’m wondering if we shouldn’t have come here.” She turned to him. “I’m sorry I dragged you into this, really. I couldn’t see another option.”

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