“Do we have to?” Bree pouted.
“Today is your day.” There was a gleam in his eyes as he looked down at her. “Do you have any more special requests?”
She slid a hand down over the muscles of his abdomen, enjoying the way he sucked in a breath. “When you’ve recovered your strength, I can think of a few...”
* * *
Rylan had just started cooking dinner when Trey arrived.
“Tell me you’ve found him?”
Trey shook his head. “Where’s Bree?”
“In the shower.” Rylan had practically carried her home and placed her under the jets of water, joining her briefly to soap off the pool water. He looked up from chopping onions. “Are you staying for dinner?”
“Sounds good.”
Bree wandered into the kitchen a few minutes later. “Kasey’s mom sent me a message to say that the surgery went well.” There was a hint of disappointment in her expression when she saw her brother. “Oh. Hey.”
“Aw, thanks,” Trey said. “I love you too.”
She laughed and moved closer to kiss his cheek. “It’s just... I know you’ll have come here to talk about the case.”
“I have. But before I do, did you know there’s a bat following you?”
Jekyll had been hiding behind Bree’s ankles, and sneaking occasional glances at the intruder. She picked him up and stroked his oversized ears. “Take no notice of the nasty sheriff. The voters of Bradford County would be shocked to learn that this is the man who drew a mustache on my favorite princess doll.”
Trey rolled his eyes. “You make it sound like it happened last week.”
“Do you two want to continue this fascinating discussion while we eat?” Rylan asked.
He placed plates of spinach and ricotta ravioli on the table, together with a platter of garlic bread and a pitcher of iced water.
After eating a few forkfuls of the pasta, Trey looked from Rylan to Bree. “So how did you spend your day?”
The look Bree gave him ignited a series of fireworks at the base of Rylan’s spine. “Uh, we just took it easy,” he said. Bree smirked and lowered her gaze.
Trey, who was focused on his food, appeared not to notice the exchange. “Taking it easy, huh? While you were doing that, I was working. Although we have no information on David’s whereabouts, we’ve been able to access his email accounts. He has two.”
“Let me guess. A regular account, the sort all of us have. And the one he used to contact Bree,” Rylan said.
“Correct.” Trey pointed at him with a piece of bread. “We didn’t find anything suspicious in his day-to-day account. But he only used the other one to contact two people. Bree and someone whose email address was [email protected]”
“Ponr.com?” Rylan frowned. “I thought I knew most of the dodgy email providers, but that’s a new one to me.”
“It’s quite recent. Ponr is short for point of no return. Its big selling attribute is the privacy of its users. Mail is automatically deleted after twenty-four hours,” Trey said. “Of course, our tech wizards were able to restore everything. It was clear from the messages between them that Lone Wolf was the person in charge.”
“Were there any clues to his identity?” Although Bree voiced the question, she wasn’t hopeful about the answer.
“None. The messages clarified what we had already pieced together. It isn’t clear how Lone Wolf first made contact, but he was preying on David’s resentment toward Bree. They planned a series of attacks on the gallery, together with the threatening emails, to drive her out of the Diamond and back to our parents’ home. After that, they intended to move on and target the Colton family at The Chateau, then The Lodge.”
“And the stash of weapons?” Rylan asked.
“It’s not completely clear whether the plan was a mass shooting at The Lodge or at The Chateau. They discussed both options,” Trey said. “They also considered an attack on the Diamond.”
Bree raised a hand to her mouth. “I can’t believe I’m hearing this.”
“Believe it.” Trey’s expression was grim. “In his emails, David described how he overheard you and Kasey talking about her keeping a set of keys to your apartment. He knew she kept them locked in her desk, but he had the master key to the drawer. He had a copy of your keys made. He boasted to Lone Wolf that he was able to get into your home any time he wanted. That was how he damaged the pipe under your sink, causing the water to flow into the gallery. He figured you would have to come out of your hiding place to authorize the repair work that needed to be done.”