“Don’t worry. I don’t have a death wish.” Zoey hugged her friend, pulling away before Penni could return the gesture. “I have appointments all day. When I get off, my first stop is the police station.”
“You promise?”
“I promise.”
Stump had gone into Zoey’s office to make sure no one was waiting for her. If he hadn’t walked out from behind her at that moment, he would have missed the way Zoey’s eyes slid away from Penni’s as she made the promise.
“Thank you. With Wylie teething, and then worrying about you, I haven’t had a good night’s sleep in a week.”
“Don’t worry about me. I’m like a cat—I have nine lives.” Zoey tried to joke away Penni’s concerns while giving a bright smile to the man who was coming down the hallway. “Felix, don’t you look handsome today? Is that a new jacket?”
“Yes. You really like it?”
“I don’t like it.” Zoey twined her arm through the man’s, leading him into her office. “I love it.”
Stump raised his brows at her when their eyes met as she closed her door. The jacket was butt-ass ugly. He wouldn’t be caught dead in it, and he sure as fuck wouldn’t wear those designer jeans ironed.
Stump went to take a seat behind his desk when he heard Penni shut the office door.
“Leave the door open—”
“I’ll close it when we’re finished talking,” she said, walking closer to his desk.
“What about?” If she wanted to talk about the kiss he and Zoey had shared, she was going to be disappointed.
Penni laid her purse on his desk. “Zoey’s never lied to me before.”
“You caught that?” He leaned back in his computer chair, crossing his legs at the ankles.
“Zoey’s the worst liar on the planet. Why wouldn’t she want the police to investigate a possible connection to her?”
“There could be a couple of reasons. Maybe she knows who it is and doesn’t want them in trouble, or she’s afraid it will make it worse. It could also be because she doesn’t want it publicized to her followers. As many followers as she has, it would be impossible to keep the story from leaking.”
“Whoever it is isn’t going to stop, are they?” Penni paced back and forth in front of the desk, clearly unsatisfied with his reasoning.
“No.” He had come to the same conclusion when he’d seen the empty elevator shaft.
Penni stopped pacing in the middle in the floor. “Zoey said she has nine lives. What if the last two attempts weren’t the only ones and she hasn’t told us?”
His eyes narrowed. “Damn, you might be right. How much do you know about her?”
“She’s very reserved. I really don’t know more about her now than when we first met. I didn’t even know she had a boyfriend until she mentioned it the other day.”
Stump stared down at his dusty motorcycle boots. He forgot Zoey had a boyfriend. He would have still kissed her, but if Zoey couldn’t hide the fact that she was a terrible liar to Penni, there was no way she would cheat on her boyfriend. If Penni hadn’t appeared, there was no doubt in his mind that Zoey would have kept kissing him.
“She has over fifty thousand followers. She had to have mentioned some private details of her life to you when you had lunch or hung out together.”
“I can’t even tell you how old she is for sure. She’s good at getting you to talk about yourself so you really don’t notice she doesn’t talk much about herself. Online, she only posts positive messages—what’s she wearing, her fitness goals, or a diet she’s trying. And she also writes blogs about her electric car and teas.” Penni rubbed the back of her neck, beginning to pace again. “She doesn’t show pictures of her personal friends, whether they’re male or female. If you were trying to figure her out by using social media, the only thing it would show is a woman who has a variety of interests that appeal to the mass of people who follow her. I know she has a large group of friends, because I’m one of them, and so is Grace, Vida, Casey… but you would never know who they are unless you’re one of them.”
Stump had already come to that conclusion when he had gone online to find out more about her.
“Can you think of one who would know more about her private life than you?”
Penni’s eyes turned introspective before refocusing on his. “No. Grace, maybe, but I doubt it. Casey, Vida, Sawyer, Ginny, and Gianna probably even less.”
“Then, how close of a friend can any of you be? Jackal and I aren’t BFFs, but I still know the next day if he gets laid, or if Wylie keeps you up all night.”
Her eyes flashed angrily at him. “Has he been complaining?”
“He doesn’t have to. I can tell by how he acts the next day. Either he’s in a good mood… for him, or he’s ripping the brothers a new asshole for some stupid shit he wants done around the club. Men don’t usually share personal crap like women do, so it’s strange she doesn’t.