King and Maxwell (Sean King & Michelle Maxwell 6)
Edgar!
She called him.
She said, “I have a little problem. I’m house-sitting for a friend of mine and he said I could use his computer, but he forgot to give me the password. And he’s not answering phone or email. Anyway, can you help me out?”
“What brand of computer is it?”
“An Apple.”
“It’ll take some time.”
“Great,” she said despairingly. “How much time?”
“At least a minute.”
Michelle smiled. “I love you, Edgar.”
There was a long moment of silence.
“I’m actually seeing someone, Ms. Maxwell.”
“Uh… good for you, Edgar. My loss.”
He took her through a series of assaults on the computer. In less than a minute the hard drive came to life.
“I’m in. Thanks.”
“You’re welcome. And Ms. Maxwell?”
“Yes?”
“You’re not really house-sitting, are you?”
“Um…”
“I didn’t think so. I just helped you break into someone’s computer, didn’t I?”
“It’s all for a good cause, Edgar.”
“Okay, if you say so.”
“Goodbye, Edgar.”
“Goodbye. And I’ll let you know if things don’t work out with the person I’m currently seeing.”
“Uh, okay, thanks.”
Michelle clicked keys and accessed as many files as she could. She also found a flash drive in the desk and downloaded to it as many files as she could find that seemed pertinent.
She jerked around when she heard a siren in the distance. She ejected the flash drive, used her jacket to wipe her prints off the keyboard, rose, and ran back out of the room. She hurtled down the stairs even as the siren grew closer.
Did I trip some silent alarm?
The little dog yapped at her heels as she raced to the bathroom, opened the window, and cantilevered over the sill, landing on her feet. She jumped off the deck and ran not toward the street, but into the woods behind the house. She came out on the other side and fast-walked to the same major intersection from last night.
She didn’t see a cab but she did board a bus that carried her to the Metro. From there she grabbed a cab and rode that back to their office. Along the way she called Sean.
“Where are you?” she asked him.