Hot Target

Katie glanced toward the sink where Jessica was running water, her back to the group. Then she flashed a look at Ron and Luke and motioned them to the other room, aware she could not talk in front of Maria and Jessica without blowing her cover. The three of them gathered in the office as they had before.

The instant the door was shut, Katie whirled on Ron. “I get that you don’t want to look bad to management,” she said grumpily, “but I’ve been here less than forty-eight hours, without so much as a proper file to study.”

“You have a file,” Ron countered.

“Twelve hours ago before I left for a gala you knew about for months and didn’t bother to tell me about,” she snapped. “When my team is here, and I have the proper data to do my job, then you can blame me for failures. Not until then.” She leaned against the door, her knee killing her, an irritation she didn’t have time for when she had so many others. “I’m not even sure what happened here today was related to the letters.”

“What are you saying?” Ron demanded, his arms crossed in front of his body.

“Jessica,” she said. “She’s jealous. She’s young. She has the codes to get inside the house.”

“No way,” Luke said, leaning against the desk, his arms flexing beneath his shirt, drawing Katie’s unintentional inspection. She swallowed hard, blaming the pain medication for her lack of focus, as he added, “She’s a good kid. She wouldn’t do something like this.”

“A kid,” Katie pointedly repeated. “Emotional, jealous and upset about my appearance here, Luke. It makes sense.”

He made a frustrated sound. “The next thing you know, you’ll have her cutting and pasting letters.”

Katie hesitated, unwilling to rule out anything. She couldn’t shake the idea that Jessica had come into the house, seen her and Luke together, and lashed out by destroying the kitchen. But believing that Jessica had been obsessing about Luke enough to have written those letters was treading through deeper waters.

“I think we need to look at all options,” she said. “We certainly need to know if Jessica has been in any trouble. I’ll have my people look into it. I doubt that’s something Maria would announce to her employer, no matter how close you are to her, Luke.” As far as Katie was concerned, they couldn’t get those letters to the FBI lab soon enough. “I’m assuming you changed the locks and codes after the issues with your ex?” she asked.

His expression darkened. “Months ago.”

“I figured as much,” she said. “But we’ll have to change the locks and the codes again today. Once my guys get here, they’ll analyze the entire security system and make needed changes. But no one gets the new codes without my approval.”

Luke pushed off the desk, ran a hand through his hair in frustration. “I’ll give Maria a month off with pay. I hope like hell that’s enough time to make this go away.”

Katie’s cell phone rang, and she glanced at the number. Donna again. Her heart hammered in her chest. She’d called so many times, Katie was starting to feel nervous. What if something was wrong with her sister? “I need to take this, but, Luke, don’t give Maria time off. Not until we have time to think it through. If Jessica is the culprit, we don’t need to send her warning signs. We need to catch her in action.” Her phone kept ringing. “I really need to take this.” She flipped open her phone and answered as she made a hobbling escape. “Hello.”

“The point in having a phone,” Donna said immediately, “is to answer it.”

“What’s going on?” Katie asked urgently. She slipped into the den where she could grab some privacy, rather than climbing the stairs.

“Noah and Josh are on their way to you this afternoon,” she said. “They finally wrapped things up here. They get into the airport at eleven-fifteen.”

Having considered moving Luke away to a hotel that night, until she had the place secure—something she’d known he wouldn’t be pleased about—Katie absorbed that news with relief.

A few minutes later, Katie ended the call, relieved that her sister was safe, and that Noah and Josh would arrive soon. She’d also asked Donna to run checks on both Jessica and Maria. Donna had the electronic file Ron had provided, as well, and was working though it with a fine-tooth comb.

Ready for a shower and some inner perspective, Katie headed to the door only to be cut off by Ron, who now stood in the doorway.

“I only have one question,” he said.

Her chest tight, she answered cautiously. “All right.”

“We’ve established that you and Luke playing at dating works in theory. It keeps the press off his back, and keeps the team from panicking about a potential threat. But I need to know right now—is this thing with you and Luke a problem?”