“You didn’t come back to the compound last night.”
I’d been waiting for him to address that. I had my own cottage and, supposedly, I was allowed to come and go as I pleased. But I knew Ash kept tabs on me. He just couldn’t stop being the big brother.
“She has an apartment upstairs. She let me sleep on her couch.”
“Yeah?”
“We worked late. It just made sense.”
Ash studied my face for a long moment, then simply nodded.
“We need you back at the compound. Joss is in position with her new client and we need you to monitor the security cameras.”
“Okay.”
“But first…”
He gestured toward the door as he climbed to his feet. I followed him down the hall to Ricki’s office. She was sitting behind her desk, the phone to her ear and her eyes glued to the computer monitor. I watched her, just as I’d watched her in the dark of her bedroom last night, wondering if it was pity that brought her to invite me into her bed or if it was something else. She was so beautiful, so different from the type of woman I’d been attracted to before the accident. I’d liked them tall then, sturdy. Capable of the sort of rough sex I particularly enjoyed. Delicate women just didn’t do it for me.
But, really, there wasn’t anything delicate about Ricki. She was as tough as they came—despite the misleading reality of her appearance.
She’d fallen asleep afterward, curled up against my chest. I watched her for a long time before I finally slipped away, redressing and rolling myself out of her room as quietly as I could. I didn’t want to fall asleep and have her wake in the morning, ashamed of what she’d done. So I came back downstairs, stealing a few hours of sleep on the narrow couch in the reception area before returning to my work.
Ricki finished her call and looked up, her eyes just skimming over Ash before coming to rest on my face. I couldn’t really read her expression, and I think that worried me more than if she’d looked at me with shame written all over her face. Or regret. Or anger. Or even disappointment.
“David found a few things we should probably talk about,” Ash said, jumping right into the meeting without seeming to notice the look that passed between Ricki and I. “He thinks that someone from your past might be targeting you, trying to undermine your corporation.”
“We discussed that last night,” she said, her voice quiet and steady. “I’ve made a list of the hackers I can remember working with before I began Friend or Foe.”
“Good,” Ash said, taking the list she offered. “David can go over this and do background checks to see if anyone sticks out.”
Ash handed me the list and I perused it quickly. They began talking about something else, something about what Donovan had noticed about her techs downstairs.
I interrupted.
“Arabelle Murphy isn’t on this list.”
Ricki’s eyes flashed as they fell on me again. There was definitely no mask to hide behind this time, no hiding her emotions. She was quite simply displeased with me and my knowledge.
“Who’s Arabelle Murphy?” Ash asked.
I waited for Ricki to respond, but she didn’t. So I began to explain, watching her for any sign that I was getting it wrong.
“Arabelle was Ms. Dennison’s partner back when they were both hackers. They went to college together. Correct?”
Ricki shrugged. “You seem to know my life history. You tell me.”
“They were classmates, met in an advanced programming class. They were also given internships at the same company after graduation, so they got an apartment together in Chicago. When Arabelle got involved in hacking and with the hacker community, she brought Ricki along with her. If not for Arabelle, Ricki would probably still be working for someone else rather than running her own corporation.”
Ricki inclined her head. “You know a lot about me.”
“My brother worked for the FBI for some time, tracking hackers who liked to break into federal computer systems,” Ash said.
Something flashed in Ricki’s eyes then, but she didn’t say anything.
“Why isn’t Arabelle on this list?” I asked Ricki.
She shrugged. “I don’t think of Belle as a threat. She was arrested about the time I got out, tried on cybercrimes, but she was acquitted. Last I heard she’d settled down and got married.”
“You’re not in contact anymore?”
Her eyes darkened as she shifted, turning her face away so that I couldn’t read her expression. “No,” she said quite simply.
“We should probably still check her out,” Ash said, focusing on me.
He didn’t have to tell me twice. I also knew there were a few other names missing from this list. Mine included.