Deadly Illusions(62)

“You’re pretty proud of yourself, aren’t you?” James said. He was standing behind her, his arms loose around her waist as he snuggled into her slight frame and watched his brother open his heart to a shaky woman a floor below.

“I don’t think proud is the right word.”

James kissed the tender spot behind her ear. “Well, you should be proud of yourself. You handled that exactly the right way.”

“I know.”

James sighed. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re full of yourself?”

“If you play your cards right, I can be full of you in a little bit,” Mandy teased.

James tightened his arms around her. “Your mouth is as dirty as your mind sometimes,” he said. “I find it to be incredibly sexy.”

“Good,” Mandy said, swiveling around so she was facing him. She nipped his lower lip. “I just have one thing to check, and then we can go and be sexy together.”

James was ready to be sexy now. “What’s the one thing?” He knew he sounded whiny, but he was beyond caring at this particular moment.

Mandy pulled out of his arms. “The security office at the boat show is supposed to be sending us video of the acid attack on Emma,” Mandy said. “I just want to see if it has arrived.”

“I checked with them the day after the attack,” James said. “They said it would be at least three weeks until they could get to it.”

“Yes, well, Sophie and I didn’t think that was an appropriate timeframe,” Mandy said. “She called them and applied a little pressure, and we set up a drop box so they could send it to us digitally. I just want to see if they’ve sent it yet.”

James followed Mandy down the stairs, curious. “And they just did this because they’re upstanding citizens?”

“I think they did it because Sophie agreed not to publicize the attack at the boat show,” Mandy said. “She has a certain way with people.”

“Ah.”

Mandy settled into the chair behind James’ desk and flipped the laptop open. After a few seconds, she was smiling. “They sent it.”

James moved behind her so he could watch the video over her shoulder, kneading his fingers into her back to loosen her up for later. The security personnel had edited down the footage to include the few minutes before and after the attack. After watching it three times, Mandy turned to James. “What do you think?”

“I think we can try to run it through some facial-recognition software,” James said. “I don’t know if it will work, though. Maybe we should have Maverick look at it. That guy has a hoodie on. Maverick might be able to tweak it better so we can pick up more features on his face. All we can see now is that he has a big nose.”

Maverick was the computer guru Hardy Brothers Security often hired for tech work. He was a weird night owl – but he was absolutely gifted in the computer world. His social skills, on the other hand, were decidedly lacking.

Mandy started the video from the beginning one more time.

“What do you see?” James asked.

Mandy worried her bottom lip. “I’m not sure,” she said. “I just … this is going to sound weird … but there’s something about him that’s familiar.”

“Yeah, he looks like any other hipster in the Tri-county area,” James said. “They’re a dime a dozen.”

“Maybe … .”

“How would you know him?”

Mandy shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe he was in the courtroom for Pritchard’s trial.”

“Well, I’ll send this to Maverick and see if he can make anything of it,” James said. “We’ll go from there.”

Mandy’s gaze was still focused on the screen. James pushed the laptop closed, drawing her attention to him. “I believe you promised me some dirty talk.”

Mandy forced the image from the video out of her head. “I did.”

“Well, don’t keep me waiting, woman,” he said. “I need some loving.”

Sometimes, when she looked at him, all she felt was overwhelming love – and now was one of those times. “Let’s go, gigolo.”

James chuckled, hoisting her over his shoulder so he could carry her up the stairs. “If you want me to be a gigolo tonight, then you’re going to have to pay me.”

Since she was hanging upside down, Mandy couldn’t read his face. “Do you take checks?”

“With two forms of I.D.”

“Done.”





Twenty-Five


The next morning, Emma woke up in Finn’s strong arms. She wanted to pinch herself to see if this was real. When Finn had brought her back to the apartment the previous evening, things were initially awkward.